MEDIA MARKET DATA - World Association of Newspapers

UkraineIn March, Dutch publisher TMG will relaunch the free newspaper Obzor it had acquired inUkraine at the end of 2005. The newspaper will have the same format as TMG’s Dutch freedaily Sp!ts, but will keep its former name. Obzor will be published three days a week with aprint run of 61,000 copies. ANIMA Newsletter, February 27, 2006United KingdomThe Argus Lite in Brighton will be aimed at the 35,000 commuters who travel from the cityinto London each day, and its publishers hope it will also help attract new readers to the mainpaid-for paper. The free title will hit the streets for the first time on Monday, February 20 and10,000 copies will be given away each morning between 6.30 and 8.30 before the main paperis on sale. Newsquest (Sussex) managing director Martyn Willis said the target audience wasvirtually all non-Argus readers so there should be no adverse reaction to the Argus sale, andinstead it was hoped it would draw more people to The Argus. He said: "The transient natureof the population of Brighton & Hove means that there is a vast number of people who moveinto the city and commute to London, without having the benefit of engaging with theircommunity. "The Argus Lite is designed to gently integrate them into Brighton and Hove citylife and introduce up to 35,000 new readers to The Argus brand." He added that the Litewould also bring a new audience to advertisers, claiming that businesses in the city currentlyhave no reliable advertising medium through which to reach this potential market. He said:"The Argus Lite will provide up to 35,000 new potential customers to retailers, restaurateurs,entertainment venues and a whole host of others. "With the introduction of The Argus Lite,The Argus portfolio with theargus.co.uk website and core title The Argus itself will see thebrand as an advertising medium go from strength to strength." The Argus Lite will contain amix of national news and sport along with a local "lite bite" of news and entertainment whichcan be read easily in a one-hour train journey. It is currently looking for staff, including subs,and details can be found in our jobs section. A team of distributors will initially hand out theLite on routes leading to the stations of Brighton Central, Hove, Brighton, Preston Park,Hayward's Heath and Burgess Hill every morning and it is hoped that further locations will beadded later in the year. The Argus has a circulation of 36,854 (ABC Mon - Fri, Jan to June2005), a drop of 10.9 per cent year-on-year.http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/news/2006/02feb/060208arg.shtml; February 8, 2006United KingdomAssociated Newspapers Ltd, a unit of Daily Mail & General Trust PLC, has agreed to give upits exclusive distribution rights on the London Underground and at London train stations bymid April, paving the way for a new afternoon or evening paper in the capital. The Office ofFair Trading said it had accepted commitments given by Associated, which owns the Metrofreesheet and the Evening Standard, to open its distribution racks in train and Undergroundstations to rivals, giving "reasonable space and prominence" to competing titles. Associatedhas agreed to give up its exclusive rights to the afternoon or evening distribution slots withLondon Underground and Network Rail by 12 April, said the competition watchdogfollowing a lengthy investigation. "We welcome the commitments given by AssociatedNewspapers, (which) opens up the market for competitors potentially to provide Londoncommuters with additional afternoon or evening newspapers," said Vincent Smith, OFTDirector of Competition Enforcement in a statement. Last April, Associated pledged to giveup its exclusive rights to distribute Metro via London Underground and rail stations followinga near two-year probe by the OFT. The watchdog had found that the 24-hour exclusivity ofAssociated's deals with Tube and train operators "went beyond what could be objectivelyjustified", especially considering that Metro is only distributed in the morning. This morning's41