News Ltd is basking in some good press coverage (except from their competitors) today following the launch of MX in Sydney.
The ABC provides a balanced report online. Australia is years behind the world in offering free commuter tabloids. I’d say this is in part due to our size and in part due to real daily newspaper competition in only two cities. In Europe the free and ultra lost cost fast read space is highly competitive. Publishers overseas seem to enter the space to attract readers their full price would not/could not reach. This provides a more attratcive sell to advertisers and that’s at the heart of the strategy.
It’s got to be a transient strategy though as mobile listening devices, beyond iPods which we will consider clunky in a few years, will push mobile/commuter access to news to new places.
MX is not for everyone. I’ve seen the Melbourne edition plenty of times and can’t remember finding anything interesting I would want to read.