Press to go compact

It's what you, our readers and advertisers, have been asking for since we first experimented successfully with a tabloid Saturday edition.

From this autumn, your local evening newspaper will be produced in the new format six nights a week instead of just one.

It will be easier to handle in a size you can read anywhere, whether it is on a train or a bus or in your armchair at home. It will be even more colourful and have a bright, crisp new design.

But it will retain the quality and editorial integrity you have come to expect from a newspaper in its 122nd year of publication.

The Evening Press is one of only three broadsheet evening papers left in the country, and one of those has already announced its intention to go tabloid.

For our readers and advertisers, the new compact shape will offer more colour pages, up-to-the-minute design and will be far easier to read.

Although it will be a different shape, it will continue to offer all the news, views, information, pictures and opinion that people rely on in their Evening Press on a daily basis.

Evening Press editor Kevin Booth, who hailed the change to compact as the most important single development in the history of the paper, said: "Sales of the Evening Press are extremely healthy. However, we cannot become complacent. Newspapers must continue to evolve to remain relevant and appealing. Providing the right content is the key, but it is imperative that a newspaper looks modern, is accessible and that the information it contains can be easily found and digested."

Evening Press head of advertising Avril Oliver said the change to compact would add new customers to our loyal readership and that had to be of benefit to advertisers.

"Feedback from advertisers is overwhelmingly that it would be a positive move. I am delighted this decision has been reached and that we are satisfying the needs of our customers by implementing this change."

Our readers and advertisers have sent a resounding message of support for the compact size.

In the build-up to making our decision, we undertook a massive in-paper survey of readers, a non-reader poll, carried out focus-group sessions and a major survey of retail advertisers and newsagents.

And every time the vote was overwhelmingly in favour of the new format.

Kevin Booth added: "Two of the top quality national newspapers, The Times and The Independent, have demonstrated perfectly that the change to compact can be achieved without affecting the service to readers and advertisers and that there is no loss of quality."

Liz Page, managing director of York and County Press, said: "We have listened to our readers and customers in reaching this historic decision. The change of format will build on the best of our heritage while laying firm foundations for the future".

Readers' views on the Evening Press*

"Saturday style all week please"

"Why is Saturday's edition the only tabloid?"

"I prefer the tabloid size"

"Would be much easier to read if it were tabloid"

"Please change to tabloid"

"Better if tabloid"

"Prefer the Saturday style"

"Would like it smaller. It's hard to read"

"Smaller size would be better"

"Please make all week a tabloid size"

"Make it the same size as Saturday. It's easier to read"

"Make all editions tabloid"

"A good paper. Prefer it on Saturday"

"Please make every day tabloid"

"Tabloid shape is much easier"

"Tabloid please"

"Would like to see the Evening Press tabloid six days"

"Just go tabloid"

"Tabloid size is good"

"Tabloid presentation every day would be better"

"Very difficult to read broadsheet"

"Would prefer the smaller size"

*Source: Evening Press market research, April/May 2004

Updated: 11:15 Wednesday, June 16, 2004