Just as the twenty twenty format has revolutionised cricket, bringing new fans and a much needed boost to the game, it has caused consternation in some quarters that the popularity of the long-form test will dwindle in the company of its concise offspring.
Will The Independent’s abridged broadsheet i pose a similar threat to its heavily-paginated parent?
Perhaps so. But just as there are times when a twenty twenty hit is just what an audience needs, so too there are times when cogitating over a drawn out, tactical innings provides the perfect stimulation.
And if there was ever a format in need of an overhaul the broadsheet newspaper is surely it; ever more pages, covering increasingly broad subject matter, costing more and more to both create and purchase, and to what end?
If I were a news-obsessed reader, with a penchant for business, finance, (personal and global), food, books, music, film, architecture, fashion, military prowess, theatre, real-life stories, travel, ballet, and, not-forgetting, sport, from horse-racing to cricket, rugby, boxing, tennis and football - did I mention opera? - with at least 3 hours a day to kill keeping abreast, the broadsheet newspaper is the perfect vehicle.
For anyone who lives in the real world, i looks to be an extremely enticing prospect.
At 56 pages – the planned size, though it is understood to be a moveable feast depending on how the first issues go down – the 20p price point is tempting and, handily in the current climate, feels ‘fair’.
Though as Steve Hatch, managing director at MEC, points out, even a low price point can engender its own issues: "The challenge this paper has is that it is not a discounted product, which means that consumers perceive it to have a low price, rather than the extra value price a discount provides.
"So while the ambition is for it to be a ‘why not’ product, the consumer may still think ‘why’? The Independent must make the distribution as easy for consumers as possible. The product will have to be good enough to overcome the inconvenience of taking your iPhone headphones out of your ears and finding your change in your pocket."
Overcoming ‘why’ will be a challenge, especially for IPL to hit its 400,000 copies target, to be tackled initially with a major outdoor campaign and a plan to hand out 100,000 free copies everyday for the first two weeks.
But for one of its key demographics, the commuter who, like me, has their reading time limit set by the length of the journey to and from work, a paper that won’t go 90% unread makes a lot more sense than a weighty tome, the majority of which is destined to be recycled before it has been touched by human hand.
In modern ‘pick’n’mix’ times, the broadsheet feels increasingly like the defunct album. Just as the single download changed consumer purchasing behaviour for music, so search and social recommendation have changed our consumption of the written word.
Consumers don’t object to paying for quality content and good service, even when there are free alternatives. iTunes proved that with downloads. But consumers do object to paying for something they don’t want and I am yet to find a newspaper outlet that doesn’t ask me to pay for a product at least half of which I have no interest in.
The positioning of i, to be overseen by Independent editor-in-chief Simon Kelner, is therefore crucial. Achieve the correct editorial balance and, in a market of one, it has every chance of being a huge success. And let’s face it, at 20p we will all be more forgiving about the number of pages that don’t excite.
Even taking the depressed ad market into account, offer numbers and a high value demographic to press buyers and it will be difficult to see brands not supporting the title.
Though they are not without their questions. Patrick Whitnall, client investment director at Starcom, described the launch of i as a "bold move" given the declines in newspaper circulations over the past decade, and questioned whether a new-look Independent would be enough to turn the fortunes of the main paper around.
He added: "The question remains, if the title is not successful, will Lebedev again look at a free model for The Independent, albeit only regionally, possibly within the M25?"
"In addition to the launch of i, Simon Kelner will also oversee a redesign of The Independent. It has to be asked, how many more redesigns are we going to see? The daily title has seen it’s headline circulation figure decline from over 260,000 in 2005, to its current number of just over 180,000 (with less than 100,000 of those at full price), whilst indulging itself in several new looks."
With the relative success of the Standard’s turnaround, not to mention the deep, deep pockets of owner Alexander Lebedev, behind it, i’s unique proposition in a sector in need of a fillip could be the boost newspapers are desperately searching for.
While all around are looking to tablet computing and online paywalls to be the saviour of the press, it may turn out the answer lay closer to home after all.
Bring on the cheerleaders and pump up the razzmatazz, IPL is coming to a town near you.
Rich Sutcliffe is editor of Brand Republic