A blog entry of August 29 (http://free-daily.blogspot.com/2008/08/clues-emerge-about-la-project.html) hints that perhaps Los Angeles will get its own free newspaper. If so, I would not be surprised, although the city does not fit the specific prototype of metropolitan areas where the free papers thrive: large commuting populations using public transportation daily. Like Miami’s commuters, Los Angeles’s residents prefer to commute to work by car. However, there are ways to distribute free newspapers at busy areas, schools and colleges, and large industrial parks. In some cases, free newspapers are delivered to targeted homes in certain neighborhoods, as is the case with the Washington, Baltimore and San Francisco Examiners, which deliver their Thursday and Sunday editions.
Ever since the Metros took off in Sweden——now more than 58 editions globally—-the free newspaper has been part of the “competition” faced by the daily paid newspaper.
I have always maintained that free newspapers do not truly compete with paid newspapers since those reading them would not buy a newspaper, anyway. However, in a bad economy like we face today, that is probably changing. People who have cancelled their newspaper subscriptions for economic reasons, but who enjoy daily newspaper reading, might find a free newspaper to be a good substitution.
What are the characteristics of free newspapers as they exist today?
1. Quick read: in most cases, they are designed to be read during four to five stops of the subway!
2. Advertising finances the product.
3. Stories are short, photos not usually big; briefs columns dominate
4. The format is compact.
5. A strong online edition is part of the offering. In many cases, the printed product attracts online users.
I believe that free newspapers are here to stay, and that they, indeed, attract readers to print, and to the products that a media house may have to offer. So, if a new free newspaper appears in Los Angeles, we welcome it.
Every time a free newspaper appears, the established daily of that city goes through a rethinking.
As Martha Stewart would say: A good thing.
INTERESTING DISCUSSIONS OF FREE NEWSPAPERS:
-Four free newspapers in Hong Kong: 1.4 million daily circulation
http://zonaeuropa.com/20080424_1.htm
-The look of newspapers to come: Free targeted Thursday and Sunday home delivery and free at the newsstand.
http://sadbastards.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/the-look-of-newspapers-to-come-free-targeted-thursday-and-sunday-home-delivery-and-free-at-the-newsstand/
Well, it is the Labor Day holiday in the United States: the three-day weekend that marks the end of summer. So, I will join my children and grandchildren to enjoy the sun and the waves of the very warm Gulf of Mexico at our place in Belleair Beach, Florida. We even get to celebrate my granddaughter’s Sophia’s birthday. Hoping for good weather, and no hurricanes!
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