Blick sharpens its profile with the new format
Daily newspaper Blick "tabloids" the layout for the definitive switch to tabloid - the best weapon against potential competition.
Daily newspaper Blick "tabloids" the layout for the definitive switch to tabloid - the best weapon against potential competition.
The previous tabloid edition of Blick primarily had to prove that there was exactly the same space in the small format as in the broadsheet Blick. Accordingly, the tabloid layout was also aligned with the large format. From next Monday, however, this corset will disappear. Blick is now taking the opportunity to optimize some elements, reducing the amount of text on the front page and making the images more prominent. As a rule, there will be one or two thematic focal points on the front in future. With only one front
history, a tear-off column appears on the right-hand side of the page for
Stories in the service and sports sections. If there are two front-page stories, the tear-offs appear in a bar above the Blick logo.
Editor-in-chief Werner De Schepper is aware that the new layout requires a rethink in the editorial department. "A story with 40 lines looks like secondary material in the broadsheet. In the tabloid, this is already a page lead," he says. The additional number of pages also means that more stories have to be placed "on top". "The discussions in the editorial team will certainly become even more intense," he says.
Bernhard Weissberg, Head of Newspapers at Ringier, believes that the new weighting will express the newspaper's tripartite structure more clearly: "The current affairs section certainly needs tougher, more pointed stories. The middle section tends to show the softer, more human side of life, while the strong sports section will continue to present one of the main pillars of Blick."
But how does Blick react to the indications that some Jean Frey shareholders are rolling out plans for a right-wing conservative tabloid? "I'm not concerned with that at the moment. It would be strange if I were to react now to something that I don't even know about yet," says De Schepper. "You have to keep an eye on everything as long as nothing has been decided. With or without competition: we have to keep improving our newspaper," says Weissberg. Both are also of the opinion that the left-right scheme is outdated. In any case, Blick continues to focus on the concerns of ordinary people, which is why it continues to take aim at both the tax package of the centre-right and the new wage statement of the left. "We are already close to the readership," emphasizes De Schepper.
Weissberg believes that the mere fact that Blick is "becoming even more tabloid-like" will at least make it more difficult for a second tabloid to get off the ground. And an alleged crisis at Blick, which could possibly be the basis for a second project, does not even exist. Weissberg: "Of course we have lost circulation in the last ten years, but partly because we have optimized rather than maximized. Nevertheless, we were able to double our contribution margin last year compared to 2002," he says.
The Blick cover mutates into a shop window: instead of stories, only tear-outs (left). And: lifestyle pages as if it were a magazine (right).
Markus Knöpfli
The previous tabloid edition of Blick primarily had to prove that there was exactly the same space in the small format as in the broadsheet Blick. Accordingly, the tabloid layout was also aligned with the large format. From next Monday, however, this corset will disappear. Blick is now taking the opportunity to optimize some elements, reducing the amount of text on the front page and making the images more prominent. As a rule, there will be one or two thematic focal points on the front in future. With only one front
history, a tear-off column appears on the right-hand side of the page for
Stories in the service and sports sections. If there are two front-page stories, the tear-offs appear in a bar above the Blick logo.
Editor-in-chief Werner De Schepper is aware that the new layout requires a rethink in the editorial department. "A story with 40 lines looks like secondary material in the broadsheet. In the tabloid, this is already a page lead," he says. The additional number of pages also means that more stories have to be placed "on top". "The discussions in the editorial team will certainly become even more intense," he says.
Bernhard Weissberg, Head of Newspapers at Ringier, believes that the new weighting will express the newspaper's tripartite structure more clearly: "The current affairs section certainly needs tougher, more pointed stories. The middle section tends to show the softer, more human side of life, while the strong sports section will continue to present one of the main pillars of Blick."
But how does Blick react to the indications that some Jean Frey shareholders are rolling out plans for a right-wing conservative tabloid? "I'm not concerned with that at the moment. It would be strange if I were to react now to something that I don't even know about yet," says De Schepper. "You have to keep an eye on everything as long as nothing has been decided. With or without competition: we have to keep improving our newspaper," says Weissberg. Both are also of the opinion that the left-right scheme is outdated. In any case, Blick continues to focus on the concerns of ordinary people, which is why it continues to take aim at both the tax package of the centre-right and the new wage statement of the left. "We are already close to the readership," emphasizes De Schepper.
Weissberg believes that the mere fact that Blick is "becoming even more tabloid-like" will at least make it more difficult for a second tabloid to get off the ground. And an alleged crisis at Blick, which could possibly be the basis for a second project, does not even exist. Weissberg: "Of course we have lost circulation in the last ten years, but partly because we have optimized rather than maximized. Nevertheless, we were able to double our contribution margin last year compared to 2002," he says.
The Blick cover mutates into a shop window: instead of stories, only tear-outs (left). And: lifestyle pages as if it were a magazine (right).
Markus Knöpfli
