New London papers update
No pics yet, but mediaguardian.co.uk have a detailed account of what a dummy copy of “thelondonpaper” looks like here.
The overriding feel is of a paper that looks more like a magazine and is populated by happy young people - mostly female - ready for a great night out in the best city in the world.
Overall the London Paper looks clean, colourful, unrelentingly upbeat and very readable.
The Evening Standard, even with its redesign, looks staid, old-fashioned and as if the average age of its readership is much older.
It seems to have much more ownership of its news and content than Metro - which seems like an amalgamation of news from elsewhere. And it feels more comprehensive than the business freesheet City AM.
The London Paper is aimed squarely at an internet-savvy urban readership of 18- to 35-year-olds, a demographic that largely slips through the London Evening Standard’s fingers.
In response, Associated Newspapers are launching a new free afternoon paper, called London Lite, while axing current freesheet Standard Lite and revamping the London Evening Standard and its website.
The moves are designed to protect sales of the Evening Standard in the face of new competition from News International’s forthcoming freesheet, the London Paper, which will launch on September 18.
London Lite will also launch next month and will be handed out in the centre of the capital, within Transport for London’s Zone One, by special teams as well as Evening Standard sellers.
Available each weekday afternoon from midday, the new paper will have an initial circulation of 350,000-400,000 copies.
The distribution and circulation details mirror those planned by News International for the London Paper. These bypass one of the new London Underground or Network Rail newspaper distribution contracts by employing teams to hand copies out.
Read about that here.
Will other newspaper groups join in the fun? We will have to wait and see, but there will certainly be plenty to read in London in the months ahead.
Associated newspapers: Evening Standard and London Lite.
News International: thelondonpaper.
Others: City AM - a business free sheet.
And Transport for London are to offer an exclusive licence for an afternoon free paper at their tube stations. Pick one from Trinity Mirror, Express newspapers, Guardian newspapers, Independent News and Media or the Telegraph Group to battle it out.
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August 17th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
Do you think you could post the pictures of the dummy images for those of us without media.guardian login profiles set up? Is there any word what the journalism will be like?
I’m excited to hear this, I am spending some time in London studying starting January (coming from the Chicago area).
August 17th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
I’m trying to get hold of some pics, but I think it’s still under wraps - the media.guardian story doesn’t carry any pics of the dummy at the moment.
I’d recommend you sign up with the guardian’s website - it’s free and one of the best.