Regional newspapers owned by Guardian News & Media and Trinity Mirror have seen success in the first half of 2008 by switching to partly free and partly paid models, Media Week reported Tuesday.

The Birmingham Post, owned by Trinity, and the Manchester Evening News, owned by GNM, are both seeing circulation increases, thanks to new distribution models.

The Manchester Evening News began its partly free and partly paid model in May 2006. It is handed out for free in the city centre, and is paid in other areas. Circulation at the paper is up 85.8 percent from last year, and 98.6 percent over last period. In the first half of 2008, the paper's average circulation reached 161,545, according to Media Week.

“If you go into the city centre at lunchtime, you will see young people with a free copy. They are often people who would never buy the paid-for paper,” said Becky Gagan, press account director at Feather Brooksbank, Media Week reported.

The Birmingham Post, meanwhile, posted a 0.9 percent circulation increase year-on-year, and 2 percent increase over last period. Its average daily circulation is 12,795, with 3,795 copies distributed for free during the period, Media Week reported. In the second half of 2007, however, circulation was down 1.2 percent from one period to the next, and down by 1.9 percent from the previous year.