Lebedev to launch Saturday i

Paper expected to hit newsstands within the next few weeks priced at 30p Alexander Lebedev is poised to bring his brand of cut-price national news to the weekend market with the launch of a 30p Saturday edition of the i. Lebedev gave the greenlight to launch 20p weekday national newspaper the i in October last year in a bid to boost the flagging fortunes of stablemate the Independent and build on his portfolio of UK newspapers, which includes the London Evening Standard. After a shaky start , largely due to the bad weather before Christmas, the self-styled “essential daily briefing” has managed to build up daily sales of more than 170,000 fuelled by a multimillion pound ad campaign starring Dom Joly and Jemima Khan. The Independent publisher is now set to launch the i into the weekend market with a 30p Saturday version. It is understood it will hit newsstands on Saturday 7 May. Senior executives have been ecstatic at the success of the spin-off paper – particularly as there appears to have been little cannibalisastion of readership of the main Independent newspaper. Last month at a party celebrating the 100th issue of the i, Independent editor-in-chief Simon Kelner quipped the title was the “highlight of a long and not very glorious career” . The i recorded a slight month-on-month sales dip in March and executives are keen to maintain momentum with the incremental cost of producing a Saturday edition considered to be well worth the possible revenue gains. Saturday is considered to be the most profitable, and biggest-selling, day of the week for many national titles. For the Independent, which has seen its paid-for circulation in the UK and Ireland drop to less than 85,000, the launch has been something of a lifeline. The Independent has been negotiating to as much as double the amount it charges for advertising by bundling space in the 20p spin-off into deals based on the fact that the combined headline circulation of both titles tops 353,000. The total paid-for circulation of the two titles is 255,000. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook . i Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Independent Print Alexander Lebedev Media business Mark Sweney guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 20, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.