Metro will also publish an additional Tablet Edition later in the day, seven days a week, during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
325,000 printed copies of the weekend issues will be available on Saturday and Sunday mornings in London. As well as the main news, there will be an extended Olympic section with London focussed features and sport.
The additional interactive Tablet Edition, published later in the day, will include coverage of the day’s events and previews of the evening events plus features on the main athletes and key action. Readers across the UK will be able to access the main news headlines, video content, a live current medals table and results page plus Twitter feeds and blogs from Metro’s reporters and bloggers at the Games.
Metro will also be enhancing its social media presence on Twitter (@MetroUK) with a dedicated Olympics feed (@Metro_Olympics) and on its website at www.metro.co.uk/olympics.
David Vokes, Director of Olympics at Metro, said: “These exciting new products will provide Metro's urbanites with a real insight into the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Along with our daily newspaper, Tablet Edition, mobile app and website, Metro will offer consumers 24/7 multi-platform coverage of the Games as they move between work and play this summer. This presents great opportunities for advertisers looking to interact and engage with our urbanite audience.”
Kenny Campbell, Editor of Metro, said: “At a time when the world’s eyes are on London, we will be providing our readers across the UK with a great Metro experience seven days a week. Under Sports Editor, David Gurney, our team are gearing up to cover the euphoria of the Games in true Metro style, with comprehensive at-event coverage and analysis. Our special weekend issues will include everything that Metro provides during weekdays which will also have a celebratory and souvenir feel. ”
Linda Grant (pictured), Managing Director of Metro, said: “We are continuing to develop our mobile and digital products to extend the appeal of Metro beyond the traditional commute. We know that the urbanite audience are highly engaged with mobile technology and these innovations allow them to interact with us more frequently throughout the day and help them get the most out of their Olympic experience.”
Metro’s Tablet Edition is available across the UK on via Apple’s Newsstand and in Google Play’s marketplace for Android devices.
Users who have subscribed to the daily Metro Tablet Edition will receive a notification later in the day to download the additional Olympic Edition. Metro’s Tablet Edition, the first ever interactive version of the newspaper designed specifically for tablet devices, launched on iPad in October 2011. The Newsstand app has received over 360,000 downloads and now has more than 125,000 active subscribers and 75,000 readers every day.
The Metro Tablet Edition allows readers to view national and world news, sport and features as well as interactive video and photo galleries.
