Last roll of the dice? Straw-clutching experimentation from a drowning business? Or bold innovation that will change the thinking of broadsheet newspaper executives for ever? The fun-sized Independent ventures forth into newsagents inside the M25 ring next Tuesday with a number of interpretations riding on it. But whatever their view of the logic behind Simon Kelner’s latest move, his rivals will be watching with eagle eyes.
The dummies that Press Gazette have seen look good. Most importantly, they look like The Independent.
Like it or not, newspapers exist in a world where customers have extraordinary breadths of choice about everything they buy. So if the figures add up (a big “if” though it may be), giving those customers an alternative size to take onto the train is hardly going to throw them into a tizzy. And it’s likely to make a few who have lost the Indy habit – and some of those who never had it in the first place – give it another try.
Whichever dice roll Kelner is on, who says he won’t come up with a pair of sixes?
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog