In these days of decreasing brand loyalty, it's nice to see this being reflected all the way down the distribution chain. Interesting news reaches us from Copenhagen, where a bloody freesheet war is wreaking havoc on the balance sheet of numerous major publishers. www.newspaperinnovation.com brings us the big transfer story of the week.
Nyhedsavisen hires Metro hawker:
Transfers of sports stars are common but in Denmark the best known free daily hawker recently has been tranfered from Metro to competitor Nyhedsavisen.
Brazilian hawker Jura, famous for his enthusiastic behaviour in Copenhagen and distributing to bikers and pedestrians in the central square moved from the orange/green brand to the blue of Nyhedsavisen
Jura was prominentely used by Metro on the website, in promotion video’s and was even used to train other hawkers.
Nyhedsavisen director Morten Nissen Nielsen told Newspaper Innovation: “It is great news for Nyhedsavisen. We have passed Metro in the big cities in terms of readership, and the recruitment of their no. 1 hawker is just one of those smaller signs, of the changes happening. People who are now getting Nyhedsavisen from Jura call it an upgrade”.
The move is an indication of the increased competition in Denmark. Last readership data showed 24timer, Metro and Nyhedsavisen as the three best read papers in Denmark (see previous post), with newcomers 24timer and Nyhedsavisen seeing sharp increases in readership.
While Nyhedsavisen in third nationwide in readership it was no. 1 in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense according to the September TNS research. In those three markets the paper had 388,000 readers - 24timer had 324,000 readers, Metro 304,000 and Urban 279,000. The first paid paper was Politiken with 262,000 readers.
The moves also shows that Nyhedsavisen is - like 24timer - relying on public transport distribution more. When both papers started, they said they would mainly use home delivery. This system, however, means a low number of readers per copy, so public transport is used to increase readership
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