London Evening Standard changes distribution to focus on commuters

The London Evening Standard has announced plans to publish all of its 600,000 copies as a West End Final edition in a move that will see it reach more “home-going commuters”.

From January 2010, all copies of the evening freesheet will be printed in the afternoon with “the latest developing stories being updated on the presses as they run until early evening” and distributed later on in the evening.

Geordie Greig, the paper’s editor, said: “The response to our recent decision to make the Evening Standard a free quality newspaper has been overwhelming. This decision will mean our news is even more up to date, and more copies will be available for home-going commuters.”

Up until now, the Standard has split its distribution – handing out 300,000 News Extra copies of the paper in the afternoon and a further 300,000 West End Final editions later in the day.

However, since the paper took the decision to go free and distribute nearly triple the number of copies in October, its demographic is thought to have changed.

The title’s new distribution strategy will change its focus to business commuters, which is likely to have a positive effect on the demographic of the paper.

The Evening Standard claims the move, which will begin on January 4, forms part of its “pledge” for quality journalism that combines breaking news along with analysis and comment.

Andrew Mullins, managing director of the title, said: “Some people doubted that we would continue to publish such a high quality newspaper when we went free, but they were wrong. Readers and advertisers have been magnificent in supporting us and we are sure that they will now welcome this decision to enhance the quality of our newspaper even further.”