Publisher Latté Life launches free fortnightly newspaper in Sydney CBD to fill void left by mX
Eastern suburbs newspaper Latté Life is launching a new free newspaper designed to replace the void left by News Corp’s mX which folded in early June.
The fortnightly City Circular will be distributed in the same way mX was, by hand at inner city train stations, and will also be distributed to cafes and office blocks with the publisher predicting an average readership of 75,000.
City Circular editor Jane King told Mumbrella it was a good opportunity for them to extend into what had previously been News Corp’s territory, rejecting the idea that audiences had become too focused on the online experience.
“For us we find with our papers, the growth has been so rapid and I think it’s because we’re so connected locally with our communities, it’s a different feel we have, it’s a different flavour,” she said.
“Producing it fortnightly allows us to do that, when people get something all the time they get sick of it, where as once a fortnight it’s a little bit more ‘oh yeah I’ll grab one of those’. It’s a different model.”
King said while the title was making the most of the opportunity left by mX, the new paper will not be replicating the News Corp daily in any way.
“Based on the success we’ve had with our launch into the Southern Highlands a year ago and our publication in the Eastern Suburbs, the flavour of our papers is quite different. We are just going into the mX space, we’re not trying to replicate or emulate it in any way,” she said.
The publisher is claiming the title will have a fortnightly distribution of 30,000 people across cafes, office blocks, apartment buildings and bars and pubs in the CBD, the Rocks, Walsh Bay, Haymarket, Broadway, Darling Harbour, Pyrmont, Ultimo, Glebe, Chippendale, Newtown, Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, Darlington, Waterloo, Paddington, Kings Cross, Potts Point, Elizabeth Bay, Rushcutters Bay, Double Bay, North Sydney and Neutral Bay.
The paper will also be handed out at train stations, including Central (Devonshire St Tunnel, Chalmers St, Foveaux St & Eddy Ave), Town Hall, Martin Place and Circular Quay as well as at Hyde Park and Railway Square bus stops.
The publisher is predicting the City Circular will have an expected average readership of 75,000 people.
Commenting on the advertiser response to the launch of the paper King said “we’ve had a really good response to the fact that we’re launching the paper”.
“A number of our current advertisers have come across as well as some new ones. So it’s actually creating a new opportunity across all the papers for us,” she said.
King is currently editing the title, a role she expects to have for “a while” as the publisher explores options for the role.
On the paper’s editorial team King is joined by Cassandra Murnieks, who has written for The Australian, and Elsie Kassis Grimes who joins the Circular as fashion editor having been the beauty editor of Latté Life from April 2013 to October last year.
The paper will explore local bars, restaurants and cafes. It will offer readers wine reviews, fashion news, the latest trends at work and in IT, health stories, coverage of high profile achievers, art news, the best getaways, news on what’s happening in Sydney as well as product reviews and special features.
But for those readers hoping the City Circcular might adopt some of the popular mX segments, such as ‘who’s looking at you’ and the overheard section, King was adament the City Circular was not looking to mX for any content inspiration.
King said content would be shared across the three papers but is tailored to each of the paper’s audiences.
“In the first edition of the City Circular we have an interview with the first winner of The Voice Karise Eden, we did run that in the Highlands but with a more Highland type skew then we tailor those questions to her specifically for the city audience as well,” she said.
“There are new elements that are coming into the Circular that we don’t run in our other publications. They all have their own individual personality if you like.”
The paper will be available from tomorrow (Thursday) evening at train stations, and through other distribution channels on Friday. It will also be available at train stations on Friday.
Miranda Ward
Related:
- News Corp to axe commuter mX newspapers
- Media buyers say News Corp’s closure of mX is not beginning of the end of print papers
- mX editor-in-chief Craig Herbert says staff ‘gutted’ by closure of commuter newspaper
- The mX closure will leave a big hole for those wanting to share ideas to a mass audience
- Goodbye mX – Without paying readers you were always going to be first to go
- Top 10 of Eric the Circle: How mX powered the world’s first draw-it-yourself cartoon
- mX could have stayed relevant if it dropped the ‘commuter paper’ mentality
- News Corp commuter newspaper mX signs off with ‘heartfelt thanks’ in its final edition
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Well done. Looks like an exciting venture. Good luck ?
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History repeats itself! Traditionally the ‘Local’ newspaper always returns high readership figures. Journalist students will remember the recall and sharing figures as being surprising as they firstly presume them to be old-school quaint.
However, local businesses report good sales returns with focus groups recording affectionate comments and regret at the loss.
Yet, as these important communication tools were taken over by the larger media groups – the solid figures have been arrogantly ignored with the excuse of ‘distribution’ costs. The Internet just does not supply the intimate details of community as effectively, and the ‘local’ always rises as the demand always returns.
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