NewsLine Column: Size Matters For The Independent

The Independent has today unveiled a tabloid edition of its daily newspaper for consumers in the London metropolitan area looking for an upmarket read in a smaller size. Media Planning Group’s Denise Turner ponders the impact of the new launch and asks whether size really matters…

Today the Independent makes newspaper history as the first newspaper in the world to be sold in two separate sizes. Readers within the M25 area at least will be able to choose whether they have a broadsheet or a tabloid version. Everything else about the two versions will be identical – you will either choose a broadsheet with fewer pages or a tabloid with more pages.

And if a leading American newspaperman is to be believed, this is only just time, all newspapers will be tabloid. Dr Mario Garcia predicts: ‘Less is best. Smaller is better. Readers everywhere prefer the small format.’ And this is a man who should be listened to – he has just finished redesigning his 455th newspaper, the Miami Herald, and is about to tackle Newsday on Long Island. This view is supported by many in the UK too; some of whom believe the changeover could be even quicker with a suggested timeframe of 10 to 20 years.

In some ways, although it is a groundbreaking move, it is in reality just an extension of the tactics newspapers have had to employ over the past decade or two in order to survive and try to stem a decline in sales of traditional formats. Since I first started work in media in the early 90s we have seen fierce price-cutting wars entered into by both tabloids and broadsheets to try to encourage readers to switch their affinities. We have also lived through the explosion of the web and newspapers’ realisation that they had to embrace that or lose readers. If I choose to do so I can now have my favourite newspaper available on my PDA each day.

In short, newspapers have had to respond to consumers’ demand for choice, whether that be the price they are prepared to pay or the manner and format in which they want to receive their paper. In some ways it is surprising it has taken this long for something like this to happen. Consumers have been given choice in many other areas of their lives, including other media that they consume. Television for instance has evolved to allow consumers a whole range of channels that they can watch what they want, and in some cases, watch whenever they want. So why shouldn’t readers have the same sort of choice in newspapers?

So will it be a success? So far there has been a reasonably positive reaction. There are undoubtedly a lot of barriers to overcome, not least the perception of many of the British public that tabloids are generally more downmarket publications. However, there are a large number of people out there, particularly commuters within the M25 area, who will welcome this innovation with open arms. For the first time they will be able to use those arms to read an intelligent paper without alienating their fellow travellers on the train and tube as they struggle with the best way to open and fold it.

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