The concept behind the Metro chain of free newspapers boils down to this: if you can’t beat them, join them. Carlos Oliva-Vélez, executive vice president of Metro International in Sweden, spoke about how newspapers worldwide have faced the challenge of Metro.

Faced with information being offered to the public for free, what is a newspaper to do? Some have increased their content, or become more specialized, or offered greater distribution. "All of which are good ideas," said Mr Oliva-Vélez, but the trends that led to Metro was different. "In order to achieve the aim of reaching everybody in the world, we had to think on a global scale. We had to think about cities, cities all over the world. We started in Stockholm 10 years ago, and today we have 56 editions in 78 cities," said Oliva-Vélez.

He presented a case for the free newspaper model. Metro’s goal is not modest -- they want to reach everyone in the world.

Among the results this far:
  From zero readers ten years ago to 3.7 million daily readers five years ago to more than 15 million today. An annual growth rate of almost 20 percent. And most of them are new readers of newspapers.
  The Metro reader is between 13 and 40, working or studying, and the gender breakdown is 50 percent men and 50 percent women -- a profile very different from traditional newspapers.
  Though Metro is a global concept, it has to provide local information. "For that reason, all the editions are adapted to each individual city, to each different environment, with its different characteristics and paying attention to local content."
  Distributing the newspaper by hand is "a gesture that makes a difference. A gesture that brings us closer to our readers every day."
  For advertisers, "we strive to break the rules and eliminate the traditional press barriers." The newspaper has constant promotions, special actions and prides itself in being adaptable. It has its own distribution network "which means there are endless possibilities regarding distribution flexibility or joint actions. We can carry out a wrap action which has a great street effect which is almost like an outdoor campaign."