I Say, I Say, The Times Ain’t What It Used To Be!

Philip M. Stone November 2, 2004

In the UK when one talks about the “quality” press it is synonymous with the broadsheets. Does that mean the 216-year-old Times is no longer a quality newspaper? Rupert Murdoch, who made his newspaper fortune with tabloids, now has one more in his stable. He has turned The Times “compact” (that’s tabloid to you and me!)

But for good reason. There is little doubt the UK public, like many other newspaper readers across Europe, prefer the tabloids size. And tests have shown switching to tabloid boosts circulation.

The Times has been bleeding money for years. It has tried circulation wars by dropping its price drastically – but competitors did likewise and for several years Fleet Street was awash in red ink.  But then last year the Independent newspaper began the switch from broadsheet to tabloid, and its circulation is now up some 27%.

The Times in November, 2003, then embarked on producing two daily newspapers – the regular broadsheet Times and the compact, tabloid Times. That bled even more money – around EUR 22 million -- especially as advertisers objected to higher rates for placing ads in both editions. Overall sales improved by 4.53% -- not close to the Independent’s success -- and it became obvious management could not continue with the two sizes – one had to go.

They started in the summer in Ireland and Scotland, and a few parts of England to produce just the tabloid, and they withdrew the broadsheet.  In Ireland circulation went up 32%, in Northern Ireland by 22% and in Scotland by 11%. The writing was on the wall. But management did not make any public announcement to when they would make their decision.

Then on Friday night, October 29, the Times announced suddenly to staff that the next day’s newspaper would be the last in broadsheet, From Monday, November 1, the Times was a compact.

In a statement, Robert Thomson, the Times’ editor, said the newspaper would “uphold the traditional virtues and values that have made The Times respected around the world.”

The move to a tabloid-size press is rampant over Europe. Several famous titles, including Sweden’s Dagens Nyheter, have switched from broadsheet to tabloid. New tabloids at reduced rates are being introduced, particularly in Germany, targeted to the youth market. Metro and 20 Minutes continue their expansion throughout Europe, giving away their tabloid newspapers to commuters. Both groups are very successful at capturing the young crowd – 20 Minutes, for instance, now is the highest circulation newspaper in Switzerland.

Back in the UK, the remaining broadsheet national newspapers  -- the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times, and the Guardian have all suffered circulation declines in the past six months, whereas the Times and Independent, via their tabloid editions, increased circulation. The Telegraph, which previously said it would not convert to tabloid, was recently sold to the Barclay Brothers and the industry is waiting to see if the new management rethinks the issue, which in part depends on printing capacity. The Guardian has announced it is moving towards a medium size Berliner format – larger than tabloid but smaller than broadsheet.

The Telegraph increased its print run by some 5% on Monday hoping to to catch any Times readers objecting to the tabloid. 

The Times announced that the smaller sized newspaper maintains the same newsstand price, but to placate those customers objecting to the tabloid size management told the objectors they could have a weekly subscription at GBP1.50 – about half of what most were previously paying.

Trvia: In 1932 The Times introduced the Times Roman typeface that today is considered one of the world’s leading print styles.  News did not appear regularly on its front page until 1966, previously page 1 contained classified advertising. Rupert Murdoch bought the Times in 1986.