London now has four free sheets,

Defenders of the free world

With London now the home of no fewer than four freesheets, Piet Bakker takes a tour of the giveaway titles that have done most to change the global newspaper market.

The first free commuter daily was launched in 1995 in Stockholm. By 2000 there were more than 40 free dailies in 20 countries with a total circulation of 8 million. Today, the number of countries with such dailies has doubled, the number of titles has more than tripled and circulation is four times as high (31 million).

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