The 'Trib' Launches A Tab: A Fitz & Jen Dialogue

Fitz: I've been waiting for this moment to arrive for years, Jen. Finally, finally, finally a big city American broadsheetis going (partly) tabloid. As reported in E&P's Web site, the Chicago Tribune on Monday is launching a tabloid version (left, above broadsheet) for single-copy sales on weekdays.

Now, it's not going completely tabloid. Home delivery subscribers will still receive the broadsheet version, which means, ironically, that I, a loyal seven-day home delivery subscriber, will not get the version I'd prefer.

But you know what? All I've got to do is wait. I think once the market gets used to the Trib tabloid -- or should I say once the folks in Tribune Tower are finally convinced the market likes the tab -- the broadsheet version will go away, just as it has in England, Ireland, Germany, Scandinavia and other places around the world. I recall staying in the small County Galway town of Portumna a few years ago. I would stroll down to the "news agent" -- love that Irish name for people whose store happens to carry newspapers -- to pick up the Irish Independent, which at the time was sold in both a tabloid and broadsheet version. I'd have to be there pretty early to get the tab, which inevitably sold out long before the broadsheet.

What's your take on this development, Jen?

Jen: You know how much I love former Chicago Trib sibling paper amNY. I don't do print -- except for amNY (and the Sunday NYT). I love that it's an easy-to-read tab form. I jump on the subway and I've finished the paper by the time I've reached my stop. But I think the Tribune should set their tabloid free.  Why not have another version of RedEye that tailors to a different crowd?  Or would that crowd the market place?  (And cheers to Tribune for launching a print product!)

Fitz: That’s a good question, and one that, ironically, I was asked about from a Chicago Sun-Times writer just a few minutes ago. Here’s what I would say. The Sun-Times, with a 50-cent price -- or as it says on the front page every day, “still only 50 cents” -- sells a lot of tabloids in Chicago despite the free availability of RedEye. In fact, the Sun-Times outsells the market-leading Trib inside the Chicago city limits, which is where the tabloid Tribune will be available. (UPDATE: Tribune Editor Gerould Kern tells me the tab will replace the broadsheet  anywhere there are single-copy sales. Suburbs, too.) The plan apparently is to continue to sell it at the more expensive 75-cent cover price, but having seen the Sun-Times and Trib go at each other on street sales for nearly three decades, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Metra train commuter coming out of Ogilvie Transportation Center is able to pick up the Trib tab for less than 75 cents.

Fitz: Let me just say one last thing: I think going tab will teach advertisers that their ads will have just as much impact in a tabloid as in the broadsheet. In fact, maybe more. A three-quarter page broadsheet ad may have as much or more column-inch space than a full-page ad in today’s smaller, squarish tabloids, but it doesn’t have that same full-page impact. As our friends at Kubas Consultants always say, a page is a page. Here's a mock-up of the tab courtesy of the Trib.

Jen: Who knew that Sun-Times outsold the Tribune in single copy inside the city? Very interesting. That is even more of reason for the Chicago Tribune to set its tab free since it’s catering to a different audience than RedEye. Seventy-five cents is pricey — you’re probably right they will drop that price inside the city limits

Fitz: You kids today! First you don’t read print and then you tell us gray hairs that 75 cents is pricey? Hey, how much did that cup of Intelligencia fair trade coffee put you back this morning? I just laid out $2.04 for a medium cup of Starbucks basic no-latte, no soy shot Joe – and didn’t learn a darned thing about what’s the problem with the Chicago Bulls this season. .

Jen: I’m more cheap than young! I drink coffee like my father, from a coffee maker. Cost 50 cents a day. If I could get that for free, I would.