Format changes not enough
24/02/06 09:29 Media
issues
There's some sobering news for newspaper publishers
on the Guardian's website
here.
It seems that changing format, whether to Berliner
or tabloid, is likely to result in a long-term
increase in sales of only one per cent.
This will be a blow to the Guardian's sister paper, the Observer, which has put on 30 per cent since shrinking in January and if the figure is right it can now watch that gain fade back to almost nothing. What will be most interesting, though, is whether papers that don't adopt a new format will see their circulations falling. The Telegraph and the FT are the only weekday mainstream examples covering the whole of the UK, with the FT being in a bit of a niche anyway.
My guess is that if the Telegraph doesn't do something it will find its market slowly ebbing away. If I'm wrong, of course, then it means the Guardian, Times and Indie have spent a fortune on putting on only one per cent.
This will be a blow to the Guardian's sister paper, the Observer, which has put on 30 per cent since shrinking in January and if the figure is right it can now watch that gain fade back to almost nothing. What will be most interesting, though, is whether papers that don't adopt a new format will see their circulations falling. The Telegraph and the FT are the only weekday mainstream examples covering the whole of the UK, with the FT being in a bit of a niche anyway.
My guess is that if the Telegraph doesn't do something it will find its market slowly ebbing away. If I'm wrong, of course, then it means the Guardian, Times and Indie have spent a fortune on putting on only one per cent.
|