The publisher of the Daily Mirror is to launch a new national newspaper at the end of the month, just weeks after the Independent announced it was dropping its print edition.

New Day, which could still undergo a name change before it launches nationally on 29 February, is expected to target a mid-market audience occupied by the Mail and Express.

It is expected to be initially priced at about 20p, the same price as the cut-price national i when it launched in 2010, but will be raised depending on reader demand.

One source briefed on the launch said that while the ultimate pricing was fluid it is has been described as ultimately being “anywhere up to under £1”.

i, which was sold by Evgeny Lebedev to Johnston Press for £25m last week, has a circulation of 270,000, with 70,000 bulks, and a cover price of 40p.

It is understood that the “settle-down” paid-for circulation target is about 200,000 sales a day.

The initial print run of the title could be as many as 2m copies, including a free distribution plan to boost interest.

When Rupert Murdoch launched the Sun on Sunday, News UK’s return to the market following the closure of the News of the World, he initially ran a print run of more than 3m copies.

“The aim will be for more like a Mail and Express-type audience,” said one media industry source who has been briefed by Trinity Mirror. “A sort of everything for everyone paper in the mid-market rather than a direct attempt at entering the quality market like i. I don’t think you could say it is an attempt to take the market of i.”

Trinity Mirror has been working on a new cut-price national title since last year.

In September, Richard Desmond attempted to start a tabloid price war by slashing the cost of the Daily Star in half to 20p.

An interesting result of that strategy was that while sales of the Daily Star increased significantly – although not enough to offset the lost revenue by dropping the price – rivals the Sun and Mirror did not lose sales.

“What Trinity Mirror saw was that readers were not defecting to Desmond despite the lower cost of his title, but he also did boost sales,” said one media industry source. “There wasn’t the cannibalisation perhaps expected so it pointed to an opportunity to expand the market and appeal to a new newspaper buyer with a new product.”

On the advertising front it is understood that the ratio of ad space to editorial will initially be much lower than at other national titles, a strategy expected to drive reader loyalty in the launch phase.

In addition, Trinity will charge less for print ad space than any other newspaper in the market, except the Indy which is to close next month.

Again, this is an attempt to attract media agencies, who buy ads on behalf of advertisers, as the newest and smallest of the national titles.

Johnston Press, the new owner of the i, was quick to differentiate its new acquisition from New Day.



“Trinity Mirror’s new paper is a very different product to the i, aimed at a very different audience,” said a spokesman for the newspaper publisher. “The i, under Johnston Press’ ownership, will remain a quality daily broadsheet, whereas New Day will be firmly mid-market. The i has growing circulation revenues and we are confident of continuing this trend.”



The details of Trinity Mirror’s new national newspaper launch was first reported by Sky News.