Mint switches to broadsheet

Mint editor, R Sukumar explained the rationale behind going broadsheet. “Circa 2016, readers are demanding more of more… To achieve this, Mint has had to transcend the limits of the Berliner format it popularised in India and become a broadsheet, albeit one with the navigational aids, wraps, long-form narratives, and data stories that in many ways define what a newspaper should be in the digital era.”

The broadsheet format means more space for editorial and advertising content. The paper will now have a full-size page one, which is the maximum revenue earner for any paper.

When it was launched in 2007, Mint stood at number six among Indian business newspapers. It became the second-most read paper in the segment after Economic Times, according to the 2014 Indian Readership Survey (IRS).

According to industry experts, with the transformation, HT Media aims to capitalise on the remarkable rise in readership that Mint has achieved with an increase in advertising.

“Mint’s code of conduct for its journalists has become a template for other newsrooms. Its disclosure standards on native content (created by the advertiser or the marketing department of Mint, but designed as content) are among the best in the business and have been adopted by several others,” said Sukumar in an editorial titled “A newspaper for the digital era”.