Newspaper Project Final 1

Introduction:

Every person normally starts his day by reading the Newspaper in the morning. In these modern

days; instead of having many other options like 24x7 News Channels, Online news, Mobile

updates etc. The importance of the newspaper is not yet changed in the life of people. Newspaper

always treated as most reliable, analytical, trusted news source but definitely the content of the

newspaper has been changed over the period of time.

Generally newspaper reading habit in the house starts with the traditional family newspaper. The

perception of the reader about newspaper start from writing style, editorial, layout, feel of the

newspaper & convenience of reading etc. Its make people to resistant to change their newspaper

brand from one to another unlike FMCG product or to replace it with the electronic news. Its

take years to cultivate a newspaper brand in to the family. Most of the time the family newspaper

or 1st choice newspaper of the family is the regional newspaper Marathi, Hindi, Gujrati etc.

Secondly is the English newspaper. The 1st and the 2nd choice of newspaper normally reflect into

their socio economic status.

The history of the newspaper starts from 1605. When first newspaper got printed in Europe. The

German-language ‘Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien’, by Johann

Carolus in Strasbourg, is often recognized as the first newspaper

James Augustus Hickey is considered as the "father of Indian press" as he started the first Indian

newspaper from Calcutta, the Calcutta General Advertise or the Bengal Gazette in January, 1780.

In 1789, the first newspaper from Bombay, the Bombay Herald appeared, followed by the

Bombay Courier next year (this newspaper was later amalgamated with the Times of India in

1861).

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English is an international language. Everybody not only in India but also throughout the world

wants to cope with English language. According to some facts and figure, approx 400 million

people speak it as a secondary language and 350 million people claim as their native language.

In Mumbai, being metropolitan city & the financial capital of India over 25 million population.

Analyst says that 3.5 million people read English in Mumbai but only 2.1 million buy English

newsprint of any kind. This study put lights of many of the facts & figures.

Today morning’s newspaper publishing is a competitive and became a very complex market. The

morning newspapers compete with each other and with other media such as TV, radio, the

internet and other on-line services. In order to be competitive in the media landscape of today,

morning newspapers need to improve the production and the distribution of newspapers as well

as other processes within the newspaper companies. This study has been undertaken to

understand the newspaper industry majorly concentrating on Mumbai region analyzing the Three

major market players; The Times of India, Hindustan Times & DNA. Two are the new entrant in

the Mumbai market & other is the Old & the leader in the market. Other English dailies will also

be the part of the studies as the established player in the market.

Metrics

Newspapers in India are measured on two parameters, circulation and readership.

Circulation

Circulation referred to the actual copies sold every day. Circulation is certified by the Audit

Bureau of Circulations (ABC) which is an industry body. ABC audit for circulation of the

member newspaper companies & publishes periodic report on the circulation. ABC audits starts

from the actual production of the copies from purchase report of newsprint to sale of the last

printed copy. ABC is the non bios body therefore this reports are referred by the company itself

& stakeholders of the company also by the advertisers, advertising agencies & competitors too.

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Readership

Readership is estimated by two different surveys, The Indian Readership Survey (IRS) and the

National Readership Survey (NRS). Both are the independent agencies who conduct the surveys

across the region by different methods of survey i.e. one to one interview, observation etc. IRS &

NRS also publishes periodic report on the readership. This reports also referred by the company

itself & stakeholders of the company also by the advertisers, advertising agencies & competitors

as well. The readership no is always greater than the circulation nos.

Significance of the Study:

The Indian Media market has been on an upswing in the last 5 years. New media have grown at

high rates in line with their expected potential. However, traditional media have not been

disadvantaged by this, and they have continued to show strong growth, though their share of the

total media pie has expectedly shown a slight dip. The main reasons for this are: Willingness of

emerging advertisers to pay for impact

Expansion of traditional media into new markets and formats, which is helping them

demand value

A strong business environment that supports this growth

Increase in advertisers’ spends on traditional media to maintain status quo and their

willingness to look at new media (which also tend to be cheaper options) to create

differentiation and grab attention

Shift in focus from conventional target consumers (Housewife, aged 25-45 years), to include

the Male and the Youth, who are the primarily being targeted through new mediums like

Mobile and Internet, and Radio and Niche Publications. What remains to be seen is whether

recent downtrends at the stock market will moderate media growth.

The newspaper is the most trusted media by the advertiser after the TV. 40% of the overall spend

on the advertising is on the newspaper. Newspaper is effective media than any other media. Its

about the mindshare than the pocket share. Its gives more top of the mind to the reader about any

of the advertisements

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Objective of the Study:

Objective of the Study is to find out consumer buying behavior of the particular brand of news

paper among readers & exploring new marketing strategies to attract new consumers. In this

study the aims at analyzing the following aspects:

Current market players & their marketing strategies

Readers psychology & Reading Habits

Readers response towards product, Price, place & promotions

Brand preference for newspaper.

Different factors for preferring the particular brand.

Preference of the consumers about the other newspaper brand

New marketing strategies

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THE TIMES OF INDIA

The Times of India is the pioneer in Indian newspaper industry. The leader, The monopolist

player in Mumbai & Major player India. The Times of India held by the Bennett, Coleman & Co.

Ltd. since 1838. The story which was began with the Newspaper & now it’s become the largest

media services conglomerate in India. It reaches out from: 11 publishing centers, 15 printing

centers, 55 sales offices, Over 7000 employees,5 dailies including two of the largest in the

country with approx 4.3 million copies circulated daily, 2 lead magazines, 29 niche magazines,

Reaching 2468 cities and towns, 32 Radio Stations

The Times of India (TOI) is a popular English-language broadsheet daily newspaper in India. It

has the widest circulation among all English-language daily newspapers in the world, across all

formats. The Times of India is printed from the following places in India:

Ahmadabad, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati,

Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur,

Patna, Pune, Ranchi, Surat.

List of top 10 newspapers in the world by circulation

1. The Times of India (India): 3,146,000

2. The Sun (UK): 2,986,000

3. Daily Mail (UK): 2,311,000

4. USA Today (USA): 2,293,000

5. The Wall Street Journal (USA): 2,012,000

6. The Daily Mirror (UK): 1,494,000

7. The Hindu (India): 1,272,000

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8. The Hindustan Times (India): 1,143,000

9. The New York Times (USA): 1,005,000

10. The Deccan Chronicle (India): 1,003,000

BCCL Business Structure:

MISSION STATEMENT OF COMPANY

“Create & build brands with differentiated content to capture relevant audiences and market the

value of these to advertisers to help them sell and strengthen their brands”.

The present management of The Times Group has been instrumental in changing the outlook of

Indian journalism. In India, as is elsewhere in the world, the Editor of a newspaper has

traditionally been considered as the most notable position in a newspaper set up. The Times of

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India, however, changed this in the early 1990s, in keeping with the management policy of

treating the newspaper as just another brand in the market. The main newspaper and its many

sub-editions are now run by editors who are appointed within the ranks and the company gives

equal chance to everyone. The Times Group also places equal focus and importance to every

department and function - which has made it a professional entity and ensured its place as the

most profitable newspaper in the country.

TOP DAILIES - MUMBAI: TOTAL READERSHIP (TR)

Publication

Name

2009 R1   2008 R2   2007 R2

RankReadership Rank Readership Rank Readership

The Times of

India 25.13 1 25.8 1 27.71 1

Mumbai Mirror 14.99 2 15.61 2 15.31 3

Mid Day 14.17 3 14.71 3 16.18 2

DNA 13.24 4 12.6 4 12.04 4

Hindustan Times 8.17 5 7.75 5 5.79 5

The New Indian Express

0.96 7 1.26 7 1.9 7

TOP DAILIES - MUMBAI: AVERAGE ISSUE READERSHIP (AIR)

Publication

Name

2009 R1   2008 R2   2007 R2

RankReadership Rank Readership Rank Readership

The Times of

India 15.20 1 15.53 1 15.53 1

Mumbai Mirror 8.65 2 8.73 2 7.19 2

DNA 7.05 3 6.76 3 6.03 3

Hindustan Times 5.48 4 5.26 4 5.16 4

Mid Day 4.79 5 4.80 5 3.54 5

The New Indian Express

0.35 7 0.47 7 0.81 7

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Source: IRS (Fig in Lac’s)

In 2008, the newspaper reported that (with a circulation of over 3.14 million) it was certified by

the Audit Bureau of Circulations as the world's largest selling English-language daily newspaper,

placing as the 8th largest selling newspaper in any language in the world. According to the

Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2009, the Times of India is the most widely read English

newspaper in India with a readership of 13.3 million. This ranks the Times of India as the top

English newspaper in India by readership. TOI Online is the world's most-visited newspaper

website with 159 million page views in May 2009, ahead of the New York Times, The Sun,

Washington Post, Daily Mail and USA Today websites]

Analyst says that 3.5m people read English in Mumbai but only 2.1 million buy English

newsprint of any kind. Two and a half years ago, Mumbai had only six English dailies. With the

new entrants HT and DNA, media planners and buyers began to believe that finally there would

be non-monopolistic print market in Mumbai.  But till date TOI advertising rates have been four

times more than HT and DNA.  Even today the circulation of TOI, which gives Mumbai Mirror

free of cost to its readers, is sold more than HT and DNA. With a turnover of Rs 20 crores and

yearly profit of Rs 8 crores

Future Plans:

Adding up the new editions to spread all across

Part of the circulation strategy continue with the combo subscription offers

Same strategies had been implemented in advertising division where advertiser also place

advertisement in combo at lesser rates

Introducing new customized products for media guys, it people like they have introduced

for weekend readers e.g. TOI Crest

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Hindustan Times

Hindustan Times is one of India’s most respected and leading English dailies. The flagship

newspaper of HT Media, the Hindustan Times was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in the year

1924. Hindustan Times has been pioneering trends in journalism, setting standards and breaking

new ground for the last 80 years. Spurred by the leading faces of Indian journalism, Hindustan

Times has evolved with the times, reflecting the changing India and is today the newspaper of

choice of over 3.3 million Indians. Hindustan Times, the market leader of the National Capital

Region has in the last decade rapidly expanded its footprint and today reaches readers across the

length and breadth of the country.

The newspaper has editions published from Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi and

Kolkata, thus dominating most of the country.

Hindustan Times’ Delhi edition continues to be the largest-

circulated edition of English daily in the country, with a

readership of over 2.5 million. . It is also the largest

circulated and most widely read newspaper in Delhi. 

HT Media belongs to the KK Birla group. Dr Birla, a

renowned industrialist, has established one of India's well-

known business conglomerates, spanning a wide spectrum

of key industries like sugar, fertilizers, chemicals, heavy

engineering, textiles, shipping and media. HTML has on its

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Board of Directors eminent personalities like Shobhana Bhartia (Editorial Director of HTML -

20 years of experience in newspaper industry), Raju Narsetti (Chief Editor - Mint, worked as

Editor of the WSJ's European edition), Mrinal Pande (Editor of Hindustan) and Vir Sanghvi

(Advisory Editorial Director, a prominent TV anchor and journalist)

HT Business Structure

Hindustan Times - A solid platform

Dating way back to 1924, HT Media's flagship publication Hindustan Times has established

itself as the second largest English daily in the country. Renowned for its editorial excellence,

today the publication has achieved a daily circulation of around 1.4mn copies (ABC JD 2006)

and a readership base of 3.3mn (IRS 2007 R2). Over the past several years, the daily has

enhanced its look (first smart-age newspaper in India to evolve into a new international size) and

has revamped its supplement offerings by introducing daily supplements catering to specific

target audience. Hindustan Times is published in six editions (Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Patna,

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Ranchi and Kolkata) with a dominating presence in Delhi and the Northern regions. In July

2005, the daily successfully entered the biggest print market in the country - Mumbai. Apart

from its six core editions, it is also circulated in other regions like Punjab and Rajasthan through

its nine printing locations. The publication's Delhi key edition is also India's largest single-

edition daily in terms of circulation.

TOP DAILIES - MUMBAI: TOTAL READERSHIP (TR)

Publication Name 2009 R1   2008 R2   2007 R2

RankReadership Rank Readership Rank Readership

The Times of India 25.13 1 25.8 1 27.71 1

Mumbai Mirror 14.99 2 15.61 2 15.31 3

Mid Day 14.17 3 14.71 3 16.18 2

DNA 13.24 4 12.6 4 12.04 4

Hindustan Times 8.17 5 7.75 5 5.79 5

The New Indian Express

0.96 7 1.26 7 1.9 7

TOP DAILIES - MUMBAI: AVERAGE ISSUE READERSHIP (AIR)

Publication Name 2009 R1   2008 R2   2007 R2

RankReadership Rank Readership Rank Readership

The Times of India 15.20 1 15.53 1 15.53 1

Mumbai Mirror 8.65 2 8.73 2 7.19 2

DNA 7.05 3 6.76 3 6.03 3

Hindustan Times 5.48 4 5.26 4 5.16 4

Mid Day 4.79 5 4.80 5 3.54 5

The New Indian Express

0.35 7 0.47 7 0.81 7

Source: IRS (Fig in Lac’s)

We can estimate the Mumbai edition to achieve breakeven in FY2009 and start contributing

meaningfully to net circulation revenues. While leadership position and strong brand equity

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remain HT's key strength in the Delhi market, we expect the Mumbai market also to witness

significant traction in ad revenues in the future owing to higher circulation/readership levels.

Going ahead on the new path…

Why the Six Sigma Way

•The primary objective being cost savings

•Intense competition from TOI which challenged the “market-leader” status of Hindustan Times

in the capital city of Delhi.

•listen to the customer and measure self against what they want and when they want it

•Benchmark against the best in the class to sustain the competitive advantage.

•more organizations were adopting it to improve their business results

BENEFITS - SIX SIGMA

By adopting this strategy, immediate benefits were realize in the areas of

•Reduction in Newsprint- waste across locations

•Using Six Sigma projects to develop a new wage agreement.

•Overall reduction in consumables in the printing process

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DNA

DNA; Daily news and analysis are a 5 years old young English broad sheet newspaper. 5 years

back; when whole Mumbai was wondering with the teaser campaign running across the

Mumbai.. ‘Speak up! It’s in your DNA’. Many of the Boys across Mumbai interviewing people

for creating their own newspaper. Lot of buzz was created around the DNA brand. On the July

30 2005 The DNA revealed its identity. Different from other two Newspaper brand in Mumbai

Market Times of India & Hindustan times with the colorful master head DNA which stands from

Daily News and Analysis. DNA launched in Mumbai with heavy subscription within 5 years

DNA expanded its spread to Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Jaipur and Bangalore & Major Cities

of India such as New Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Lucknow and Bhopal are also targeted for the

future edition of DNA News Paper.

Targeted at a young readership, DNA became India's fastest growing English newspaper.

DNA is owned by Diligent Media Corporation, a joint

venture between media industry majors – the D B Corp

Ltd. (Dainik Bhaskar) and Essel Group

The paper has a liberal outlook, and supports

reformists in Mumbai and across the world. DNA is

the first daily newspaper in India to introduce an all-

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color page format. In Mumbai edition there are three zone-targeted supplements for Thane, West

Coast and Navi Mumbai

DNA's first edition followed the Mumbai floods. The general disruption of city life must have hit

the pre-launch operations of DNA But DNA Hit the stands as on promised date.

The "best print media talent" cited by Simi Garewal and hired by DNA. There is lot of things to

read for a serious reader. The paper is broken up into sections. The main section includes an

interactive Speak Up page, and City, Nation and World news pages. There is also an Editorial

page, and a technology page (I Know). The other sections include Money, Sports and After

Hours. DNA Money is a section on Business & Economy. After Hours is a 10 page section with

news from Bollywood, Art & Fashion, and other such topics. Two magazines - a women's

magazine called Me, and a children's magazine called YA! a supplement called "YA! Young

Adults" in Mumbai and parts of Pune. It is mainly targeted towards kids from as young as 4

years to 18, but it is also read by many parents and people who are almost 50 years old. It is

published by editor Lubaina Badukwala and is delivered to children (subscribers or non-

subscribers) on every Sunday

TOP DAILIES - MUMBAI: TOTAL READERSHIP (TR)

Publication Name 2009 R1   2008 R2   2007 R2

RankReadership Rank Readership Rank Readership

The Times of India 25.13 1 25.8 1 27.71 1

Mumbai Mirror 14.99 2 15.61 2 15.31 3

Mid Day 14.17 3 14.71 3 16.18 2

DNA 13.24 4 12.6 4 12.04 4

Hindustan Times 8.17 5 7.75 5 5.79 5

The New Indian Express

0.96 7 1.26 7 1.9 7

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TOP DAILIES - MUMBAI: AVERAGE ISSUE READERSHIP (AIR)

Publication Name 2009 R1   2008 R2   2007 R2

RankReadership Rank Readership Rank Readership

The Times of India 15.20 1 15.53 1 15.53 1

Mumbai Mirror 8.65 2 8.73 2 7.19 2

DNA 7.05 3 6.76 3 6.03 3

Hindustan Times 5.48 4 5.26 4 5.16 4

Mid Day 4.79 5 4.80 5 3.54 5

The New Indian Express

0.35 7 0.47 7 0.81 7

Source: IRS (Fig in Lac’s)

Being a new entrant in the Newspaper industry. In April 2008, the Indian Readership Survey

(IRS) Round I determined DNA’s readership to be 676,000 ranking DNA 8th amongst the Top

Ten English Dailies in India. DNA, Mumbai is the second most read English broadsheet in the

city of Mumbai.

According to the National Readership Study (NRS 2006) findings released in August 2006,

DNA’s readership in Mumbai city is 5,18,000. Meanwhile, the readership figures released by

NRS 2006 show DNA had the largest increase (29%) for any general English newspaper in

Mumbai, and indicates that DNA was by far the fastest growing newspaper in that city, giving it

the second largest circulation among Mumbai newspapers.

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February 11, 2007, DNA announced that its paid circulation has crossed 400,000 in Mumbai. It

had crossed 300,000 in October 2006. In May 2006, DNA authorized Ernst & Young to certify

its circulation figures. E & Y submitted its report in July, putting its paid circulation at 270,000.

The Indian Express

The Indian Express is an English-language Indian daily newspaper owned by Ramnath Goenka

started in 1931 by Chennai based P. Varadarajulu Naidu. After Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991,

the group was split in 1999 among his family members into two with the southern editions taking

the name The New Indian Express, while the old Indian Express name was retained in the

northern editions based in Mumbai with a prefix "The". It is published in all major Indian cities.

It is a major and respected Indian newspaper with a worldwide circulation.

The Indian Express is owned by the Indian Express Group with Viveck Goenka as the Chairman

and Managing Director. The group also owns other newspapers in India such as the Financial

Express, a newspaper focused on the Indian economy, stock markets, and fiscal policies. The

group has other publications such as Screen weekly focused on entertainment news,[1] the

Marathi-language daily Loksatta, and the Hindi daily

Jansatta.

The Indian Express is published from 8 locations —

Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Chandigarh,

Lucknow and Ahmedabad.

The Indian Express has often carried important

investigative reports that had significant consequences. Its

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coverage of the murder of an engineer working on the national highway project got the Indian

Supreme Court to force the Indian Government to commit to a whistleblower law.

Its campaign also helped to enact the Right to Information Act, passed in India in 2005.

The newspaper is known for its intrepid tone. During the Indian Emergency the newspaper

refused to subject itself to censorship at the hands of the union government. On June 26, 1975,

there was no issue of the Indian Express and two days later when an issue did come out, the

editorial section was left blank as a sign of protest. The Indian Express also exposed Sant Singh

Chatwal when he received Padma Bhusan and started a debate on selecting the right person for

national honor.

The Express Group has a Mumbai-headquartered division, which should not be confused with

Express Publications Madurai, which brings out a South Indian chain of newspapers, including

The New Indian Express and is very much a separate corporate entity from The Express Group.

The Indian Express is considered to be far less focused on consumer preferences than its

upmarket-targeted competitor, The Times of India.

The newspaper saw falling profits between the years 2000-2002 but did not change its policies

and the nature of content it carried. The newspaper, however, appointed franchisees to run some

of its loss making editions including the Jammu edition (the model was also adopted to launch

the Chandigarh edition of The Financial Express - the business paper of the Express Group).

Under the franchisee model, the editorial control of the edition was to be retained by the editorial

staff appointed by the Express group. The franchise owner was given the control of with the

business side, including circulation and generation of revenues. In return the franchise was

expected to provide the operational expenses and a one-time fee to the Express group. The model

looked good on paper. However, it led to dilution of the editorial standards as the franchisees

sought greater say in the appointment of reporters and selection of content. The conflict between

commercial interests and journalistic ethics reached a flashpoint in The Financial Express,

Chandigarh edition, when the franchisee threatened to shut down the edition if he was not given

the editorial control. The franchisee ultimately emerged as the winner, leading to the resignation

of the Resident Editor of the edition. This was followed by fresh appointments to the Editorial

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team and the franchisee assuming the role of the Managing Editor. The Express Group,

subsequently posted profits of Rs. 450 million in 2004. This financial turnaround has been used

as a case study in India's highly regarded Indian Institutes of Management in Ahmedabad.

TOP DAILIES - MUMBAI: TOTAL READERSHIP (TR)

Publication Name 2009 R1   2008 R2   2007 R2

RankReadership Rank Readership Rank Readership

The Times of India 25.13 1 25.8 1 27.71 1

Mumbai Mirror 14.99 2 15.61 2 15.31 3

Mid Day 14.17 3 14.71 3 16.18 2

DNA 13.24 4 12.6 4 12.04 4

Hindustan Times 8.17 5 7.75 5 5.79 5

The New Indian Express

0.96 7 1.26 7 1.9 7

TOP DAILIES - MUMBAI: AVERAGE ISSUE READERSHIP (AIR)

Publication Name 2009 R1   2008 R2   2007 R2

RankReadership Rank Readership Rank Readership

The Times of India 15.20 1 15.53 1 15.53 1

Mumbai Mirror 8.65 2 8.73 2 7.19 2

DNA 7.05 3 6.76 3 6.03 3

Hindustan Times 5.48 4 5.26 4 5.16 4

Mid Day 4.79 5 4.80 5 3.54 5

The New Indian Express

0.35 7 0.47 7 0.81 7

Source: IRS (Fig in Lac’s)

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The Indian express newspaper readers are traditional readers. They stick to the brand over the

years. In this competitive market also Indian express has maintained their market share without

doing aggressive marketing activities

There are many of the initiatives have taken by the Indian express group & which are best of the

country like their product. Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards, Ramnath Goenka

India Press Photo Awards is one of those.

MID DAY

Mid Day is an afternoon compact newspaper in Mumbai (Bombay), Bangalore, Delhi and Pune

(launched on August 18, 2008). It was established in 1979 as in a

MID DAY is owned by Mid Day Info media Limited, a subsidiary of Mid Day Multimedia

Limited, a publishing house listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock

Exchange. Presently, it publishes newspapers in three languages: English, Gujarati and an Urdu

newspaper called The Inquilab. The Inquilab, was the first paper of the group in Urdu, was born

in the fervor of idealistic nationalism in 1938. Mid Day was launched in 1979, in English. The

special Sunday edition of it, the Sunday Mid Day, began in 1981.

The Mumbai newspaper publishes two editions: An early morning and a noon edition. Its slogan

is, Make Work Fun. However, since April, 2009, only noon editions have been published and the

company has dropped printing a morning newspaper, citing positioning issues.

Mid day is always been a youth newspaper. The

editorial, content & entire presentation of the newspaper

is targeted for youth. The college going youth is the

majority of the readers for the Mid Day. This is

afternoon newspaper paper and second choice

newspaper for majority of the young generation. The TG

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of this newspaper is between 16 – 35 men & woman both. The articles in the newspaper are

address to the said TG.

Mid Day has the range of pullouts unlike morning dailies has the supplements on Real estate,

Jobs, career, entertainment & lifestyle. The compact newspaper famous for the breaking News

for the courageous journalism. Mid Day always published many of the scams & the issues

which bother peoples. Mid Day also discussed the bold issues like sex, corruption in his regular

articles being blunt.

TOP DAILIES - MUMBAI: TOTAL READERSHIP (TR)

Publication Name 2009 R1   2008 R2   2007 R2

RankReadership Rank Readership Rank Readership

The Times of India 25.13 1 25.8 1 27.71 1

Mumbai Mirror 14.99 2 15.61 2 15.31 3

Mid Day 14.17 3 14.71 3 16.18 2

DNA 13.24 4 12.6 4 12.04 4

Hindustan Times 8.17 5 7.75 5 5.79 5

The New Indian Express

0.96 7 1.26 7 1.9 7

TOP DAILIES - MUMBAI: AVERAGE ISSUE READERSHIP (AIR)

Publication Name 2009 R1   2008 R2   2007 R2

RankReadership Rank Readership Rank Readership

The Times of India 15.20 1 15.53 1 15.53 1

Mumbai Mirror 8.65 2 8.73 2 7.19 2

DNA 7.05 3 6.76 3 6.03 3

Hindustan Times 5.48 4 5.26 4 5.16 4

Mid Day 4.79 5 4.80 5 3.54 5

The New Indian Express

0.35 7 0.47 7 0.81 7

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Source: IRS (Fig in Lac’s)

Many of the marketing efforts have been taken by the Mid Day by introducing the tie up,

promotional activities in the Mumbai.

Mumbai Mirror

Mumbai Mirror is a largest compact newspaper in the city of Mumbai. Its first issue was

published on May 30, 2005 by the Times Group, the publishers of The Times of

India newspaper. Mumbai Mirror was launched by The Times Group after Hindustan

Times and DNA announced plans to enter the Mumbai market. Mumbai Mirror was advertised

and publicized in its own media networks like The Times of India, Bombay Times, and Radio

Mirchi.

The Times of India published a story which said that it had a circulation of 1.5 lakhs while Mid-

day's circulation had dropped to 1.24 lakhs. This led to a counter attack by Mid Day claiming

that Mumbai Mirror was an unqualified flop. It also filed a complaint with Audit Bureau of

Circulation, (ABC) of which both Mid Day and Times are members. The Mid Day complaint

says that the Times report has damaged its business interests.

Mumbai Mirror has launched as a stand alone copy

initially. The response on the stall was to low except

the first day edition. Later on the add on to the

consumer Mumbai Mirror id offered free with the

Times of India. Now reader gets Times of India +

Mumbai mirror for Rs. 5.

This was the strategy used by the Times group

called blockading strategy. We are going to discuss

this strategy ahead in the project. Generally people

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who buy the newspaper from the newspaper stall (Cash Sale Point) generally spend Rs. 5 - 6 for

two newspapers. Here reader will get two papers Times of India & Mumbai Mirror at Rs. 5/-. This

strategy prevents reader to buy HT or DNA.

Now Mumbai Mirror sales whopping around 660,000/- per day in Mumbai.

Business Newspapers in Mumbai

The Economic Times

The Economic Times is an English-language Indian daily newspaper published by the Bennett,

Coleman & Co. Ltd., (The Times Group).The Economic Times, started in 1961, is India's largest

and among the world's top 3 English Business dailies with a daily circulation of over 620,000

copies. The Economic Times is published simultaneously from 10 Metropolitan Cities-Mumbai,

Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Ahemedabad, Chandigarh & Pune.

Its main rivals are the US-based The Wall Street Journal and London-based Financial Times,

both of the newspapers publishes several international editions.

Its main content is based on the Indian economy, share prices, prices of commodities as well as

other matters related to finance. The Economic Times is characterized by its salmon-pink paper,

which it as good as Financial Times. It is sold in all major cities in India. In June 2009, it also

launched a television channel called ET Now.

Brand Equity (Weekly) - this is a weekly color supplement that appears every

Wednesday, which covers marketing, advertising, media and market research.

Corporate Dossier is a supplement that appears every Friday, along with The Economic

Times aimed at the CEOs of corporate India, with a special focus on management and

strategy.

ET Travel is a weekly all-color supplement which covers travel and tourism aimed at the

burgeoning band of Indians who want to see and know about their country and the rest of

the world -- through Indian eyes.

22

ZigWheels is a weekly all-color supplement covering all aspects from the auto industry

from new launches and trends to ancillaries and personalities.

"ET Realty"

Business Standard

Business Standard is an Indian financial daily newspaper published by Business Standard Ltd

(BSL) in two languages, English and Hindi. The main English-language edition comes from 12

regional centers - Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmadabad, Hyderabad,

Chandigarh, Pune, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, and Kochi - and reaches readers in over 1,000 towns

and cities across India.

Started in 1975 in Kolkata by the Ananda Publishers group, Business Standard was hived off as a

separate company in 1996. It was then bought by Mumbai-based financial investors led by the

Kotak Mahindra Bank, after which began a phase of rapid expansion with the launch of new

editions. Approximately 200 people are employed in the editorial team, including well-known

Indian journalists AK Bhattacharya, Sunil Jain and Shyamal Majumdar. In establishing a

pedigree of strong financial journalism, Business Standard also publishes articles by Bimal Jalan,

former governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Shankar Acharya, former chief economic advisor

to the Government of India

Business Standard sells 144,000 copies daily in English, mostly to the business and policy-

making élite. The Hindi edition sells 53,000 copies daily. ACNielsen's survey of the upper

middle and rich market in India places Business Standard next to The Economic Times in total

readership.

The paper has a reputation for reliable reporting and responsible journalism, as well as for its

stimulating page of analysis and editorial comment. It has pioneered the ranking of the wealthiest

Indians (the Billionaire Club) and provides an automobile magazine as a free monthly

23

supplement. In 2006, BSL began to produce a Sunday edition that is now published in four

centers.

The Hindi edition was launched in February 2008 from seven centers stretching from Mumbai in

the west, running across the Hindi Belt, and to Kolkata in the east.

BSL also publishes various periodicals, including BS Motoring, Indian Management and the

Asian Management Review.

The newspaper's website, business-standard.com, allows visitors to access the Business Standard

e-paper, with a choice of editions. The Business Standard website receives 1.5 million unique

users per month, the highest for any "stand alone" newspaper website in India.

In January 2010, it launched smartinvestor.in, an information-cum-trading website for those

interested in the stock market.

The Financial Express 

is a daily newspaper published by the Indian Express group since 1961. It Launched in 1961,

India’s oldest financial daily, The Financial Express, is today one of the leading newspapers in

the country. Part of The Indian Express Group, the newspaper publishes eleven editions in

English from leading cities—Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad,

Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune. It also has an edition in Gujarati, published from

Ahmadabad. The newspaper has offices across the country and is headquartered in Delhi.

Mint

24

is a business newspaper from HT Media Ltd, launched in collaboration with The Wall Street

Journal on 1 February 2007. It is a premium business news publication aimed at decision makers

and policy makers of the country and it is the first newspaper in India to be published in the

Berliner format The current Editor of the newspaper is R. Sukumar.

The design of the Mint newspaper is geared towards presenting business and financial

information in a compact format. The format itself was designed by Mario R. Garcia, who has

also been associated with the re-design of the Wall Street Journal.

Along with the print edition, Mint also has specialized online and mobile editions which can be

accessed at "www.livemint.com". Livemint.com is among the fastest growing news websites in

India and it attracts more than 1.5 million readers every month, majority of who are decision

makers in leading business organizations across the world. It is widely considered to be the most

comprehensive and technically evolved news portal in the country that has introduced many

multimedia enabled engagement platforms which give its readers the opportunity to express their

point of view and interact with Mint's editors and columnists.

The weekend edition of the publication is called "Lounge" and it features columns on travel,

fashion, arts, personal technology, parenting, and health.

Mint is now India's 2nd most widely read national business daily. It has a readership of over 1.75

lakhs in Delhi and Mumbai [Source: IRS 2009, R1], with the average reader belonging to the age

group of 35 to 44. It also has editions in Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Pune.

The paper is progressively earning a loyal readership base and continues to hold the No. 2

position in Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. The Company plans to expand its geographical

presence by introducing the paper in other cities and leverage revenues of Mint through its

presence as a national business daily and a quality product.

25

Newspaper Marketing Strategies

Analyst says that 3.5m people read English in Mumbai but only 2.1m buy English newsprint of

any kind.

Strategic Alliance:

Two and a half years ago, Mumbai had only six English dailies. With the new entrants HT and

DNA, media planners and buyers began to believe that finally there would be non-monopolistic

print market in Mumbai.  But till date TOI advertising rates have been four times more than HT

and DNA.  Even today the circulation of TOI, which gives Mumbai Mirror free of cost to its

readers, is sold more than HT and DNA. With a turnover of Rs 200 million and yearly profit of

Rs 80 million

Four dimention strategies :

26

The Times of India and Hindustan Times, bitter rivals in the national capital, joined hands in

Mumbai to take on DNA.  The strategic alliance between two of the country’s biggest media

empires — Bennett, Coleman and Co Ltd (publishers of The Times of India) and Hindustan

Times Ltd – were seen in the areas of advertising, printing and human resources. HT began

advertising its planned debut in Mumbai in The Times of India and Radio Mirchi, Bennett’s FM

radio channel. In return, HT shared its newly set up printing facilities at Airoli in Navi Mumbai

with Bennett, coleman’. It was a barter deal with HT not paying for the space it is buying in The

Times of India, and offering its printing facility to the group. The third aspect of the

collaboration was a no-poaching agreement — a rare move in the media industry & the growth

remain continues. The both newspaper were suppose to eat away the pie nut the entire market got

expanded everyone got his space.

Blockading strategy:

Times of india used blockading strategy. Times group launched Mumbai mirror. A tabloid before

the launch of the HT & DNA. Mumbai Mirror is the first newspaper to hit the newspaper market

among the three new entrants. The Times machine went on overdrive much in advance, beefing

up its supplements, rolling out Mumbai Mirror, dishing out several value additions and stuffing

its journalists’ pockets.

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Mumbai Mirrors goal was to eat away MID-DAY consumer pie. Hence their strategy has been to

attract the rival readers to it. But it did not sell much, so The Times of India started distributing it

free with the main newspaper. Now, for Rs.4, The Times of India reader gets more than 100

pages. It adopted a `blockading’ strategy that is you flood the reader with so much that he/she

does not feel the need for another newspaper. That is exactly what happened when TOI began

giving Mumbai Mirror free along with Times of India newspaper. In the same time TOI and MM

went on a massive recruitment of journalists and media executives at high salaries, mopping up

manpower and making it more expensive for their competitions to recruit. But advertisement

rates are as expensive as ever; around four times that of DNA or Hindustan Times

Consumer Segmentation & Differentiation

Same approach has been taken towards Readers subscription drives by all three newspapers in

the Mumbai.

DNA did a pre-launch survey covering a staggering 11-lakh households, which increased

anticipation and helped it lay the ground future way.

HT on the other played safe. The only aim of HT was to provide Mumbai a replica of TOI at

cheaper rate. Therefore the target consumers where that of TOI.  

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Mumbai Mirror came up within three months after the official announcement made by TOI.

Obviously so there was no pre launch survey conducted by the TOI . The only aim being hitting

market before the new entrance did.

TOI applied the Delhi model of subscription with combo offer to the readers as well as to

advertisers.

Trade schemes:

The no of combinations were worked out at attractive rates when this DNA & HT were working

on their subscription schemes. TOI+ ET, TOI + MT, TOI+NBT [ET= Economics Times, MT=

Maharastra Times, leading Marathi daily, NBT= Navbharat Times, leading Hindi daily]. Same

time they offered more commission to the trade

Times always been the highest payer towards trade commission which helped TOI to tighten the

trade relation & to create obstacles to the new entrant from the trade.

Times of India have always taken care of the trade. They always keep paying good commission

to the vendors. Vikreta Suraksha program [sellers insurance Scheme]; Insurance for the

Newspaper Vendors. Scholarship programs for the Brilliant Newspaper vendors kids.

Merchandising with the Jackets, Umbrellas in rainy days. Diwali gifts & many more trade related

schemes keep TOI connected to the vendors around the year. And why not?? 70 - 80% part of

the total sale of the any vendor covered by the times products [ Times of India, Mumbai Mirror,

Economic Times, Times crest, Maharashtra Times (Marathi), Navbharat Times (Hindi), many

more magazines e.g. Femina, Filmfare, Top gear, BBC Good Homes, Grazia etc. ] Times of

India is Dominant in the Market, Dominant in Trade & a truly monopolist player in print media.

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Current Marketing Strategies

Selling newspaper in new market becomes more competitive like FMCG market. There are too

many brands there are to many consumers too. It is not the same old story ‘people need it they will

buy it’. Now we need to create a product that we want particular people should buy it that people

should like it. Now newspaper industry also changing their strategies as per the modern value

chain toward creating a value of the product.

Modern Value Chain:

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Customer segmentation, Differentiation & Positioning

In this stage i.e. before launching the newspaper in the market company first decides

which class of people they are targeting, Because as the different class of the people

there are different class of the newspaper are available, the style of language, way of

writing news are differ as per the class of the readers. This is the stage where potential

customers are found and evaluated. It is first necessary to identify that the potential

customer has the willingness, ability to buy the product. This would involve first

generating sales leads. In the case of newspapers   customers could be Financial

Institutions, IT employees, students preparing MBA students and other institutions like

Hotels, Air lines or weather it’s designed for ordinary lay man etc.

Newspaper like Times of India which Target niche class of the people as well the

majority of upper middle & middle class people. DNA targeted at youth & the masses

also tries to cover masses as well. Hindustan times Launched as a replica of times there

for targets for class of the people who are the current times readers but now with the new

web look HT is trying to attract the youth audience as well.

Product development, Production set up & Resource capabilities

At initial stage when your brand of paper is new in the market that time the numbers of

customer are not knowing to any one so at this stage to get the idea of 1st reader, and

determine the exact amount of production of newspaper for the future and to avoid the

wastages. Therefore the product has to design as per the taste & the quality of that

particular segment.

Here we are particularly talking about the tapping the upper segment in the society

therefore to deliver to the there taste & quality the brand should have state of the arts

production facility. The brands like Times of India the leader & the new entrant HT &

DNA have spend huge amount on this capital investment to deliver the quality. Not only

the Capital expenditure it’s also requires huge amount to be spend on Human resource

which is most variable factor in the overall process. Setting up the distribution system &

maintaining timely delivery of this highly perishable product Therefore entry cost in this

industry is very high.

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To deliver on time the systems & processes has to be placed & update regularly for the

smooth operation. From editorial to production, from o production to press & from press

to in the hands of the readers.

Advertising, Promotion, Distribution & Sale:

At initial stage the branding are done through some social campaign and also some

advertisement campaign are adopted through media & other players in the market. Till

date the newspaper industry did not advertise in other media’s so heavily. Due to

competition they newspaper it self a media required to be advertise in other medias to

attract new readers.

Then various scheme provided to vendors so that they can keep their copies in their stall

give them proper visibility, also some incentives, gifts material are provided to them to

increase the sales. Also various campaign and program are adopted to reach the target

audience which includes Schools, Social campaign, TV commercials, Radio adds, Media

partners etc.

Ultimately the product reaches to our targeted consumer everyday morning 7am.

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4 P’s of Newspaper Marketing.

Marketing Mix is the set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing

objectives. Marketing mix has a classification for these marketing tools. These marketing are

classified and called as the Four Ps i.e. Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

The most basic marketing tool is product which includes product design, quality, features,

branding, and packaging. A critical marketing tool is price i.e. the amount of money that

customers pay for the product. It also includes discounts, allowances, credit terms and payment

period. Place is another key marketing mix tool. And it includes various activities the company

undertakes to make the product accessible and available to the customer. Some factors that

decide the place are transport facilities, channels of distribution, coverage area, etc.

Promotion is the fourth marketing mix tool which includes all the activities that the company

undertakes to communicate and promote its product to target market. Promotion includes sales

promotion, advertising, sales force, public relations, direct marketing, etc.

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Product:

In marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a want or

need. It is of two types: Tangible (physical) and Intangible (non-physical). Since services have

been at the forefront of all modern marketing strategies, some intangibility has become essential

part of marketing offers. It is therefore the complete bundle of benefits or satisfactions that

buyers perceive they will obtain if they purchase the product. It is the sum of all physical,

psychological, symbolic, and service attributes, not just the physical merchandise.

All products offered in a market can be placed between Tangible (Pure Product) and Intangible

(Pure Service) spectrum. Newspaper is the Tangible goods which you can buy but you

experience the product after using it. The experience sometimes helps you to take decision. To

create your views & perception therefore newspaper is the intangible product too.

Pricing:

A customer is price sensitive and shops for value. This is mainly because of his income levels

than his perception. Hence the marketer has to find ways of making the product affordable to the

consumer. Newspaper is the only product which offered to the consumer below the cost of the

production. The advertising revenue covers the manufacturing cost the product offered to the

lowest prices.

The product packaging and presentation offers scope for keeping the price low. In many paper

manufacturing company, the price is the assigned numerical monetary value of a goods, service

or asset. Price is also central to marketing where it is one of the four variables in the marketing

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mix that business people use to develop a marketing plan. Pricing is a big part of the marketing

mix. Choosing the right price and the right pricing strategy is crucial to the marketing process.

The price of the product is not something that is fixed. On the other hand the price of the product

depends on many other factors. Some times the price of the product has got nothing to do with

the actual product itself. The price may act as a way to attract target customers. Newspaper is Rs

2 to Rs 5 but still everyone dose not buy the newspaper. The price of the product is decided

keeping many things in mind. These things include factors like cost incurred on the product,

target market, competitors, consumer perception about the produced.

Placement or Distribution:

Place is a term that has a variety of meanings in a dictionary sense, but which is principally used

in a geographic sense as a noun to denote location, though in a sense of a location identified with

that which is located there.

In marketing, place refers to one of the 4 P's, defined as "the market place". It can mean a

geographic location. Here the market place is where you buy your newspaper. Wither it’s been

its deliver at your home or kept on the newspaper stall that is the market place for the newspaper.

Reaching on time in your defined market is very crucial.

‘Jo dikhata hain who bikta hain’ as said in hindi the product to be placed properly. The

newspaper sale on CSP (cash sale point) has to be placed properly so can anyone wants to buy

can buy our product

Promotion:

Communication to consumer is through organized media like TV, Radio, Social campaign etc.

Media. The most common conventional media include: Print, Television and Print. The Non-

conventional media include: Free sampling, Posters etc. The conventional media have excellent

reach, less expensive and create a better impact. The way of approaching reader should be

customized as per the attitudes and behavior of the reader. An effective promotion should plan

for a proper mix of media. This is very important to create a mind share

Advertising / Promotion

Personal selling

Sales promotion

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Publicity and public relations

The specification of these four variables creates a promotional mix or promotional plan. A

promotional mix specifies how much attention to pay to each of the four subcategories, and how

much money to budget for each. A promotional plan can have a wide range of objectives,

including: sales increases, new product acceptance, creation of brand equity, positioning,

competitive retaliations, or creation of a corporate image. Newspaper promotion is not more

depend on the mind share then the wallet share.

4A’s of Newspaper marketing

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Availability:

The first challenge in newspaper marketing is to ensure availability of the product or service.

Marketer should plan accordingly and strive to reach these markets n a regular basis. Marketers

must trade off the distribution cost with incremental market penetration.

Affordability:

The second major challenge is to ensure affordability of the product or service. With low

disposable incomes, products need to be affordable to the consumer, most of who are the daily

readers. A solution to this has been introduction of advertisement in newspaper. Large amount of

revenue is generated through this adds in newspaper, and so it is possible to reduce the cost of

paper. Even though the production cost of paper is huge i.e. approximately Rs. 15 to 20 it’s

available in the range of Rs. 2 to 5. For English dailies affordability is never an issue.

Acceptability:

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The next challenge is to gain acceptability for the product in market. Therefore, there is a need to

offer products that suit the market. We need to develop a customized paper for various regions.

To accept the paper in the market we need to identify the tendency, capacity, likes and dislikes of

the target audience. Acceptability & adaptability of the segment of audience we are targeting is

more important.

Awareness:

The fourth important things in newspaper marketing are creating the awareness of the product in

the market. And for that various promotion tools are need to use such as advertising, trade

schemes, events, Free sampling, involvement of media partners, social awareness campaign etc.

are done to create the awareness.

Porter’s generic strategies model

38

Generic strategies were used initially in the early 1980s, and seem to be even more popular

today. They outline the three main strategic options open to organization that wish to achieve a

sustainable competitive advantage.

Overall Cost Leadership

In the case of media products, means they should be offered at a price lower than their

competitors’ but with as good benefits, or, the unique benefits the media products offer can over-

offset the premium. Times group enjoys the cost leadership at the all the levels in the market.

Differentiation

Differentiation in media refers to when a media organization provides unique benefits to the

media users through product innovation. This is to increase the probability of the media users to

choose the product. A media organization with a target user loyalty can concentrate more on how

to fully meet the target user’s needs rather than on product cost saving.

Differentiation Focus

Focus strategy is also known as a 'niche' strategy. The clutter of ads has now spilled out on the

number of channel availability due to which people are spoilt for choice. Thus Niche channels

39

are the only way to maintain viewer loyalty. Some premium-branded newspapers, a bit like The

Sunday Times is more niche-orientated.

Consumer Buying Behavior

40

Consumer decision making would vary with the type of buying decision. You would agree that

decision to buy toothpaste, a tennis racket; personal computer and a car are all different. There

are 4 types of buying behavior based on the degree of buyer involvement and the degree of

difference between buyers.

Complex buying behavior

This type of buying behavior is involved when the product is expensive, bought infrequently.

E.g.: Automobile the consumer will spend lot of time in discussing and planning about the

purchase of such a product.

Dissonance buying behavior

41

This type of buying behavior is involved when purchase is expensive, infrequent and risky but

there is not much difference between the various brands. But you will not buy that brand if there

is small problem because of risk involved. E.g.: planning to buy a flat in a particular locality.

That area near to the forest it might declare as forest land in future. When you come to know

about dustbin you would not have buys that flat.

Habitual buying behavior

This type of buying behavior is for the product, which have low involvement and the absence of

significant difference between the brands. These products are frequently purchased. E.g.: When

you want to buy product like salt you don’t even think when you go to store whatever brand is

available you would have pick it up.

Variety seeking buying behavior

This type of buying behavior is involved when low involvement is there but there are significant

differences between the brands. E.g.: Think about cookies, you may want to change the cookies

that you had last time not because they were bad but you want to change the taste.

Newspaper Buying Decision

42

Readers Survey Data Analysis

No of Respondent: 80

This study is undertaken to understand the reader’s preferences & the factors influencing

Newspaper purchasing / Subscribing decision of the English Newspaper in Mumbai. This was

the online survey (Appendices1 survey form). The results are as follows

Q.1. Which Newspaper do u buys / subscribe currently?

The 46% of the respondent purchase Times of India as their 1st Choice Newspaper. Followed by

the HT & DNA with 16% & 8% respectively. Being the afternoon newspaper many of the people

who don not get time to read newspaper in the morning they buy Mid day as their 1st choice of

the news paper with 12% followed by DNA.

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The subscription offers by almost all of the newspaper expect DNA currently 44% people buy

their 1st choice of newspaper by way of subscription & 30% by way of monthly payment. Rest of

them is the daily purchaser on the move.

Q.2. How did you come to know about the subscription schemes of various publications?

The source of the authentic information about the various newspaper schemes offered is the

regular paper vendor 57% of the respondent got to know from the newspaper vendor about the

various schemes followed by the 20% from the company representative 14% of respondent came

to know from the different advertisements 9% from the word of mouth & the promotional

activities. Therefore the newspaper vendor is the most trusted & effective channel for the

subscription.

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Q.3. Do you buy more than one English Newspaper?

52% of the total respondent buy more than 1 newspaper; among them 22% of the respondent

prefers to have times of India as their 2nd Choice of newspaper followed by HT & DNA 18% &

13% respectively. With the 18% share Mid day also the 2nd choice of the newspaper followed by

Times of India. This indicates the reading habit of the Mumbaikar’s.46% of the respondent buys

their second choice of newspaper move on the daily purchase

If YES than which is the Second Newspaper?

45

Q.4. Which English Newspaper you use to buy before the launch of HT & DNA?

This is the clear indicator that the HT & DNA have taken the Times of India’s share in the

market. 73% of the respondent was buying Times of India before launch of the HT & DNA. 15%

of the people was buying Mid day

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Q.5. Did you find anything new in your Subscribed Newspaper compared to the Newspaper

which you buy?

The new entrant in the newspaper industry has increased the expectation of the readers. 74% of

the respondent doesn’t found something new in their subscribed newspaper compared to there

old newspaper

Q.6. How would you categories Overall Experience of your Newspaper?

Attributes TOI HT DNA IE FPJ MD AN MM

Good 54 12 2 4 2 4 0 12

Average 8 12 14 8 8 18 8 16

Need improvement

8 14 8 4 8 10 10 4

Respondent rated Times of India is the Good paper among all newspapers. DNA, Indian express,

Free Press journal, Mid day are rated as an average newspaper whereas HT, Mid day afternoon

people finds some more improvement. This result surprises because in subscription Times is No

1 & HT no 2 thereafter people rates TOI Good & looking for improvement in HT

47

Q.7. How will you rate your newspaper on the scale of 1-5 on following attributes?

Respondent rated their current newspaper overall good, Very good on their satisfaction scale.

Q.8. Do you suggest any improvements / Changes in your Newspaper?

48

If YES then what are those changes?

English dailies market has been expanded with 3 new entrant; still people are looking for the

improved product. It means there is still cope for a new entrant in this market. DNA & HT

fighting for the No.2 position but still there is scope for the new entrant. 57% of the total

respondent is looking for the improvement in their current product. Majority 23% & 14%of the

audience wants the improvement to be made in the content of the newspaper. 17% looking for

the quality supplements 16% are looking for the netter price.

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Q.9. Is your Newspaper purchasing / subscribing decision influenced by the Promotional

schemes / Offers?

55% respondent agrees that their decision is influenced by the promotional schemes & offers

offered at the time of the purchasing & subscribing newspaper. 34% of them look at the value

proposition 14% subscribe newspaper for the convenience. 12% for the gifts & the gift voucher

& does not consider the Brand which they are buying.

If YES then what are those things?

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Q.10. Will you subscribe a Newspaper which offers you subscription at full cost but which

will give you equivalent value add in return? *

e.g. In full cost of Subscription of Rs. 999/- you will be entitled for Movie tickets/ Discount

Coupons / Gift voucher for the period of subscription

75% of the respondent is ready to pay premium on subscription if they get additional value return

for the period of the subscription.

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Demography of the respondent

Gender

28% of the total respondent is the females. This segment is still unexploited. Newspaper is the

unisex product therefore still Female segment has a scope of expansion. Therefore there is

feminine newspaper or supplement will give the added advantage to the brand

Age

The majority of the respondents is from the age group of the 21- 40. 62% of this segment youths

are single. The brand should target this youths who are single, career oriented & who takes

decision of what to buy.

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Marital Status:

Single = 62%, Married 38%

Qualification:

53% of the total respondents are post graduates 37% are the graduates. Majority 82% of them are

employed & 15% are self employed. 90% of the respondent is well qualified.

Occupation:

53

Monthly Household Income:

28 among 80 respondents is having monthly household income group Rs. 50,000 & above with

small family 26 of the total respondents stays with min 3 family members & 40 are with 4 to 5

family members. It shows that high disposable income in had. Decision takers. More than one

person in the family is going to read any English daily which is delivered at home. This reflects

to higher readership in to upper segment.

Family Members

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New Idea Marketing & Strategy

After doing so much of research many of the things can be noticed. Currently the Newspaper are

running on the subscription model where the subscription amount is from Rs 299/-

(Psychological pricing) for yearly subscription till Rs 599/- for 6 month subscription. This help

companies to retain the customer till 6 months to 1 year of duration. Meanwhile if the subscriber

unhappy with the product he switched to the other product in the exchange of the old

subscription scheme. The newspaper vendor also allows customer to do that so that he will not

loose the customer.

Newspaper vendor also feels up the subscription on the bogus name of the readers because of the

low investment high return on investment. They subscribe newspaper at Rs 299 for a year on

bogus name. The buy newspaper also & scrap it as raddi paper & makes handsome money on

that.

Hereafter actual problem begins for e.g. the company record shows the subscription of 100

copies but actual copies delivered are lesser than that. Company has already given the

subscription at rock bottom prices for the year in which Cost of the newsprint also can not

recovered & copies are also not delivered to subscriber.

Subscription at Full cost of Newspaper with equivalent value add in return

We asked the respondent that will they buy a subscription at full cost of newspaper against

equivalent value add in return?

75% of the respondents is ready to pay premium on subscription if they get additional value

return for the period of the subscription.

If cost of the newspaper is Rs. 3/-

Newspaper delivers around 357 days of a year

Yearly cost as per cover price = Rs. 1075/-.

If we offers a subscription at Rs. 1000/- per year & offers them a year long discount coupons,

promotional CD’s, Discount offers in nearby stores along with subscription newspaper, dining to

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shopping till movie tickets as promotion. It will give subscriber add on returns other then reading

pleasure. This will help to tap the augmented TG of the product as well.

The promotion advertisers will cover the additional cost with equal returns.

Other Objectives

- It will help to bring down the unwanted subscription due to high investments

- It will help to tap Potential Buyer (TG) & Augmented TG

- Low cost of promotions to retail & local advertisers

Untapped Segment

Among the 80 respondents 28% is the females. Females are neglected in newspaper segment

even. There is no feminine product available only for females.

Same thing is with youth segment age group from 14 – 21. Few weekly newspapers like JAM &

JLT (Times group) are targeted at the young college audience but fails to create awareness about

the product. Products itself fails to appeal to mass audience.

We call then proudly senior citizens but 60 & above segment is also not much tapped. This

people have plenty of time they can be the genuine readers. No product especially for them even.

Forming common liking group

Those days are gone when marketers marketing one strategy to target all segment. We need to

customize the strategy as per the target audience.

Times group have targeted schools by way of NIE program. They have customized the times of

India for the school children. Creating the future customer from the young age. Few days this

scheme derived well but later on the unpacked paper lying in the schools.

We can offer school children’s, college students, housewives & common liking groups a

customized products. This will serve their interest. After expanding English dailies market with

so many players in the market still 54% of the respondents is looking for improved product 74%

respondents does not found any thing new in new players in the market. We should consider that

expectation of the readers is also increased.

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As per the same concept we can offer a subscription for the Rs 1000/- per year & we can keep

common likings community programs which will be the part of the subscription.

For school students science exhibition or a local educational picnic, educational guidance

seminars.

For Housewife’s gatherings for Home décor, cookery shows etc.

For college students they can have career guidance programs, cultural events, educational picnics

etc

For senior citizens Doctors advice, spiritual meetings, life after retirement guide program etc.

Newspaper as product in the Mumbai is reached to the maturity stage. To get more readers & to

increase the readership base the newspaper must do the innovation & need to reach out to the

untapped markets. Going to micro level in the marketing will help the products to expand more.

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Conclusion

Newspaper is not remaining the source of information. It’s no more meant for news only.

Newspaper became the versatile product which can be marketed as the FMCG product. Reader is

looking towards Newspaper as a NEWSFOTENMENT.

NEWSFOTENMENT

News: Local, Regional, International

Info: Business: Domestic, International

Sports: Domestic, International

Entertainment: Bollywood, Hollywood, Lifestyle

Mumbai Newspaper market was monopolist market for Times of India is become the competitive market with so many players still even today readers are looking for the a better improved product which still creates the space for the new entrant.

Vital Status of Newspaper & Newspaper Marketing

Newspaper marketing is not FMCG product marketing

Each product is unique & not a alternative to each other

Mind share > pocket share

Brand Loyalty > Price sensitivity

Highly perishable = Highly effective

Cost of Production > Sales price

Marketing Strategies

Content

Niche channels are the only way to differentiate content and have a captive audience. The clutter

of ads has now spilled out on the number of players due to which people are spoilt for choice.

Thus Niche channels are the only way to maintain reader’s loyalty. Masses will help to add up to

the no’s. Times is delivering more than 100 pages of content everyday. People are looking at the

quality content & not the quantity content.

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Consumerism

Increased consumerism and Multiplication of players is leading companies to increase their ad

spend to create brand recall. This in return means more revenues for the media companies

fueling further growth. Experiment on new innovation to attract consumer as well as advertisers

in the long run.

Pricing

Prices in India whether it is for cable connection, film tickets or newspapers remain one of the

lowest in the world though huge volumes compensate for low prices. With increased purchasing

power of the India urban class as well as the rural people, and the expendable income, prices will

increase with increase in choice. Affordability is the negligible issue now but acceptability by the

TG is the concern.

Regulations

Print has already opened for FDI ranging from 26% to 100% equity stake. With more and more

players jumping on the bandwagon, even for abroad, the regulations will be relaxed and the

industry will be a much bigger one.

Technology

Use of technology for special effects, animation and other creative work leading to better quality

of media products. Digital technology is increasingly competing with print media by opening

access to endless sources of news. It may now seem that the need of the reader to buy a

newspaper for news and the need of the advertiser to advertise in it is slowly receding. Thus it is

for the newspapers to look at emerging options and to rework their traditional sources of revenue

Innovation

Continuous innovation & RND to be carried out to understand the readers buying behavior &

readers psychology behind purchasing the newspaper brand. It will help to reach out to the

untapped markets. Going to micro level in the marketing will help the products to expand more.

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Appendices

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