Abstract

This studies focus if any relationships of substitution, replacement, and complementarities between freely provided newspaper and the charged newspaper markets. To answer this question, an investigation of what character of these free charged newspaper readers and how this group is structured are needed. This research, in the subject of the readers of Guangzhou Metro, through random sampling selected, received 225 copies of effective papers. This research discovers that, from the point view of characters of free charged newspaper readers as Guangzhou Metro, it is mainly young instead of rich which is as the publisher claimed; And from the point view of the existence of the group structure, according to the relationship with traditional charged newspaper, readers could be divided into three groups: cumulative readers, substitutive readers, new readers. In these three groups, cumulative readers occupy the highest fraction, substitutive readers’ turn up, is not in a high rate, and mainly in partial replacement, new readers’ group supports the traditionally charged newspapers in an oblique way. This report shows that freely charged newspapers haven’t post a threat to the traditional charged newspaper, and have double effect of replacement and complementation, the latter effect being bigger than the former.

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