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Financial Times becomes free paper (in airports)

Apologies for the light posting, blame the poor battery life of my laptop (soon to be replaced) and the heinous delays piled upon delays that is international air travel via Heathrow. Ugh!

I went to Frankfurt earlier this week and was struck by the way that once you’ve passed security (no mean feat at Heathrow) all newspapers become free (if you look in the right places).

It used to be that on some airlines you would be offered a newspaper on the flight. It acted as a value add for the airline, and boosted the circulation of the newspaper – it’s a famous win:win ruse for papers’ ABC figures massage…

The approach in airports for the FT for instance seems to be more akin to the business model of the Metro, Londonpaper and London Lite et al (plus the Argus Lite in Brighton & Hove, I might add). Have a look at this blurry but very grand promotional stand for the FT in Frankfurt Airport encouraging passers-by to take their free copy of the compact European edition of the paper…

Would have been slightly peeved if I’d just coughed up a couple of Euros for a copy. Given that had I then logged on to FT.com in the arrivals lounge I would have need to pay for a subscription one might take this approach as further fuel to the idea of physical newspapers eventually becoming promotional support for their online brands… 

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Antony Mayfield

2 responses to “Financial Times becomes free paper (in airports)”

  1. Mr.CharlieO Avatar
    Mr.CharlieO

    Just a note to point out that this is nothing new – I’ve been flying regularly between the UK and Copenhagen for the last four years or so, and there have always been free copies of the FT available both in Arrivals & Departures – and yes, I’m sure it pissed off a few people who’d splashed out some Kroners in WHSmith – but let’s face it: a) they can afford it, and b) they’re just being punished for lack of observational skills!

    I’d also like to take this opportunity to plug The Copenhagen Daily Post – Denmark’s fantastic and only all-english newspaper – which is rather misleadingly named, as I believe it’s still published weekly…!?(please correct me if I’m wrong) It’s also free throughout Copenhagen International, and helped me keep track of ‘Dansk Nyhed’.

    Also of note – anyone keeping track of the freesheet war in the South between Metro & Argus Lite? There have been some heated-looking exchanges between distributors outside Brighton station i’ve noticed! My Tip for the Argus – STAPLES!

  2. Antony Mayfield Avatar
    Antony Mayfield

    There’s a prize (a free copy of the FT) photographic or video evidence of heated exchanges between free sheet distributors at Brighton station… :-)

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