Denmark: Free sheets with a glitchy start

Bland uniformity, logistical problems and now an overburdened distribution system. The first casualty in the Danish free newspaper battle is quality. Denmark has 5.3 million inhabitants and four, soon to be five, free daily newspapers. The battle for readership and advertising figures is correspondingly intense. The publishers of the new free papers 24timer and Dato no longer just wanted to have their newspapers distributed, but to deliver them free of charge to 500,000 Danish households. But as Diepresse.com now reports, the publishers were unable to keep their promises - both distribution systems failed, leaving readers with nothing but frustration in their letterboxes. It would have been frustration in the letterbox if the distribution had worked - the newspapers are not even convincing their publishers and there is also a problem with up-to-dateness: not even the result of the international football match the previous evening was reported.
A bad start to the hot Danish newspaper fall for the two traditional publishers Berlingske and J.P./Politiken. Both free papers were launched when the Icelandic group Dagsbrun announced that it wanted to repeat the success story of the free paper Nyhedsavisen in Denmark (see
The international battle in the free newspaper market). The paper will be launched in a few weeks, until then the locals have time to fix their glitches