Evening Standard Lite To Launch Next Week

Associated Newspapers’ highly anticipated free-sheet is due to hit the streets next week, entitled Evening Standard Lite, the newspaper will target upmarket females aged 18 to 35 within central London.

Agency sources described the title as a ‘hybrid’ edition, which will have a maximum of 48 pages, much fewer than its parent title, and will carry identical advertising to create a higher ad-to-page ratio.

The new Lite edition will replace the Evening Standard‘s earliest edition and will be distributed between 11:30am and 3:00pm, with advertisers’ promotions appearing in all editions of the newspaper.

The new free edition is to be launched with a relatively small print run, although this is expected to increase in the new year. Associated estimates that its target audience represents 600,000 potential readers each day.

The title is expected to complement Associated’s morning free-sheet, Metro, which has seen phenomenal success since its launch in March 1999. The most recent figures show the title adding 5.2% to its total verified distribution year on year in the six months to October, topping 939,000 at the latest count.

The free-sheet edition could also prove beneficial to its paid-for parent title, which has seen its circulation suffer in recent months, losing 7.8% year on year in the same period.

Today’s news follows reports yesterday that staff at the Evening Standard had been told they would be expected to work over the Christmas period in order to launch the new free-sheet next year (see Standard Staff on Alert for Possible New Year Launch).

Associated Newspapers: 020 7938 6000 www.associatednewspapers.com

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