View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
December 16, 2004updated 22 Nov 2022 12:35pm

Japanese broadsheet on UK tabloid mission

By Press Gazette

Asahi Shimbun : in tabloid talks

The world’s second biggest newspaper is looking into following the example of The Independent and The Times by launching a tabloid-size version.

Two senior editors from Japanese daily, Asahi Shimbun, were in London this week to draw up a report on the effects of tabloidisation on the British newspaper market.

Asahi Shimbun sells eight million copies in its morning edition and four million in the afternoon and is second in worldwide sales only to the Yomiuri Shimbun , also based in Japan.

Deputy editor Keisuke Abe said: “In Japan, like the UK, sales of newspapers are declining gradually, so we are looking into what’s happening in Britain, because the British newspaper market is one of the most competitive.”

Abe said the Asahi Shimbun was unlikely to consider turning its main morning edition into a tabloid.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

But he said it was a possibility for the evening edition or for the supplements.

The Shimbun team spent 10 days interviewing UK media executives and studying the newspaper market.

Abe said there was surprise in Japan at the suddenness of the decision by The Times to go compact.

He said: “I was surprised to see a very traditional newspaper like The Times , which has such a long history, change size so quickly.”

Abe was particularly taken with The Guardian . He said: “I was impressed with the way it uses pictures and makes stories visually interesting. I felt the British media are observing each other quite closely and competition is fierce.”

The Japanese are the most voracious newspaper readers in the world, according to the World Association of Newspapers.

Some 664 newspapers per day are printed per thousand of population and 75 per cent of Japanese say they read a newspaper every day. Some 90 per cent of newspapers in Japan are delivered to the door.

The Independent has enjoyed a sales boom since first offering a tabloid version on September 30, 2003 and finally going fully tabloid in August.

Its ABC for October was 266,038 compared with 218,567 for the last month before the tabloid version was launched.

The Times launched a tabloid version inside the M25 in November last year and went fully tabloid a year later. Its current sales are 656,462 compared with a pre-tabloid total of 631,109.

By Dominic Ponsford

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network