Associated distributed 400,000 copies today after making trial runs of 20,000 copies on Friday and 100,000 copies yesterday.
It has secured first-mover advantage over rival News International in what observers are expecting to be a bitter fight as Rupert Murdoch attempts to break Associated's hold on the London daily market by launching thelondonpaper next Monday.
However, Dan Pimm, head of press at Universal McCann, believes Associated's eagerness to spoil thelondonpaper's chances means it does not have the product right yet.
He was unhappy with the production values of today's issue, having noticed it contained a number of blurred pictures, and questioned whether the paper's design was attractive enough to attract a younger audience.
"It's got that Associated look to it -- the black bold headlines. It's got the look of a more traditional newspaper rather than a young go-getting type of paper. It's got younger stories than the Evening Standard but they need a greater point of difference from the Standard," he said.
"It's OK. I think they haven't brought out the paper they wanted to. They wanted to bring it out in 2007 but had to act earlier because of thelondonpaper. I think they will make a lot of changes over the next few months."
Alex Randall, head of press at Aegis-owned media agency Vizeum, said: "It is more like a Standard Lite with a facelift, than something completely new. The listings are extremely extensive, so you can see that that comes from its Standard heritage, and the City pages show that same Standard feel."
"It's a nice looking newspaper and obviously, as it's free, it's going to give the readers value. It is hard to tell how it's going to stack up against thelondonpaper, as we haven't seen it yet, but the market is obviously going to get very interesting."
Mark Gallagher, head of press at Manning Gottlieb OMD, still thinks that London Lite has some way to go to impress upon advertisers and their agencies. He said: "The paper looks very similar to Standard Lite, and needs some more standout, it seems like a knee jerk reaction to the launch of thelondonpaper. Although I do expect it to muddy the waters when the real battle of the London based freesheets hots up next month."
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