City AM is a free business-focused newspaper distributed in and around London, England, with an accompanying website. In 2023, it had a monthly online readership between 1.8m and 2m and print circulation of 67,714.[2]
History
City AM was launched in September 2005. Its launch editor was former Sunday Times and Sunday Express journalist David Parsley. He was succeeded by Allister Heath, who joined in February 2008 and was editor for six years. He was previously the editor of The Business, a weekly magazine which closed in February 2008. David Hellier, formerly of The Independent and the Daily and Sunday Express, replaced Heath and served until 2015 when he was replaced by Christian May. Andy Silvester replaced May in November 2020, relaunching the newspaper and website after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Content
The news section is primarily made up of business, financial and economic stories, as well as political and regulatory stories relevant to its readership. The paper regularly runs interviews of business leaders. The news pages also contain a variety of corporate and economic comment. In recent years, the newspaper has expanded its coverage away from purely financial stories towards wider reporting on the business environment at large, and has significantly increased its coverage of tech, fintech and hospitality businesses in particular. The lifestyle pages cover a vast range of subject matters, including travel, restaurant reviews, food, fashion, technology, books, arts, entertainment, motoring and property. The sport section reports and comments on all the major events and games, with a bias towards sports of interest to London-based professionals.
The paper's philosophy is broadly supportive of the free-market economy, of capitalism, of private enterprise and of the City of London and those who work in it. In recent years, the paper has also been more outspoken than other UK newspapers on the need to build more housing, liberalise immigration law and support the London economy.
The paper's front page is dominated by a large capitalised banner headline reminiscent of a traditional UK popular newspaper. The rest of the news stories, as well as the commentary and features, come in bite-sized chunks, in a modern compact-style format illustrated with images, bullet points and diagrams.
The newspaper includes a debate column in the comments section, which involves politicians with an opposite view on a subject, such as on Brexit or economic reform, give short answers explaining their case.[3]
City AM is also one of the only newspapers in the UK with a dedicated weekly crypto and blockchain technology column.[citation needed]
Alongside the newspaper, other initiatives include The Magazine, a bi-monthly lifestyle magazine for City professionals, and the City AM Awards, an annual event that celebrates London's individuals and companies. The publication also runs its own content marketing platform, City Talk, that allows partners to publish content to the platform, representing the voices and views of the City beyond the editorial staff.
City AM front page from 2023
Ownership
City AM Ltd was sold to THG plc by The Blue Bull Limited, NashCo Ltd and co-founders Lawson Muncaster and Jens Torpe in July 2023.[2]
Distribution
The newspaper is published in print Monday to Thursday with a "digital edition" on Fridays,[4] and is distributed at more than 400 selected commuter hubs across London and the Home Counties, as well as over 500 offices throughout the City, Canary Wharf and other areas of high business concentration, with an average daily circulation of 67,090 copies as of January 2023. It is typically available from around 6am at London commuter stations and is handed out at key points in the City, Canary Wharf and other central London locations.[5]
There are now three principal free newspapers in London: Metro (which also distributes nationally), City AM, and the London Evening Standard. City AM is aimed at private-sector workers, especially those in finance, professional and business services and corporations, and those who are interested in investing and personal finance.
Website
The newspaper announced a major digital expansion in March 2014 and appointed Metro's head of digital content Martin Ashplant to be its digital and social media director. Chief executive Jens Torpe said at the time that he expected the website audience to grow to be bigger than the printed version.[6] In October 2014, City AM reported that it had seen its website traffic grow almost three-fold in a year.[7] In 2015, cityam.com became the first UK newspaper website to prevent users with ad blockers switched on from reading content.[8]
The website was relaunched under the editorship of Andy Silvester in 2021, alongside the relaunch of the newspaper after the pandemic. It achieved a series of record months for traffic after the relaunch.
