Chinese tabloid joins newspaper free-for-all
Commuters hungry for news have something extra to chew on - a new Chinese tabloid hit the market yesterday.
Sky Post, published by the Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET), is the fifth free daily in the city and the fourth in Chinese. The company said its initial circulation would be 300,000.
With the addition of Sky Post, about two million free newspapers will be distributed in Hong Kong daily. The free sheet with the highest circulation is Headline Daily, which prints 800,000 copies a day.
The HKET Group said Sky Post was aimed at young people as it offered a mix of stories on current affairs, entertainment and style.
Professor Anthony Fung Ying-him of Chinese University's school of journalism and communication said this was understandable, as young people were more likely to spend and advertisers wanted to reach them.
Sze Wing-ching, owner of am730, a free Chinese paper that has a circulation of 380,000, said he was optimistic about Sky Post joining the fray.
'The budget of advertising has climbed steadily since 2009 after the financial meltdown,' he said. 'Sky Post will make the pie of advertising larger.'
Sky Post's predecessor was Take me Home, a free district-based weekly. The Chinese name of Sky Post is ching po, meaning 'Sunny Paper'. Its editors said they hoped readers would feel sunny after reading it.
'We hope to give readers funny, inspiring, surprising and trendy information,' the HKET Group said.
The paper will be distributed at major transport hubs around the city from Monday to Friday.
