In an effort to attract readers from both paid newspapers and free papers, Spanish group Mediapro has launched a new daily paper which will cost half of what paid competitors charge, but embody the breezier style of free dailies.

The new half-price daily, Publico, has 64 colour pages, and will feature larger pictures, more graphics and shorter articles than its paid competitors. It is also larger than the 20-some page free dailies that are so popular in Spain, according to a report by AFP. It will cost 50 cents, compared to 1 euro, which is what most paid papers cost.

The newspaper will have a print run of 250,000 copies, and target young urban residents who started reading newspapers as free dailies became popular, Juan Pedro Valentin, Publico's director-general, told AFP.

Mediapro would not forecast newspapers sales, the news service reported.

"We can call this newspaper a sort of hybrid," Carlos Lozano, president of the Association for Mass Media Investigation, is quoted as saying by AFP. The newspaper's choice to walk the line between free and paid could work, he added, noting that readership of free newspapers is rising, while paid newspapers are holding up even as competition from the Internet and freesheets gets stronger.

Four in 10 of Spain's most read newspapers are freesheets, which attracted younger readers, immigrants and those in with lower socio-economic status. Paid newspapers have a stronghold on older people and those with a slightly higher social class, Lozano told AFP.

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