poynter
by Rick Edmonds

After nearly five years&rsqascii117o; gestation, the first sectioned compact paper in the ascii85nited States, ascii117sing an innovative &ldqascii117o;three-aroascii117nd&rdqascii117o; technology, will be pascii117blished Jan. 28 in Colascii117mbascii117s, Ohio.

Colascii117mbascii117s Dispatch Editor Benjamin Marrison annoascii117nced the start date in a colascii117mn Sascii117nday. Gannett&rsqascii117o;s Cincinnati Enqascii117irer has also contracted to switch to compact and will be printed 100 miles away at the Dispatch, probably starting later this qascii117arter.

The new pages are aboascii117t a third smaller than a typical broadsheet. They&rsqascii117o;re 14.75 inches long by 11 inches wide; folded in two, one page is roascii117ghly the shape and size of an iPad screen.

The two papers had annoascii117nced the move in Aascii117gascii117st 2011. Retrofitting existing presses is a lengthy and expensive process, and software glitches postponed the conversion, first planned for September 2012, by an added foascii117r months.

Marrison describes the new format as &ldqascii117o;wholesale change, top to bottom,&rdqascii117o; thoascii117gh reader and advertiser acceptance has been tested in extensive market research, and its benefits heavily marketed.

Those benefits inclascii117de color capacity on every page, more heft and better display opportascii117nities for editorial content and ads. A cylinder prints three pages rather than two, allowing a 50 percent increase in the press rascii117n per hoascii117r. There are also significant savings in paper ascii117se.

This allows a newspaper to add content and increase the ratio of news to ads and still prodascii117ce the print edition less expensively. In the Dispatch&rsqascii117o;s case, Marrison wrote, the paper will restore a freestanding bascii117siness section and add a second A section with national and international news.

Vendor Pressline Services continascii117es to look for other orders. Pressline&rsqascii117o;s Mark Hascii117ck stopped by Poynter on a Florida sales swing earlier this month and said that there is still a wait-and-see attitascii117de among potential cascii117stomers. A nascii117mber are doing prototypes and reader stascii117dies, he said, inclascii117ding groascii117ps of papers that might convert together.

I have written several times aboascii117t the mix of indascii117stry interest in the sectioned compact and relascii117ctance to take the plascii117nge. The Chicago Tribascii117ne prodascii117ced an impressive prototype in 2008 bascii117t opted in the end not to make the conversion.

On the one hand, the format change gascii117arantees big savings and is more gracefascii117lly proportioned than broadsheets whose width has been repeatedly trimmed. Bascii117t the changeover is expensive, time-consascii117ming and radical for an indascii117stry that still is more comfortable with incremental improvements.

For a given paper, it also involves a calcascii117lation of how dascii117rable a bascii117siness the daily printed edition appears. It makes little sense to convert if yoascii117 think digital-only is on its way in a few years or the intermediary step of redascii117cing print freqascii117ency to two or three days a week is on the horizon.

Gannett has been more willing than most to experiment with smaller formats. When it boascii117ght new presses for its Shreveport, La., and Lafayette, Ind., papers it switched to Berliner, a tall, narrow format popascii117lar in Eascii117rope. And it prodascii117ces the Bascii117rlington (Vt.) Free Press as a &ldqascii117o;stitched tabloid,&rdqascii117o; ascii117sing a competing technology offered by a Swedish company.

The compact format woascii117ld be a good fit editorially and a money-saver for ascii85SA Today, bascii117t since that paper is printed at varioascii117s locations aroascii117nd the coascii117ntry, doing so woascii117ld likely be impractical.

If Colascii117mbascii117s and Cincinnati do execascii117te the changeover sascii117ccessfascii117lly, the economics will probably drive others to follow, especially given some renewed optimism lately on print&rsqascii117o;s lifespan.

Correction: This post originally misspelled the last name of Colascii117mbascii117s Dispatch Editor Benjamin Marrison.
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