Guardian Considers Midsize Edition To Boost Sales
The Guardian has once again ruled out launching a tabloid newspaper, but could be considering a midsize edition somewhere between a compact and a broadsheet in an attempt to reverse declining sales.
In an interview with the Financial Times Creative Business, the paper’s editor, Alan Rusbridger, reiterated that the Guardian has no plans to unveil a tabloid edition similar to those recently launched by the Independent and the Times.
However, he indicated that the paper may not stay the same size, saying: “We haven’t actually said we will stay broadsheet. There is something we won’t talk about at the moment, because it is not sensible. All we have said is that we won’t go tabloid.”
The Guardian is understood to have been experimenting with a number of mock-ups ranging from very small upwards, ones with comment on the front page and even a news-lite product offering a Metro-like read. Rusbridger said: “By a combination of thinking about size, journalism and design, I think we can come up with a pretty genuine newspaper. More pages is not what it is about.”
One possibility would be a move to a shape somewhere between a traditional UK broadsheet and a tabloid. The Berliner format adopted in France by Le Monde and recently embraced by former tabloid Les Echos preserves traditional broadsheet features, but offers a handier size.
However, no UK press plant currently prints this size, including Westferry, where the Guardian is printed. This is not an insurmountable obstacle, but costs would be high and this is obviously an issue for Rusbridger.
He said: “Compared with what we would have to do if we had done dual format, we would be spending half of what it has cost the Times this year and about the same as the Indy. What we are proposing is not expensive, compared with what we spend on the web.”
The Guardian has seen circulation remain pretty stable at around the 400,000 mark for the last ten years. However, the latest ABC results for the six months to February reveal a 5.1% decline for the title to just over 380,000. The Telegraph and the Financial Times also suffered declines during the same period as the popularity of the compact qualities to its toll.
The move to a smaller format has proved popular for the beleaguered Independent, which recorded a healthy 6.3% year on year increase to 238,849 in the six months to January. The Times, which quickly followed suit with its own tabloid edition, proved less fortunate with a 6.3% decline during the same period (see ABC National Newspaper Round-Up – February 2004).
Guardian Media Group: 020 7278 2332 www.gmgplc.co.uk
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