Lean Wall Street Journal launced

Yesterday was the launch of the revised -what is called the most trusted newspaper- The Wall Street Journal print and online version. About half a million copies were handed out for free and access to the news site was also free. Most apparent change is the smaller size -almost one column- and the way the articles are displayed. Less articles on the cover page and less articles are continuing on following pages to facilitate reading. Today's front page features only four articles that are continuing on two following pages. I mentioned in other posts that newspapers are working hard to get the hybrid model right. WSJ positions the print edition as providing "what the news means" and the online version as "what's happening right now". With almost 800,000 paid subscribers to the online version it is already one of the biggest news sites.
A recent study from Pew Research in the USA shows that 34% of newspaper readers only read a print version and only 4% both print and online. WSJ now offers both in one package -for subscriptions and advertisers- bridging the two reader groups with a complementary product. I'm curious to see how this will evolve commercially and will keep you posted.