MALAYSIA: New Straits Times unveils tabloid

The newspaper war in Malaysia intensified yesterday when The New Straits Times (NST), the country's oldest English-language daily, launched a tabloid edition of its broadsheet

The Straits Times
Thursday, September 2, 2004

By Leslie Lau

KUALA LUMPUR - The newspaper war in Malaysia intensified yesterday when The New Straits Times (NST), the country's oldest English-language daily, launched a tabloid edition of its broadsheet.

The tabloid version, marketed as its 'compact' edition, was an immediate success, selling out at most news agents in the city here.

Sales in the city and its immediate suburbs had jumped 35 per cent by 5pm, mostly due to demand for the tabloid.

Newspaper officials said 76,000 copies of the daily in both broadsheet and tabloid editions were sold by 1pm, compared to average daily sales of 56,000 previously.

'The response has been fantastic. About 90 per cent of readers who called up say they liked the compact version,' New Straits Times Press (NSTP) group editor-in-chief Kalimullah Hassan told The Straits Times.

'But we will wait and see before we decide to increase the print run.'

A total of 50,000 copies of the compact version are being printed. They are available only around the city here for now.

To mark the launch, Datuk Kalimullah wrote: 'The New Straits Times is an institution. Today we embark on another historical journey by breaking with a 159-year tradition to publish two versions of the newspaper.'

The compact NST is the boldest roll-of-the-dice so far as the newspaper attempts to recapture market share from The Star, the country's most widely read and most profitable newspaper.

The Star, a breezy tabloid, sells about 350,000 copies a day, while the NST, the top daily just over a decade ago, sells about 150,000 copies.

Despite a strong lead, The Star editors are understood to be concerned by its main rival's new savvy in marketing and writing, and the stronger political connections of some NST editors.

Datuk Kalimullah has, since taking over NSTP in January, introduced snappier writing and livelier news stories.

The Straits Times understands that senior editors in The Star have been brainstorming in the past month.

Yesterday, The Star responded by printing a wraparound cover story on National Day celebrations a day earlier, with pictures straddling the front and back pages of the tabloid.

But the NST trumped its rival with a story on National Day written by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Eagle-eyed readers noticed a glitch, though.

'Eight or nine readers called up to tell us we did not run the daily horoscope,' said one senior editor. 'It is true. We inadvertently left it out.'

That glitch aside, advertisers and media agencies were happy.

'It is an acknowledgement and reflection of the broader lifestyle change among Malaysians who want everything in bite-size chunks,' Starcom Mediavest Group chief executive officer Paul Corrigan was quoted as saying yesterday by news agency Bernama.

Date Posted: 9/2/2004