Tabloid-Size Papers Fail to Sustain Circ Increases

Newspapers that switch to tabloid format, something that 80-plus major newspapers around the world have done in the hopes of boosting reader appeal and halting circulation declines, have found that it is no cure-all, according to the World Association of Newspapers, Media Life reports. Though many papers that switched from broadsheet to tabloid format did see circulation spurts, those gains have been seen to evaporate over time.

WAN has been studying the issue, and has found that shortly after going tabloid, papers tend to see a circulation increase of about 10 to 15 percent, but after a few years, most see only a 1 percent growth or stable sales. On the other hand, initial concerns about how a size change would impact advertising have all but disappeared, with advertisers adjusting to the change, according to the article.

Even with the trend of shifts to tabloid size, which doesn’t look to be slowing anytime soon, newsprint remains one of newspapers’ two largest costs (along with labor), and newsprint prices are continuing to rise. Paper mills in Canada, which supply the majority of newsprint in North America, are being hurt by a reduced consumption of newsprint and a strong Canadian dollar, and newspapers will be facing another price increase in March, according to Editor & Publisher.

Of course, downsizing in the newspaper industry hasn’t been confined to the actual size of newspapers’ pages, as staff cuts at major papers have made the news nearly every week. But the Editor & Publisher article points to other downsizing, as well: Philadelphia Newspapers, for example, stopped outsourcing the watering of office greenery in order to save about $23,000 a year, and The New York Times recently outsourced its food service rather than employing its own cooks and servers in the corporate cafeteria.

Troubles in the newspaper industry don’t look to be disappearing anytime soon, but some are optimistic. As Belo Corp. chairman, president, and CEO Robert Decherd said to Editor & Publisher: “I am confident that what we have experienced in the last year is some overreaction to some fairly predictable changes about how our newspapers operate and compete. To me, we are in the early innings here. This is not the eighth inning and we’re behind. I think we are going to surprise people with the upside.”