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July 3, 2007

Johnston Press plans more niche launches

By Press Gazette

Johnston Press has promised to launch more newspapers aimed at niche community markets this year, after creating a new weekly title aimed at Oxfordshire commuters.

The title will be compiled using stories from the Banbury Guardian and Bicester Review and will be run by those titles’ respective editors, John Gibbons and Rob Gibbard.

The first 5,000 copies of The Commuter were delivered to Banbury and Bicester North railway stations last Monday.

Gibbons said the paper would provide commuters with a weekly ‘lite version’of the two regionals, including some of their best reports. It will also include listings and events information.

It will be aimed at commuters using the Chiltern line between London and Birmingham.

The launch of The Commuter comes six months after Johnston Press launched its new Leeds student title, City Lite, which has a weekly distribution of 6,000.

Johnston Press chief executive Tim Bowdler told Press Gazette that the company will continue rolling out free commuter and weekly titles targeted at micro-communities throughout the year.

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He said: ‘What we are trying to do in broad terms is pinpoint people in the community, whether they’re commuters, students or just local people.”

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