Aberdeen’s The Press and Journal regional daily is poised to launch a tabloid edition on Saturdays from 7 August.
Kevin Beatty, managing director of Northcliffe Newspapers, confirmed to Press Gazette the company was now studying the results of detailed reader feedback on dummies to enable final changes to be incorporated for an August launch.
The regional morning is one of only two broadsheets in the Northcliffe stable.
The other is The Sentinel Sunday, but Beatty stressed there were no plans to change it to tabloid.
The Press and Journal is following The Scotsman, which went compact on Saturdays earlier this year – and initially reported sales increases of up to 20 per cent.
The Press and Journal already produces property, motoring, recruitment and leisure supplements in tabloid form throughout the week, and a monthly energy supplement.
Its sister paper, the Aberdeen Evening Express, is also a tabloid.
The regional morning is a complex operation, with up to four pages dedicated to local news in each of the seven editions that serve its far-flung circulation area.
Beatty emphasised the paper’s editorial ethos had to be weighed against presentational issues.
By Hamish Mackay
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