Metro enjoys profit boost

Metro continues to report increased profits as it boasts the highest volume of weekday display ads in May.

The morning freesheet, which distributes around 1.3 million copies a day across 16 UK cities, is enjoying its seventh successive year of profitability despite the recession.

Metro posted the highest volume of Monday to Friday display advertising of all generalist UK newspaper titles in May, according to Nielsen data.

The title had 114,647 single column centimetres (ccms) of display ads, compared with 94,875ccms at The Sun, 77,616ccms at the Daily Mail, and 106,170ccms at the Daily Telegraph.

Steve Auckland, managing director of Metro UK, said the freesheet even made an operating profit during the worst of the recession in 2009.

Industry executives attribute Metro‘s success to its flexibility towards advertising – “that high volume of ads reflects Metro‘s willingness to transform itself for the sake of an advertising campaign, often with a wraparound cover devoted to a new product,” reported MediaGuardian.

In March, Metro secured a new seven year contract to distribute newspapers on the London Underground, which covers 250 tube stations around the city.