Metro Publishing Hong Kong managing director Peter Kuo said the changes were in response to readers' demands and lifestyles and that the slow pick-up of the paper's Saturday edition had prompted the change.
He said 40 per cent of the readers of Metro's audited 302,000 daily copies did not work on Saturday. "We are reallocating all our resources and putting all our energy into Monday through to Friday."
Kuo said the decision would also bring the paper in line with the policy of parent company Metro International. Apart from its Stockholm edition, the Sweden-based company does not publish a Saturday edition in any of the other 16 countries in which it operates. Metro, which made its debut in April 2002, is a 24-page Chinese language "news summary" that is distributed freely at all 48 MTR stations, as well as other central locations above ground with heavy commuter traffic.
The publication eyes a target market that is largely overlooked by the mainstream newspapers, the young, well-educated, commuter traveling to work. The paper, which is designed to be read during a 20-minute commute, has also received a facelift in response to requests from focus groups.
There is a larger font and the number of colours incorporated in the paper has been reduced. "What I found out from the focus groups is that they want to see one to two colours in their news." The number of pages is also being bumped up to 40, with about 56 per cent given over to ads.