ABC London Newspaper Focus: Aug 2009

Business freesheet City AM saw its total distribution figure fall by almost 5% in August, to under 85,000 copies.

Fellow morning freesheet Metro (London) was relatively static, down slightly at 0.2% to under 731,000 copies.

Elsewhere, afternoon freesheet the London Lite‘s circulation remained static at a total of 400,000, while thelondonpaper was also a non-mover at just under 501,000 copies.

Towards the end of August News International announced the closure of thelondonpaper, with James Murdoch, News Corp chairman and chief executive of Europe and Asia, saying: “The strategy at News International over the past 18 months has been to streamline our operations and focus investment on our core titles.

“The team at thelondonpaper has made great strides in a short space of time with innovative design and a fresh approach but the performance of the business in a difficult free evening newspaper sector has fallen short of expectations. We have taken a tough decision that reflects our priorities as a business.”