Last week, the Daily and Sunday Express began a series of price cuts, which saw the Saturday and Sunday editions halve their cover prices to 25p and 50p respectively.
As well as price cuts at the weekend, Express Newspapers has opted for a hefty reduction in the price of the Daily Express, which has lopped 15p off of its 35p cover price making it half the price of the Daily Mail.
The price-cutting move is being backed up by a £1.5m TV advertising campaign across the London Carlton TV region. Daily Express editor Chris Williams told the Press Gazette that he "wouldn't rule out a long campaign".
The coverprice assault was launched by Express Newspapers proprietor Richard Desmond in response to an aggressive direct mail campaign by the Daily Mail to Express readers.
The mailout urged Express readers to abandon their normal newspaper because many of its writers had left to join the Mail and asked if they'd like to join them.
The direct marketing campaign by the Mail is nothing new to Desmond. The Associated Newspapers-owned Mail and the Daily Mirror have both targeted Express readers with previous mailings, which have drawn attention to the fact that he owns a stable of porn magazines.
The Daily and Sunday Express has been struggling to reach the golden 1m sales mark for years. The Daily Express had an ABC of just 882,175 in March, while the Sunday Express had an ABC of 838,510.
Williams, however, defends the drop in circulation, which he says has not been helped by Desmond's decision to exclude bulk copies from its ABCs.
Williams said: "When Desmond took over he found out that the circulation was propped up by dubious tactics. They were stopped immediately and circulation fell by 50,000 overnight."
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