In an interview in The Guardian today, The Independent's editor, Simon Kelner, said Independent on Sunday editor, Tristan Davies, was "very eager" to go tabloid.
Kelner added: "Were I a betting man, I wouldn't bet against the Sindy becoming a compact by the end of the year." He said that dummies have already been made up.
In March, the Independent on Sunday ruled out the launch of a tabloid edition, following a redesign that included a new 64-page colour arts magazine called ABC -- Arts, Books and Culture, which replaced Talk of the Town, its highbrow culture supplement. The broadsheet business pages took on a tabloid format with an expanded media section, including a media column and diary.
Since its decision to downsize, The Independent's circulation has shot up 15.7% year on year. In the latest figures to June, it was up 0.22% month-on-month to 261,575. The Independent on Sunday has not shared its stablemate's success however. In the same set of ABCs, the Sunday paper was down 5.33% year on year, and down 0.31% month-on-month to 210,015.
Kelner told The Guardian that since the downsize, the paper had attracted more women readers, more ABC1 readers and younger readers. However, he claimed that The Times, which also launched a compact edition, had not shared similar successes because it has misjudged its readership.
In the latest set of ABCs, The Times was up 1% year on year to 661,330.
The Independent on Sunday was recently named the best designed newspaper for the third year running, environmental newspaper of the year for the second year and was shortlisted for its coverage of the Iraq war, all at the British Press Awards.
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