Speaking as Metro celebrated ten years in print, the first ever issue going out on 16 March 1999, DMGT’s Free Division managing director Steve Auckland said despite now being the fourth biggest circulated newspaper in the UK, expansion was still on the agenda.
He said: "We will be coming out of this recession at some point and we want to come out of it quicker than everybody else. There are areas in the UK and Ireland that we can go into, but it is very important that we continue to reach young urbanites.
"That has always been our target audience and we haven’t diluted that audience. It is still as good now as it was when we started out."
However, the London Underground distribution contract comes up for re-tender next year and speculation is mounting that News International will be bidding against DMGT with a view to moving thelondonpaper to a morning edition.
Auckland dismissed the speculation, questioning whether a move from a light-hearted afternoon read to a morning newspaper was doable.
He said: "The contract is desirable, but not essential. We have a figure in mind that we believe is about right and we have a good pitch to put in there. But we will not endanger the business by putting the bid in, if it is not good enough then fine."
"We can hand as many papers out outside the station as we can put in the bins in the station. We have the distribution team there."
In its ten years, the newspaper has gone from a circulation of 85,000 in London to 1.3m across urbanite friendly areas in the UK and has seen readership leap from 430,000 to 3.3m. Pagination has doubled from 40 to 80 pages and the newspaper has gone from being solely in London to being in 16 different urban areas.
Auckland said that the Metro idea originated in Sweden and was actually rushed out in London once the Underground declared its interest.
He added: "We were a freesheet when we started, now we are seen as a respected media brand. We have paved the way for other free titles in London, titles like Shortlist and of course London Lite."
See also:
New appointment at Metro publisher
Freesheets set to supersede Mirror
