Manchester-owned London free daily City A.M. has cut its Monday print edition, taking the paper from four to three days a week and putting a “renewed focus” on video and audio journalism on Mondays and Fridays.
Manchester ecommerce and web and creative services group THG acquired CITY A.M. out of administration in 2023, promising significant investment and to make the paper a “cheerleader” for UK business. The paper has appointed its first UK editor, based in Manchester and covering stories outside the capital, since the takeover, as well as announcing a financial news sharing partnership with Reach plc.
“We are basically still a start-up, that’s how we think of ourselves, which means we need to be nimble, experimental, and play to our strengths,” said Christian May, City A.M.’s editor-in-chief, explaining the latest move.
“Our print edition is hugely important to us, and to many of you, and we are committed to it, which is why we’ve relaunched 530 smart new distribution points across London.
“From now on, we’re going to focus that edition on three days a week: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.”
A “small number” of jobs are understood to be at risk at the title as a result of the move.
City A.M. cut its Friday edition in early 2023 in response to low take-up, with city workers increasingly working from home on Fridays, alongside a general drop in commuter footfall in London since the pandemic.
May said the paper will be considering increasing its circulation on remaining print days, with the reduced print circulation meaning he could direct resources to high-impact journalism.
“Without a newspaper on Mondays and Fridays, I’m able to redeploy my journalists, which is why you will start to see fresh, original new video and particularly audio products launched on Mondays and Fridays,” he said.
“We’re going to make sure the three days a week edition is full of great analysis, original journalism, longform features.”
Despite continued headlines about workers being ordered back to the office, according to Virgin Media O2 data only 48% of Brits work five days a week from the office. Some 74% of Brits commute to work on Wednesdays, however, and according to TfL data the vast majority of hybrid working commutes are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, which remain at around 80% of pre-Covid traffic.
In September 2024, City A.M. struck a deal with the Evening Standard, picking up the now-weekly paper’s distribution points on weekdays.
