Less is More: Tabloids and Free-distribution Dailies 
JOUR 350
The News and Media Business

Week 10
Something old is new again
•	recent resurgence in tabloid format
•	declining readership has prompted some major dailies to go tabloid
•	including the Times of London and the San Francisco Examiner
•	but some don’t use the word “tabloid”
•	instead preferring to cal it a “compact”
•	and new free dailies are springing up

Smaller is better
•	16 dailies went from broadsheet to tabloid in 12 countries
•	since September 2003
•	Circulation gains averaged 4.6%
•	according to INMA

Back to the future . . . again
•	Tabloid format popularized during era of “Penny Press”
•	starting in 1830s with New York Sun
•	began an appeal to the mass audience
•	began a “populist” journalism
•	focusing on crime, sensation
•	instead of politics
•	priced to compete at only one cent

20th Century Tabloids
•	London Sun started as broadsheet in 1964
•	by owner of the Mirror, a Labour tabloid
•	marketed to young, upwardly mobile
•	failed miserably, sold to Rupert Murdoch
•	converted to tabloid format in 1969
•	went downmarket with sex, sport, sensation
•	added topless Page 3 “Sunshine Girl”
•	passed Mirror circulation in 1978

Profits and political power
•	Sun became profit engine that drove Murdoch’s NewsCorp
•	now largest-selling daily in the world
•	with 3.2 million circulation
•	Murdoch then bought Times from Thomson
•	now enjoys great power to influence British politics
Sensational: Sun tabloid covers

The Sun shines on Canada
•	Toronto Sun launched 1971
•	replaced broadsheet Telegram
•	grew into a chain in Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Winnipeg
•	not as racy as UK Sun

The Daily Province goes tab
•	Southam converted morning broadsheet to tabloid in 1983
•	not as racy as Toronto Sun
•	no “Sunshine Girl”
•	had “Smile of the Day” instead

Marketing options considered
•	Breezy Tab – colorful tabloid
•	B.C. Daily – distribute province-wide
•	Creep A – free distribution Wed.
•	Creep B – free distribution Wed. & Sun.
•	Fraser Valley Times – twice weekly
•	Total Market VBR – twice weekly, free distribution

Income and profit projections
Option    		   Revenue		Profit
Sun/Province as is	   $1,635,000		$5,536,000
Breezy Tab		     -$643,000		$3,258,000
B.C. Daily		   $7,799,000		$9,699,000
Creep A		   $5,594,000		$7,994,000
Creep B		   $7,373,000		$9,273,000
Fraser Valley Times   $3,865,000	          $18,411,000
Total Market/VBR     $12,890,000		$9,766,000
The tabloid Times of London
•	Times circulation eroded after price war with Black
•	began to publish a tabloid edition ’03
•	following the lead of the Independent
•	went totally tab ’04 

A quality tabloid success story
•	Times circulation up 8.2% 
•	boosted by female demographic
•	esp. women <44  
•	Times now 528,185 
•	Telegraph 483,760 
•	down 3.2%

San Francisco Examiner
•	was part of JOA w/Chronicle
•	bought by Denver billionaire 2004
•	converted to tabloid
•	AND made it free
•	since launched a free Examiner in Washington, D.C.

Free-distribution dailies
•	Also nothing new – eg. “shoppers”
•	But increased in popularity lately
•	Swedish firm Metro International
•	launched new daily in Stockholm in 1995
•	free distribution tabloid aimed at commuters
•	profitable within one year
•	launched similar papers in Europe
•	then spread to Asia, North America

A world-wide phenomenon
•	daily Metro editions now in 81 cities
•	in 18 countries in 17 languages
•	readership est. 14.5 million – 3rd in world
•	spawned frantic competition from entrenched media owners
•	now more than 100 free dailies overall
•	printing 18 million copies in 29 countries
•	http://users.fmg.uva.nl/pbakker/freedailies/index.html 

Free dailies come to Canada
•	Toronto, 2000
•	Metro (with Torstar)
•	FYI Toronto (Quebecor) 
•	folded Oct. 2001
•	replaced with 24 Hours in 2003 
•	Montreal, 2001
•	Metro (with Transcontinental)
•	24 Hours (Quebecor)

Competition even in Vancouver!
•	Metro Vancouver launched April 2005
•	again with Torstar
•	AND CanWest!!!
•	Quebecor joins with 24 Hours
•	with Jim Pattison Group
•	CanWest adds Dose
•	in five cities 

What type of journalism is it?
•	first studies show free dailies go even farther in blurring news and ads
•	offer delivery only to affluent areas
•	papers have small news staffs
•	stories often superficial
•	containing few sources
•	Bay area research by Grade the News
•	http://www.gradethenews.org/2005/freepapers2.htm