Free Dailies in the European Cross-Border Metropolis: The State-Based Economic Deals

Abstract

This article examines the business model of free metropolitan newspapers in a cross-border context. Based on a series of interviews with economic agents and on a content analysis of articles and advertising inserts in three free dailies published in transfrontier metropolises, the analysis explores the ability of editing companies to profit from commercial revenues and resources located beyond the state border. The results indicate that this boundary is crossed to settle agreements between publishers at the international level. However, economic assets located beyond the state but within cross-border regions are rarely valuable. The lack of mobility of advertisers, readers/customers, and publishers in the functional urban areas determines the scale and limits of the free newspapers’ commercial space.