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Almost four months since the Evening Standard went freesheet there are signs the move may have been a good call. This week the National Readership Survey showed 1.37million people read the paper. Figures show for the period 11 October to the end of December, readership has grown from the paper’s previous NRS standing of 556,000 per issue between April and September last year. Readership at London's flagship journal had been in chronic decline for years when Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev bought the title for £1 last year. Critics Last October the 50p cover price was dropped and circulation was boosted from 250,000 to 600,000, the idea being the more people you reached the more advertising you could get – though people in Outer London have long found the paper hard to find. The demise of rival titles, Rupert Murdoch owned News International’s thelondonpaper and Associated Newspapers (part of Daily Mail and General Trust) has undoubtedly helped the Standard’s transition. Many media commentators thought there would eventually be an unavoidable loss in the quality of copy and there have been critics of the papers new 'lifestyle' approach epitomised by new Editor Geordie Greig. It suggests the Standard has an average of 2.3 readers per copy with male readers favouring the title: 878,000 compared to 491,000 women. The NRS figures also show the Standard's proportion of ABC1 readers was 76.7 per cent and that younger people were reading the paper. Long term, the industry has advocated a model similar to that of the Manchester Evening News, where papers are handed out free in the city centre but paid for in the outer areas Jon O’Donnell, the Standard’s ad director, said: "We are delighted with the numbers as they are higher than we had expected but absolutely in line with our aims… Our advertisers have been incredibly supportive and we are delighted to be able to repay them with these readership figures at this early stage." Photo - Wikipedia
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