Interesting but risky strategy by ian fernandez regarding the people newspaper now free to depend solely on revenue from advertising the risky part is what happens if advertisers do not respond also how will they implement the free part given that newspaper vendors have to get their cut

You are very right! Distributing that newspaper will be a challenge. It may cost them more to distribute because vendors must get their cut. Let us wait and see how it goes, I am sure he must have considered that too.

The easiest and most cost effective way to go around this is to set up branded boxes and place them at strategic places like kencom westlands uppperhill also do the same in the other big cities where members of the public can pick ONE free copy but this being kenya mtu moja atakuwa anabeba zote.

We might have another case study in a few months time if fernandes and his team do not execute this properly

I was given in traffic jam.I thought its just a promotion!Kumbe its free forever?

Fernandez has gone for the jugular. If this is sustained long enough (for which they have pockets and political reasons to do) PD will have the highest circulation in no time. Standard will die. NMG will soon be gasping for breath as the advertisers go for the bigger growing reach. 2017 here we come. Game on,

NMG model of free pdf in my opinion is the way to go. They will not only hit the rural areas consistently (hence good returns for advertisers) but they will also be covering the diaspora catchment area. Print media is dying, free print media is a disaster, and free print has a very small readership (I cant get a copy, much as I'm in Nairobi).

Which 'free pdf' is this?

New developments as X news another free newspaper sells 40% stake to fusion capital.

If the people and Xnews gains in readership and be able to sustain the free model then the main papers have some serious compe ahead

The future for print media is free news, and the future for media as a whole is digital, web and SMS services. Companies are looking for an efficient and targeted way to promote their products and this is what Xtra will offer,” said Xtra Publishing chief executive Paul Marshall in a statement.

Not quite sure if the free model is working. How do they compensate the vendors who hand out the paper? I suspect they are on a fixed salary, which explains why they are so lethargic in the morning when all the rest who survive on commissions are busy running and weaving through traffic at roundabouts selling because their mullah is directly related to what they sell.
They need to sell at a cost where all the proceeds go to the vendor, i.e. sell it at ksh 5/-. That way the vendors will be charging at you trying to close a sale. BTW, if a People vendor decides to just go home with all the papers instead of distributing them (karatasi ya kuwasha jiko), how can it be verified that they were given out?

Freesheets is just part of the market diversification and I doubt they will really hit Nation bottom in the short run. What the PD will do is reduce quality, reduce journalistic quality and stick to tabloidish/ main news cycle material, and they will definitely work on reducing their supply chain cost. I am sure as with most FMCG supply chain cost account for 40-60% of the cost of the news paper. If they can reduce their supply chain cost while increasing coverage they will likely get their numbers up.

The next important question is whether advertiser will advertise in their paper. In the short term they will have to prove their utility and who their readership is before they start getting advertisers.

This is however exciting let the market grow and Im glad big business are actually trying new and risky things instead of stick to the good old and tested. #progress!