Free London business newspaper City AM is looking at dropping its Monday print edition, going down to three days a week.
Staff were told on Tuesday that the planned changes will put a small number of roles at risk of redundancy.
City AM initially went down to a four-day print run in January 2023 when it dropped Fridays in response to City workers preferring to stay at home to end the week post-Covid.
It is now consulting with staff and its advertising partners on reducing its print run further to Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays only.
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It believes the print advertising volume it has seen in 2024 can be accommodated across three days each week.
If it goes ahead the plan will happen in 2025 and the quarterly City AM Magazine, which relaunched after Covid this year, will not be affected.
A City AM spokesperson told Press Gazette: “City AM remains committed to its print product as a key part of its offer to business audiences in Europe’s most affluent financial and consumer market. Our newly relaunched magazine will also remain a key part of this.
“We will continue to build the City AM brand through digital and social channels, not least through the new City AM Studios in London, while focusing print publication on the midweek days which attract the greatest footfall amongst our target audience.”
Since the Friday edition was dropped, City AM has been bought by online beauty retailer THG which has invested in the brand digitally including with the launch of its first app. The app, which had been downloaded 41,000 times by the end of October, is expected to be a particular area of development next year, as are newsletters.
City AM chief operating officer Harry Owen told staff in an email, seen by Press Gazette: “This shift will become increasingly important in City AM’s future, as our media strategy continues to reflect new and growing audiences, consuming City AM content outside of print.
“Whilst our enthusiasm for newspapers has not changed, we recognise that the majority of City AM’s readers are now interacting with the product digitally.”
In September City AM’s website reached 1.5 million people in the UK according to Ipsos iris, with an average of 1 minutes and 53 seconds spent per person.
Meanwhile City AM’s average daily print distribution was 68,144 having stayed largely steady for the past two years. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, during which it paused print entirely for 18 months, it was putting out around 85,000 copies per day.
In September City AM won the distribution contract for the newly-rebranded weekly London Standard and they now share co-branded bins across London. The free Red Bulletin magazine owned by Red Bull has also now been added to the network.
Owen said at the time that the deal meant "high quality print content is available seven days a week across London" because City AM now sits in the bins from Monday morning until Thursday lunchtime when the Standard's weekly edition arrive and take the space through the weekend.
City AM recently moved into new offices in Cheapside, London, housing it alongside THG staff for the first time. The new office includes a production studio as it ramps up video and audio output.
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