Walk out of Monument, Bank, Moorgate or Liverpool Street tube stations on a Monday morning, and there’s a noticeable absence: no longer will there be a person standing at an exit, pushing copies of City A.M. into the hands of passing commuters.

It’s another milestone in the paper’s steady march away from its founding principles towards a transformation for something new. For the PR set, this presents new challenges – and some promising opportunities. 

A newspaper for the City, published in the City  

City A.M. initially branded itself a “tube paper” designed for free commuter consumption. Co-founder Lawson Muncaster explained the publication’s origins: 

“The concept to create a free newspaper targeting City professionals was formulated by me and my former partner Jens Torpe on a flight coming back from Poland, going over the Square Mile and landing at City Airport…The nature of our parish, the Square Mile, allowed us to be very specific, especially from an advertising perspective – we had a high yielding demographic the advertisers really were interested in.” 

Jens Torpe described City A.M.’s editorial positioning at launch in 2005: 

“In many ways [City A.M.] will be complementary to the FT…it is targeted at a younger readership… it will both be about people who earn money in the City and how they spend it.” 

Torpe posed that City A.M.’s model embodied inclusivity – accessible to anyone “from chairmen to chauffeurs”. 

However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this business model. Stay-at-home mandates emptied commuter trains, hygiene awareness made shared newspapers unappealing, and digital adoption permanently changed how audiences consume news. City A.M. suspended print publication in March 2020, only relaunching 18 months later.   

THG acquired City A.M. in July 2023, removing the threat of administration and repositioning the publication as a multimedia news platform. THG invested in City A.M.’s digital infrastructure, launching an app just two months after taking ownership. The app has now been downloaded more than 250,000 times.  

City A.M. remains a member of a thinning crowd – a British-owned media outlet. The Financial Times is run by Nikkei, while Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal are American assets. City A.M. emphasises this – it’s aggressively a UK rather than a global financial publication. 

Readership includes commuters on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, who still receive the free print edition. Revenues and digital readership continue to rise: an estimated 1.65 million unique website visits monthly, 68,676 daily print circulation and nearly 75,000 YouTube subscribers. 

What does this mean for City A.M.’s Coverage?  

As the publication becomes increasingly digital-first, the material it publishes is evolving.   

City A.M.’s Boardroom Uncovered segment, interviewing key business figures, demonstrates this multi-media approach. The same core interview serves as an audio podcast, a YouTube video and a blog on City A.M.’s website. This strategy maximises reach without multiplying effort, meeting readers where they already are in the format they prefer.  

The publication has also embraced short-form content, producing TikTok videos and YouTube news shorts designed for social media consumption. Moving forward, readers can expect City A.M. to invest in social media engagement, real-time news delivery, and broadcast-quality journalism. The appointment of Martin Kimber as City A.M.’s Head of Video, Audio and Social signals this. 

How to Pitch to the New City A.M.  

1. Pitch impact, not metrics

City A.M. has abandoned its niche financial orientation. Looking at their website, opinion pieces revolve around politics, technology, breaking news, retail and even sport commentary. Pitch stories around business impact rather than financial metrics. For example, how your technology solves business problems or how regulation and policy changes affect business strategy.  

2. Speak to business, not the city

City A.M. now reaches beyond City and finance professionals. Be ready to frame conversations for the broader business community, not simply for bankers and traders. Frame solutions that will be understandable to the broader community. Jon Robinson, UK Editor and host of Boardroom Uncovered, covers retail, hospitality, TV and leisure. If your spokesperson only speaks in financial terms, look elsewhere. 

3. Columns are out, clips are in

While comms people and executives alike love the byline, there’s very little space for this type of writing in the current version of the paper. Short interviews and clips for social media are better bets. Think current and catchy. A recent podcast featured a CEO discussing why Rihanna should join his boardroom. 

4. A true British success story

City A.M. is no longer the mouthpiece of the Square Mile. It’s becoming a business-flavoured tabloid with ambition – and it might just work. 

It’s easy to mourn the loss of a widely read publication that championed London’s position as a global financial centre. However, the new version of City A.M. is a growing, sustainable publication at a time of uncertainty for journalists. For PR professionals, celebrating its successful reinvention and finding ways to engage with the current editorial board is a more productive strategy.

Robyn Lee is a graduate in the London office