Evening Standard’s circulation down almost 30% YoY

The Evening Standard‘s circulation was down by almost 30% year on year in May following its relaunch at the start of the month (see Evening Standard relaunches today with promises of better behaviour) which saw the title adopt a new distribution strategy.

There have already been reports that executives at the paper believe the figures – which give the title a circulation of 210,900 – do not reflect the title’s new distribution operation, which has not been audited by ABC (see London Evening Standard to question ABC result).

Elsewhere, afternoon freesheets thelondonpaper and London Lite have distribution figures of 500,291 and 400,988 respectively, while morning free paper Metro (London) saw its total fall 1.3% year on year to under 737,000 copies.

Morning business freesheet City AM continues to flourish during the downturn, with its distribution up 5.7% year on year to 107,510.