CNHI is shrinking...

Recently heard from higher ups that later this week all papers in our division of CNHI will shrink from 12-inch wide pages (that includes the gutter) to 11-inch wide. I've heard that other divisions of CNHI will change early next month. According to the memo we got this move will save millions for the company.
Has this happened to your paper? Did the readers notice? For those who's paper went smaller, did you have to run shorter stories, or did you change the letting? How did you work around it. Run smaller art?
One more, does anyone know if how much money USA Today has saved with their new smaller paper?

thanks.

 

We got the word our paper is going to a 23-inch web within the month. We will be at 21-inch web within two years.
Supposedly rising paper and ink costs are driving the move, which I think is pretty much industry-wide. I have been told Gannett is also going to a 23-inch web.

How can you and your readers not notice a newspaper now slightly larger than a church bulletin?
Less space for less copy, but the ad and subscription rates will remain the same.

 

Damn, I was hoping the title meant CNHI was selling off (read: saving the lives of) some papers.

 

Your Gannett info is correct. Several pubs that went from the 52-inch web to 48 in recent years will be dropping to 44 by the end of the year.

Might as well as just stick a stamp on the sunovabitch and mail it.

 

The Heartland papers in our little cluster have all gone to a smaller size as well, basically the same length (21.5') but about half an inch less on the width (11.125). Not that big of a deal to me. Barely noticeable to most. We also redesigned our two papers and are using a different story font which is a bit tighter. It evens out in the end.

I'm more concerned about the fact that ad sales are way down and the number of pages we are running (and papers in a lot of places) seems to be way, way down...

 

Our paper went to the 23-inch web (11 1/2-inch pages) last year, at roughly 22 1/2 inches deep. And while the difference seems obvious to me, I'm surprised at how little outcry came from readers.

We had already gone to a tighter font in our last redesign prior to that, so there was no change when we went narrow. We tried to trim the stories a little bit, but not that much. For us what was a 20-inch story is now more like 24 inches. Our column width shrunk by something like 8 percent. Photos are smaller, too, because less width also means less depth there.

And yes, it would have been better if CNHI were shrinking the other way.

 

Going to 44 inches is absurd. Just make it a tabloid and be done with it.

 

My favorite was when St. Pete did it a couple years back, they wrote this note to readers about how the new format would be easier for them to hold.

See, they DID have the readers at heart.