Our new, smaller “12-inch-standard” New York Times arrived this AM, seen here atop yesterday’s old “non-standard” version. Goal no doubt is to reduce costs, the publishing biz’s normal route to profits (or at least loss containment). When I was at The Examiner, the old S.F. Newspaper Agency shaved an inch off the Chron and Ex, which saved a surprising amount of paper and ink cost. I believe paper and ink make up about a third of newspaper printing costs.

I am guessing advertisers won’t be seeing a reduction in rates to match the Time’s reduction in costs, though I’ll bet some negotiation will have happened – the ads are, after all, smaller now. The Times has switched photog bylines to all caps – I guess they became too small to read otherwise…

{ 3 comments }