Will The Free Afternoon Papers Succeed?
Two free afternoon newspapers have just been launched and what happens to the papers in the coming months could have repercussions for the entire industry. NewsLine Editorial Assistant Sam Howroyd takes a look at the new titles…
At a time when the majority of newspaper circulations are down across the board and many people choose to get their news online, two of the biggest publishers have launched free evening papers.
Both titles, London Lite, published by Associated Newspapers, and thelondonpaper, published by Rupert Murdoch’s News International, enter a market that is facing an increasingly uncertain future.
We live in a world where news is accessible at the click of a button, where from our desks we can log on to the internet and see the latest transfer deals, the most recent Machiavellian machinations of political office and reflect on the general tumultuousness of modernity as and when it happens. Once out of the office and safely ensconced at home, we can then switch on the television and watch 24 hour rolling news, either public or Murdoch owned, according to one’s preference.
In the wake of the trail blazed brightly across the newspaper firmament by the free morning paper Metro, we can now choose one of two newspapers to pick up and read on the way home. The pertinent question to ask then is, in light of the constant access to news that most people have, does the public want them?
One overriding view of the success of the Metro is that commuters need and want something to read in the morning, something to look at as they make their interminable trudge into work, perhaps not having had time to go online or watch the television or listen to the radio. Of course, an afternoon free paper can relay to people all the news of the day, the breaking news that people want to catch up with.
However, a great number of these people will have already found out about this via their PCs, radios, or mobiles. It seems quite clear then that a new title entering the scene should have a firmly delineated USP setting it apart from the rest of the sources available across a variety of platforms.
The Associated offering, London Lite appears to have as its primary focus the celebrity hungry masses, the readers of Heat looking for a daily fix of gossip. However, it is very similar, at least in terms of immediately recognisable style, to the recently departed Standard Lite.
Thelondonpaper meanwhile, seems to have less of a focus on celebrity and is also less immediately reminiscent of other titles on the market. Another big difference between the two papers, apart from the pithy quotes and stats at the top of each page of thelondonpaper, are the listings sections, with London Lite carrying 15 pages, compared to thelondonpaper‘s five.
The main problem for both titles will be the duel they are engaged in with each other. With launch dates being so close together and both aiming at what will inevitably be an audience composed of much the same people, it must surely be the case that, if there is to be any winner at all, one of the titles will suffer an ignominious descent into the littered inferno of newspapers no longer with us.
With critical questions as to whether readers even want one afternoon free paper, it seems that having two available spells problems for either Associated or News International. In addition, the papers will be going head to head with the Evening Standard (which has raised its price to 50p), London Lite’s Associated Newspapers stablemate, in what seems a risky strategy for all involved and further confirms the need for major differentiation between titles.
On the other hand, success for either new title (or even both) could spell the end of the dominance of the paid for market, with free papers becoming the norm.