Metro reaches more adults aged 18 and over living in Manhattan than The Post or The Daily News. Credit: Tracy Crinion
Metro New York is still the No. 1 most-read free daily newspaper in New York, according to recent industry figures by the independent market research company Scarborough.
Scarborough reported that Metro reached a whopping 1,509,438 readers over the age of 18 every week in print and online. That’s a record high, 128,561 more than its free daily competitor.
“While our print readership remains strong, these figures reflect our increased focus on growing our online presence with the relaunch of metro-us.go-vip.net website,” says Yggers Mortensen, Metro US publisher and CEO. “Metro is no longer solely a newspaper; it is growing into a full-fledged news media company.”
Indeed, Metro’s online readership continues to explode since the launch of its new website in February. Metro.us has grown to nearly one million unique visitors per month.
Meanwhile, the Daily News and the New York Post posted their worst print readership figures — in just one year, the Post lost 1 in 5 daily readers, while the Daily News lost 1 in 8 print readers. Today, Metro reaches more adults aged 18 and over living in Manhattan than either of those publications.
“The traditional newspaper model, which relies on consumers to buy it, is broken,” says Mortensen. “Metro’s controlled distribution model and free, quality content seems unaffected by the fast-changing media environment.”
With 30 percent of Metro readers aged 18 to 34 and 73 percent of Metro readers aged 21 to 54, Metro is the newspaper with the youngest profile in town. Metro also proves to be particularly popular with women, who make up 54 percent of our readers. Parents are also fond of Metro, with 32 percent of readers having children at home.
Metro readers by the numbers
1 in 4:
• Plans to look for a new job in the coming year
• Plans a trip outside of the continental U.S. next year
• Visited an art museum in the past year
1 in 5:
• Plans to move or change address
• Is willing to relocate to outside U.S. for a better job opportunity
• Plans to attend continuing education classes
• Attended a dance or ballet performance in the past year
Facts about Metro readers
• Favorite department stores: Target and Macy’s
• On average, they/you spent 1 hour 7 minutes and 48 seconds on social media. They/you send 18 text messages per day.
• On average, they/you spent $838 on online purchases last year.
• Next year, Metro readers will buy 61,173 tablet computers, 41,632 HDTVs, 35,588 digital cameras and 30,976 video game systems.
Source: Scarborough R2 2013
