What's happening with Metro? One report says it's about to expand. Another report claims it has axed plans to expand. Let's begin with the positive story in Media Life which says that Associated Newspapers will roll out Metro to two more cities later this month.
But Marketing Week is running a story alleging that Associated will not go ahead with its mooted expansion because media buyers "condemned" the idea. I find that hard to believe after the success achieved by Metro elsewhere, but that's the claim.
What is very odd about both reports is that each of them cites inaccurate distribution figures. Media Life says the new editions will bring Metro's circulation up to 1.1m and make it "the fourth-largest newspaper in the country." Yet the February ABC audit shows that Metro distribution has been running at an average of 1.12m for the past six months, so it has been the fourth-largest daily for a long time. Marketing's statistics are also out of kilter because it refers to Metro's 550,000 circulation, and the likely increase as amounting to "an extra 300,000 issues".
Given that both reports contain factual mistakes, why should we believe either of them? It may well be true that Associated is considering carefully where to go with Metro, and exactly when. If anyone can throw any light on this, be my guest.
Incidentally, in an earlier posting, I quoted a three-year-old Associated statement about Metro as if it was current. Apologies, and thanks to commenter alrenwick for pointing to my error.
Before I go, it's worth noting another Media Life report about the rapid spread of frees across the States. The latest launch is about to occur in Boston. A daily, Boston Now, will compete directly against the Metro Boston. Boston Now's publisher, Icelandic-based Dagsbrun Media, plans to launch up to 10 more papers in various US cities. These are likely to be rivals to free titles published by the Examiner chain, which has papers in Washington, San Francisco and Baltimore.
Two further signs of the freesheet revolution. The Tampa Bay Times last week increased its distribution to more than 356,000 copies a week, making it the fastest-growing newspaper in the top 20 US markets, according one of its senior executives. And, as commenter Illinoisblue reports, the the Chicago Tribune is to publish a weekend home-delivery edition of its free,RedEye, in May.
Free papers are taking over the world. And that's a fact.
