The classified free sheet in Asia

A report in London's Guardian Unlimited on the New York Times plans for a free weekly for commuters set us thinking about this phenomenen in Asia, the impact of the Internet on it and the potential impact for B2B.

Metro has already established itself in Hong Kong and Seoul. It claims to be the third most read newspaper in Hong Kong.

Generally, most B2B weeklies in Asia have never succeeded in pulling in much classified advertisng. The big city newspapers such as Hong Kong's South China Morning Post and Singapore's Straits Times have for many years appeared more attractive to most corporate advertisers seeking staff than small circulation B2B magazines.

The Internet doesn't seem to have changed that too much with most major newspapers offering on-line add-ons to their existing classified packages.

The free sheets are now mopping up most of what low-end classified ad business there was for the B2B publishers. Haymarket's Media is a notable exception and we shall be interested to see if others have any success in emulating what it does.