Newspapers shifting to tabloid format

This was noted by of Mark Sands, director of marketing at the UK’s Guardian newspaper that recently switched from broadsheet to the smaller ‘Berliner’ format who was participating in the two-day 'Re-inventing the Middle East Publishing Market'.

Talking to Khaleej Times about the pros and cons of page size, Sands said that editorial standards are paramount, and commercial factors must also be carefully analysed. “Although the broadsheet has traditionally been viewed as the domain of quality newspapers, in the UK the format came about purely because of taxation,” Sands explains. Broadsheets still dominate the Middle East market, but Sands is confident that the international trend towards a smaller size will inevitably extend to the region.

At one time, the UK’s complicated tax legislation made broadsheet the most cost-effective format and so it became the standard until the advent of tabloids in the early 20th century, he noted. The name tabloid is itself a derivation of ‘tablet’ — news in convenient and easily digestible form, akin to the medicine equivalent, he said. Sands analysed that over the years, the tabloid format became synonymous with lurid and sensational journalism, while broadsheets retained a more considered and conservative style, the two versions characterising opposite ends of the social, political, and intellectual spectrum. The perception was reinforced by broadsheets that converted to the tabloid format, almost invariably moving downmarket in content and editorial standards to compete with long-established titles of the same size.

But when the UK’s The Independent switched to the tabloid, followed quickly by The Times of London — the grand dame of the UK media establishment — the old rules had changed forever. Sales of The Independent soared, as did profitability, and only the most die-hard traditionalists could cling to the broadsheet as the hallmark of the ‘quality’ Press, he noted. Unlike its major competitors, the Guardian took a more measured approach to change, says Sands. Extensive consultation with readers, advertisers, and agencies preceded the final decision.

The result was adoption of the ‘Berliner’ format — popular in Europe, but unknown in the UK. The page is bigger than tabloid, but smaller than broadsheet, offering the physical convenience and manageability of a tabloid, but retaining greater flexibility in layout and presentation. “I was once all for changing to the tabloid, and I’m glad my argument didn’t win out,” says Sands.