Metro (British newspaper)

Metro

Cover on 2 March 2010
Type Freesheet
Format Tabloid
Owner(s) DMG Media
Editor Ted Young
Founded 16 March 1999 (1999-03-16)
Headquarters Kensington, London, U.K.
Circulation 1,475,543 (as of December 2016)[1]
ISSN 1469-6215
OCLC number 225917520
Website www.metro.news

Metro is a free newspaper published in tabloid format in the United Kingdom by DMG Media (part of Daily Mail and General Trust). It is distributed from Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays) on many public-transport services and stations in cities and towns across the United Kingdom. Distributors have also been employed to hand out copies to pedestrians.

History

The paper was launched in London on 16 March 1999,[2] and can now be found in many towns and cities across the UK. It is part of the same media group as the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, although, in some areas, Metro operates as a franchise with a local newspaper publisher, rather than as a wholly owned concern. In 2017, it became the most-read newspaper in the UK, according to monthly NRS figures.[3]

The Metro concept comes from Sweden. Metro International, a different company, launched in the UK in 1999, and, in Newcastle upon Tyne, this company's paper was distributed on the Tyne and Wear Metro system side by side with the Metro of Associated Newspapers (now DMG Media). After battling alongside the Associated Newspapers' version with the same name, Metro International's Metro changed its name to Morning News. However, Morning News was short-lived, being discontinued shortly afterwards (see Metro International). Metro International have had plans to launch a rivalling free evening newspaper in London.[4]

Similarly, Rupert Murdoch is said to have regretted missing the opportunity of launching his own London paper. However, News International, a UK subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corporation, launched a London-based newspaper in 2006 called The London Paper, using funding from Liam McDonald.[5] This was closed on 18 September 2009.

Content

The newspaper is divided into three main sections - news, features and sport. The features section contains a mix of articles on travel, homes, style, and health, science, as well as extensive arts coverage and entertainment listings. The puzzles page currently features a crossword and Sudoku. In 2014, production of Metro newspaper and the metro.co.uk website was separated[6], so that they are now written independently by different editorial teams, although they remain part of the same parent company. Metro newspaper content is published online on a separate website.[7]

Distribution

A Metro delivery van

In its first five years, it achieved a readership of over 1 million weekdaily readers, making it the UK's fourth largest weekday newspaper, after The Sun, the Daily Mail, and the Daily Mirror. In October 2008, its total certified distribution for that month was 1,361,306. It now prints approximately 1.3m copies daily, and officially has some 3.5m readers, as of March 2010.[8] The WAN-IFRA reported its 2009 circulation as 1,335,000.[9]

In October 2016 circulation was increased to nearly 1.5 million[10] and in June 2017 it became the biggest weekday newspaper by daily circulation, overtaking The Sun for the first time with a circulation of 1,479,775.[11]

Metro Herald (Ireland)

The Dublin freesheet Metro Herald was similar in layout and content to its British counterpart, as Associated Metro provides much of the content.[12] Metro Herald was formed by the merging of Metro Ireland with its main competitor, Herald AM (published by Independent News & Media's Evening Herald).

Metro Ireland was launched on 10 October 2005, as was Herald AM. Both titles were loss-making, despite a circulation of 145,000 between them in the Greater Dublin Area. The merger of the two titles faced scrutiny by the Competition Authority as the resulting match up drew together IN&M (publishers of the Irish Independent) and The Irish Times (the two Dublin-based broadsheets).[13] On 2 July 2009, it was announced that the two freesheets were to merge,[14] and by 2010 this merger was complete.[15] Publication ceased in December 2014.

11versus11 and Guilty Pleasures

Metro launched two new mobile app products in 2016: 11versus11, which is a football news app, and Guilty Pleasures, a celebrity news app. Both apps offer personalised content based on a user's interest profile.[16] 11versus11 won the Best Lifestyle, Sports & Entertainment App award at the 2017 European Digital Media Awards.[17]

Editors

1999: Ian MacGregor
2001: Kenny Campbell
2014: Ted Young

References

  1. ↑ "Print ABCs: Seven UK national newspapers losing print sales at more than 10 per cent year on year". Press Gazette. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  2. ↑ Luft, Oliver (16 March 2009). "Metro newspaper celebrates 10 years of publication". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "Metro becomes UK’s most-read daily newspaper". ft.com. Mar 7, 2017.
  4. ↑ Media Guardian, 3 April 2003 "Desmond in Swedish talks over London freesheet"
  5. ↑ Liam McDonald Funds Metro, Midworth Associated with Deal, Rory McFlanagan, Redditch Media Centre
  6. ↑ Sweney, Mark (2014-03-05). "Metro website to be folded into Mail Online". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  7. ↑ https://www.metro.news metro.news
  8. ↑ Home|dmg media
  9. ↑ Andra Leurdijk; Mijke Slot; Ottilie Nieuwenhuis (2012). "The Newspaper Publishing Industry" (Technical Report). EU Commission. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  10. ↑ "Metro to raise circulation by 10% by Lydia O'Neill".
  11. ↑ "Print ABCs: Metro overtakes Sun in UK weekday distribution, but Murdoch title still Britain’s best-selling paper – Press Gazette". www.pressgazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  12. ↑ Cozens, Claire (10 October 2005). "Battle commences over Dublin freesheets". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2005.
  13. ↑ Hancock, Ciarán (6 March 2009). "Rivals 'Herald AM' and 'Metro' in merger talks". The Irish Times. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
  14. ↑ Luft, Oliver (2 July 2009). "Rival Dublin freesheets Herald AM and Metro Ireland to merge". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  15. ↑ Metro Herald Archived 19 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  16. ↑ "Metro launches personalised football mobile news app 11versus11 – Press Gazette". www.pressgazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  17. ↑ "11versus11 scoops European Digital Media Award". www.dmgt.com. Retrieved 2017-05-16.

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