Tables Turned? Chaos, Doom, Hell For Standard

M@
By M@ Last edited 210 months ago
Tables Turned? Chaos, Doom, Hell For Standard
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Evening freesheets TheLondonPaper (what happened to the space bar?) and London Lite (never heard of spellcheck?) continue to battle it out for the hearts and minds of commuters. The more cynical would say they’re better off targeting the lower organs of the body. Still, both rags appear to be shifting some.

Associated Newspapers claim to have transfected the Lite to over a third of a million people, representing 97% of their print run. News International’s LondonPaper, meanwhile, does not have figures to hand, but stick to their line that advertisers and readers find it ‘particularly modern and fresh’.

So where does all this free ‘news’ leave the Standard (also owned by Associated)? Ian Clark from TheLondonPaper comments:

The only figures I have heard are more anecdotal from the Standard of it being 25 per cent down on the first day which I’m sure will be a huge disappointment for them.

And for any Londoners who enjoy the Standard’s winning slant of doom-mongery and pessimism.

It’s certainly bloody out there. One Standard seller is quoted as saying:

London Lite maybe knocked me back by six copies, thelondonpaper by about 20 copies but that’s because they intimidate on the street. Even with the London Lite distributors nearby they will target customers and say ‘we’ve got this patch’. The London Lite are courteous with us, thelondonpaper are dogmatic, standing where they are even if it’s in the way of customers coming to you for a Standard.

And us? Which do we prefer? Well, our vote’s with TheLondonPaper, mostly due to their excellent taste in books.

Photo from Graeme’s Flickr photostream.

Last Updated 08 September 2006