The Metro brand was launched in March 1999 as a London only free newspaper. It was designed to be a concise read containing bite-sized national and international news, wrapped around local information – entertainment previews, weather and travel.

It now distributes 1.3 million copies in 16 urban areas across the UK every weekday morning and has over 3 million loyal, daily readers. Published by Associated Newspapers, who also publish Ireland On Sunday, the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Loot, it delivers a young Urban audience in each of its 16 Urban Areas.

The free newspaper style is now a worldwide phenomenon publishing 44 million copies daily in 56 countries world wide. Across the world, these have a global reach of 18m daily readers and over 38 million weekly readers.