Swiss publisher Ringier is promoting its tabloid Blik by distributing 150,000 free copies in Kiev every Monday, a circulation boosting tactic the publisher began yesterday.

While a team of 200 promoters hand out the paper for free on Mondays, on other days Ringier is trying other tactics, such as sweepstakes, to increase circulation.

Blik has a weekday circulation of 93,000, and was launched in May 2006.

Ringier also publishes two free newspapers in Switzerland, heute and Cash Daily, as well as many magazines and its own Blick. In Hungary, the group publishes Blikk and in Serbia it publishes Blic, Newspaper Innovation reported.

It also publishes free dailies 24 Hodin in the Czech Republic, 24 Sata in Serbia and Compact in Romania.