About a week ago, ther was a story in the Media Guardian about the Independent launching a tabloid edition. This was confirmed late last week, and it went on sale on Tuesday, I bought one.
It's only available within the M25; a sensible, targetted marketing move, and almost a trial. All the content of the broadsheet appears to be in the tabloid, with one odd exception.
Like the Guardian (which started the trend) and the Times, the Independent has a tabloid review section. For the tabloid Indy, though, this isn't kept as a pull-out, but instead integrated into the sixty-odd pages of the paper proper. (Oddly, supplements like yesterday's Property and today's Education are still pullouts). This means that the cover splash isn't needed, so it's not much of a loss. However, there were complaints in Wednesday's letter page that couples couldn't share the pullout, so this may change. (It might also help to cut costs).
Other than that, how is the paper? It stands out on the newsstands; it's incredibly text-heavy for a tabloid, although Thursday's issue had a very large image (but no screaming 72+ point text, like the traditional tabs). It's possible to read on a bus, and even (to some extent) on a crowded train carriage, which would have been pretty much impossible with the broadsheet. All the content is there, but some of the organisation's a little odd; the review section is split over the TV pages, which get the centre of the paper for their spread, for example. Stylistically I find the Indy a little duller, and typographically heavier, than my usual read, the Guardian. (How much of that is Indy house style and how much is due to the tabloid size I'm not sure.)
However, it's pretty much the only tactic that would get me to buy the Indy rather than the Guardian; the last time I was tempted was in about 1998 when they had a (short lived) ultra-clean design policy, using no gutter lines and a couple of nice headline typefaces (possibly Trajan, although I may be misremembering). From that point of view, it's a success, and it'll be interesting to see if the rumours (thanks, Mark) of other papers considering a dual approach come to anything.
2003-10-03
Phil
I liked the tabloid too, although I think the whole concept will take getting used to. It still feels like one's reading the Standard or something. Not a feeling to relish. If it lasts long enough for people to get over that it seems like a winner. But you're right about the Indy being a bit duller... A Guardian tabloid would feel a lot more fun...
2003-10-27
Liz Ashton
Is this leading the way for the British broadsheet to plummet into Murdoch's inferno of tacky tabloid?
Let's just hope that the quality doesn't suffer just because the quantity has.
2003-10-27
Paul Mison
Actually, I find that the Times is more like a tabloid than the Independent is, despite its format. There has been a change in the contents of all the broadsheets in the last ten years, focussing more on celebrities and showbiz, but then this has also affected TV and radio news. Of course, Murdoch's got his fingers in pies there, too...
Also, one of the things that the adverts (which are inescapable in London) is emphasising is that the tabloid has the same content as the broadsheet; in other words, that the quantity (and quality) of the journalism is identical. As Roy Greenslade notes in the article I linked to above:
"Whatever short-term benefits they might enjoy in increased sales among the commuting public, they fear a wider backlash from other readers and an overall loss of circulation in the longer term."
I see the marketing strategy as working both to inform people that the new format is available and to minimise any 'backlash' that might result. Of course, it's still too early to see what the long term effects are.