Downsizing
I've been thinking for a while about writing a post on the Independent going tabloid and while Peter Preston's article in today's Observer covers many of the points I'd have made, it seems a good enough excuse.
He makes the point that the tabloid Independent is a better newspaper than the tabloid Times for the simple reason that the editors of the Indie are now thinking of the paper as a tabloid first, while the Times' tabloid is just the broadsheet version squeezed into a smaller format, as the Indie's originally was. However, it seems quite likely that the Indie will soon be solely available as a tabloid - Preston talks of a timetable of maybe weeks, rather than months for it occuring and from purely observational evidence, it seems to me that most newsagents I visit have more copies available of the tabloid than the broadsheet.
However, the structure of the British newspaper market has made it easier for the Independent to become permanently tabloid than it would be for the Times to follow that path. As things stood before the Independent went tabloid, there were nine major national daily newspapers in Britain that could be arranged into three groups - the red-tops (Sun, Mirror, Star), Mid-market tabloids (Express, Mail) and broadsheets (Guardian, Times, Telegraph, Independent). One thing that's long been obvious is that there's a gap in the market amongst the mid-market tabloids. While there's a spread of political opinion in the red-tops and the broadsheets, both mid-market tabloids lean to the right. Ever since Today folded, there's been no left-leaning tabloid to compete with the Mail and Express - aside from Rosie Boycott's brief attempt to take the Express to the left.
So, it made sense for the Independent - which was suffering in the broadsheet market - to take the risk and go tabloid as there was a gap in the tabloid market for it to fill, a position between the Mirror and Guardian, a paper with quality journalism that's easy to read on the train. It seems to have worked for them - sales are rising and the new paper is getting plaudits all round. However, the Times is probably not going to follow the Independent's lead and go permanently tabloid as that would put it in the midst of the conflict between the Mail and Express. Besides, as Preston points out, the 'compact' Times hasn't put on sales like the Independent has.
I think the Independent has one last change to make before it goes fully tabloid - the price, at least of the weekday edition. At 60p, it was already the most expensive of the broadsheets, and it starts to look very expensive compared to the Mail and Express. A cut in price to 45p would signal that the Indie wants to compete as a tabloid and, coupled with the publicity for the new 'all-tabloid all the time' format would boost sales, perhaps even taking it past the Guardian, with the resulting increase in advertising rates as an additional bonus. There's another good reason for making it 45p as well - it means that the combined price of the Guardian and Independent is just ?1, which could well persuade many Guardian readers to pick it up as a second paper.
He makes the point that the tabloid Independent is a better newspaper than the tabloid Times for the simple reason that the editors of the Indie are now thinking of the paper as a tabloid first, while the Times' tabloid is just the broadsheet version squeezed into a smaller format, as the Indie's originally was. However, it seems quite likely that the Indie will soon be solely available as a tabloid - Preston talks of a timetable of maybe weeks, rather than months for it occuring and from purely observational evidence, it seems to me that most newsagents I visit have more copies available of the tabloid than the broadsheet.
However, the structure of the British newspaper market has made it easier for the Independent to become permanently tabloid than it would be for the Times to follow that path. As things stood before the Independent went tabloid, there were nine major national daily newspapers in Britain that could be arranged into three groups - the red-tops (Sun, Mirror, Star), Mid-market tabloids (Express, Mail) and broadsheets (Guardian, Times, Telegraph, Independent). One thing that's long been obvious is that there's a gap in the market amongst the mid-market tabloids. While there's a spread of political opinion in the red-tops and the broadsheets, both mid-market tabloids lean to the right. Ever since Today folded, there's been no left-leaning tabloid to compete with the Mail and Express - aside from Rosie Boycott's brief attempt to take the Express to the left.
So, it made sense for the Independent - which was suffering in the broadsheet market - to take the risk and go tabloid as there was a gap in the tabloid market for it to fill, a position between the Mirror and Guardian, a paper with quality journalism that's easy to read on the train. It seems to have worked for them - sales are rising and the new paper is getting plaudits all round. However, the Times is probably not going to follow the Independent's lead and go permanently tabloid as that would put it in the midst of the conflict between the Mail and Express. Besides, as Preston points out, the 'compact' Times hasn't put on sales like the Independent has.
I think the Independent has one last change to make before it goes fully tabloid - the price, at least of the weekday edition. At 60p, it was already the most expensive of the broadsheets, and it starts to look very expensive compared to the Mail and Express. A cut in price to 45p would signal that the Indie wants to compete as a tabloid and, coupled with the publicity for the new 'all-tabloid all the time' format would boost sales, perhaps even taking it past the Guardian, with the resulting increase in advertising rates as an additional bonus. There's another good reason for making it 45p as well - it means that the combined price of the Guardian and Independent is just ?1, which could well persuade many Guardian readers to pick it up as a second paper.
Nick got away with this at 11:30 PM
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