London Evening Standard to go free
The London Evening Standard will go free from October 12 and will more than double the number of circulated copies to over 600,000 a day.
The news comes less than a month after News International closed its free evening title thelondonpaper and less than a year after the Standard was acquired by Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev for £1 from Daily Mail & General Trust.
“I am confident that more than doubling the London Evening Standard‘s circulation and maintaining its quality journalism is what London deserves,” Lebedev said. “The London Evening Standard is the first leading quality newspaper to go free and I am sure others will follow.”
Geordie Greig, the paper’s new editor, added: “This is an historic moment and great opportunity for the London Evening Standard. Its owners will be funding the distribution of over 600k copies of the newspaper, making it available to more Londoners than ever before. And most importantly this will be a quality newspaper.
“The Standard has an exciting and secure future with this new, pioneering strategy of more than doubling our distribution. We will remain the only London newspaper committed to a tradition of high quality journalism with the finest writers and undiminished commitment to the best reporting of news, business and sport.”
Lebedev – who has a 75.1% majority stake in the Evening Standard, while Associated own the remaining 24.9% stake – relaunched the title in May in a bid to broaden its audience and better compete with its rival London papers – thelondonpaper and the London Lite.
To promote its relaunch, the title dropped its 50p cover price for a day and handed out over 650,000 free copies across London.
At the time, this was more copies than the London Lite and thelondonpaper, which distribute around 400,000 and 500,000 copies respectively.
Today’s news will see the Evening Standard begin to distribute around 200,000 more daily copies than Associated Newspapers London Lite.
Associated have been reviewing the London Lite since the closure of its fellow freesheet thelondonpaper and said the Evening Standard going free is “just another development in the mix”. The publishing company, a DMGT subsidiary, confirmed that the ongoing review will continue.
Speaking about the company’s decision to switch the Standard to a free title, the paper’s executive director Evgeny Lebedev said: “I have always wanted the Standard to be far-reaching, bringing news to as many people as possible in the capital with the highest quality reporting and influential comment pieces. This new model with at least 600,000 copies being brought to London every day will make a great newspaper accessible to more Londoners than ever before. The great advantage of this plan is that we are committed to maintain the quality of the Standard as the premier paper in London but with more than twice its current reach.”
Andrew Mullins, managing director of the Evening Standard, added: ” Sustaining a paid-for afternoon newspaper had its challenges even before the freesheets were launched in 2006. There are so many competing distractions to potential readers, particularly with new technologies. Being a quality newspaper with large scale and reach should transform our commercial fortunes. Our London reach will be at multiples of the quality national titles and our London classified business will once again have significant scale. It’s all very good news.”
In August, the Evening Standard‘s circulation stood at 235,977 copies, according to the latest ABC release.