Evening Standard readership increases by 130%

The Evening Standard has enjoyed a huge increase in readership since it went free in November of last year. The Standard distributes some 600,000 free copies a day in London, and according to the National Readership Survey had an estimated readership of 1.35m a day in the six months to March, an increase of 130% year on year.

The NRS is based on surveys of around 36,000 people over the course of a year, rather than actual circulation, so is only an estimate. Readership estimates are far higher than actual circulation because each newspaper copy is often read by more than one person.