The Standard's decision to more than double its circulation to 600,000 by distributing free issues to London commuters is a rescue strategy for the paper, which is now going toe-to-toe for advertisers with the Metro and London Lite.
While the price separation is gone, the Standard claims it will continue to differentiate its product offering from that of the other freesheets.
Keith Moor, director of brand and communications at Abbey and an advertiser in the first edition of the relaunch, believes the Standard must maintain its quality, to appeal to advertisers.
'It is a strong brand, one that is associated with quality and breaking news,' he says. 'It could hurt London Lite. It's easy to imagine a world in which consumers pick up the Metro in the morning and the Standard in the evening.'
The Evening Standard, which had been generating about £12.5m a year in cover price revenue, has set a post-relaunch target of breaking even within three years.
However, to do this, it must reduce its overheads. Andrew Mullins, managing director at the Standard, recently said the cost of losing circulation revenue will be covered by saving £5m on marketing alone.
Its owners spending less on the title raises the question of whether its current format is sustain-able in the long term. Mon-day's issue had 68 pages, compared with Metro's 56, and was identical in structure to its former paid-for incarnation.
It will be tempting for the Standard to reduce its issue sizes and cut sections, but it has claimed it will not do this.
'We will need to see whether it can maintain the same quality of audience, and that depends on whether it keeps its integrity,' says Ian Arm-strong, manager of customer communications at Honda. He added that, as a prospective advertiser, he would need compelling evidence to be persuaded to pay more for ad space in the Standard than other freesheets.
The first issue included full-page ads from Abbey, Audi, Dixons and 3. Marks & Spencer took out two half-page ads, and Lloyds TSB, Air France, John Lewis and Land Rover also booked space.
Alan Brydon, head of press at media agency MPG and a former ad director at the paper, says it is too early to tell whether there will be an uplift in ad sales. How-ever, he reports that clients have been enquiring about running ads in the paper. 'It is a lot more interesting to clients, now,' he says. 'I can guarantee that, in time, there will be an increase in ads.'
The Standard has always prided itself on being London's quality evening newspaper. The average age of its readership is 40, compared with 36 for the Metro and 34 for the London Lite. However, to continue to attract advertising and appeal to its core audience, it must maintain its quality, regardless of the temptation to do otherwise.