CityAM should hit Europe

Big news for CityAm today. It’s upping its distribution around 30,000 copiesto 130,000 and is busy convincing media agencies and advertisers that this necessitates a small advertising uplift- a move which coincides with a refresh to the paper.

The idea was planned last year as the top two at the paper, chief executive Jens Torpe and managing director Lawson Muncaster, believed there was scope for more readers in Surrey, Kent and south London.

CityAM has always been a paper high on ambition and has often talked of launching the paper  in other citites- such as Glasgow and Manchester- but the difficult economic climate has thwarted its ambitions.

Muncaster is a larger-than-life character who, along with the more reserved Torpe, has defied critics who suggested the financial free was not a sustainable product. On the way, amidst the  restaurant reviews and Diary page, it has unearthed a few scoopes during the economic fallout.

CityAM has now been going for over five years and has establsihed itself as part of the Square Mile fabric. In 2011, CityAM is expcted to turn in a pre-tax profits of around £450,000, like it did in 2010.

The consensus from media agencies is that CityAM is moving at the right time and in the right place- and the modest uplift in ad rates, believed to be around 1%, will not be met with too much resistance.

Jo Blake, head of press at Arena Media, said: “It seems like a no brainer to increase distribution to people in the home counties” as many of them are there target market and will be able to read the paper on their commute into The City.

The big question will be how much further CityAM can take the brand in-and-around London without diluting its core proposition as a business title? Papers are a dieing medium and CityAM’s online presence is not as yet a flagship product.

Perhaps CityAm neeeds to put its head down and ignore the prevailing winds by launching the brand overseas, take a  leaf out of Metro International’s books, where Muncaster used to work.

A quality, free, specialised financial paper could be a hit with readers across European capital cities, and with it lure in some fresh big-brand advertisers.