Chapter 01 1.01 Introduction Preface: Indian print media is one of the largest print media in the world. The history of it started in 1780, with the publication of the Bengal Gazette from Calcutta. 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). The year 1991is a watershed in the history, it was around this time that the world was hit by major cataclysmic events that changed the way men and women looked up on life. It was the year when the Internet burst up on the global scenario as the scarlet sun of New Information and Communication Technology that gave sustenance to new initiatives and endeavors in social, political, economic and cultural life. In the view of Stanley J. Barans, Dennis and Dennis K. Davis New technology can expand each person s cultural and experiential horizons. They envision newly energized, active audiences in which people find ways of making media serve them so that their lives are more interesting and purposeful. 1 The first newspaper in an Indian language was the Samachar Darpan in Bengali, the first issue of this daily was published from the Serampore Mission Press on May 23, 1818. In the same year, Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya started publishing another newspaper in Bengali, the Bengal Gazette. 1 Stanley J. Barans and Dennis and Dennis K. Davis (2000), Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment, and Future, Second Edition, Singapore: Thomson Wordsworth, p.7. 1
On July 1, 1822 the first Gujarati newspaper the Bombay Samachar was published from Bombay, which is still extant. The first Hindi newspaper, the Samachar Sudha Varshan began in 1854. Since then, the prominent Indian languages in which papers have grown over the years are Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and Bengali. The Indian language papers have taken over the English press as per the latest NRS survey of newspapers. The main reasons being the marketing strategy followed by the regional papers, beginning with Eenadu, a Telegu daily started by Ramoji Rao, the second reason being the growing literacy rate in the state. Increase in the literacy rate has direct positive effect on the rise of circulation of the regional papers. It was almost two hundred years after the invention of printing before what we now recognize as a prototypical newspaper could be distinguished from the handbills, pamphlets and newsletter of the late 16 th and early 17 th century. The early newspaper was marked by its regular appearance, commercial basis (only for sale), public character and its multiple purposes. Thus it was used for information, record, advertising, diversion and gossip. 2 The people are first educated in their mother tongue as per their state in which they live for e.g. students in Maharashtra are compulsory taught Marathi language and hence they are educated in their state language and the first thing a literate person does is read papers and gain knowledge and hence higher the literacy rate in a state the sales of the dominating regional paper in that state rise. The next reason being localization of news, Indian regional papers have several editions for a particular State for complete localization of news for the reader to connect with the paper. 2 Denis McQuils (2000) McQuils Mass Communication Theory, 4 th Edition, London: Sage Publications, p.20. 2
The industry of newspaper has registered highest growth. Even with high growth of internet and entertainment industries. The number increases as the prevailing brings new editions and new entries entering into the market. A newspaper is published including current affairs, informative content, advertisements and editorial parts. Whereas general interest newspapers publish stories on local and national political events, crime, business, entertainment, society, sports. Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing editorials written by an editor and columns that express the personal opinions of writers. The newspaper is typically funded by paid subscriptions and advertising. In newspapers including editorial opinions, criticism, entertainment features such as crosswords, sudoku, horoscopes, weather news, forecasting, advice, food & reviews of radio, movies. These contents can be divided as publicity that is easily accessible to local as well about the people. Also, periodically they are published at regular interval can be daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. Evolution: Firstly, a metal carved or stone was posted to public in ancient Rome, in China the government provided a news sheet known as Tipao, is circulated to the courts during late Han dynasty in 2 nd and 3 rd century AD. Between 713 and 734 the Kaiyuan Za Bao produced a court bulletin of Chinese tang dynasty published government news written on silk and read by the government official. In early modern Europe the increased cross border interaction and created a need for transfer of information which was done by hand written newssheet called Awisi. It was used to deliver the political, military, and economic situation of empire. 3
At first, the term newspaper was named in the early 17 th century. But, the publications was seen in Germany in the early 16th century and they were printed dated appeared on regular basis and at frequent intervals having variety of news items. The first newspaper was Strasbourg Relations in the 17 th century. The first major newspaper in India was The Bengal Gazettes started in 1780 under British Raj by James Augustus Hickey. Whereas lots of papers like The Indian Gazette, The Calcutta Gazette, The Madras Courier (1785), The Bombay Herald (1789) etc followed. The Bombay Samachar was founded in 1822 and printed in Guajarati language is the oldest in Asia and still is printed. The Times of India was founded in 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal of commerce by Bennett, Coleman and Company. The Times of India group publishes The Economics times (from 1961), Navbharat Times in Hindi, and the Maharashtra time in Marathi, In 1950s, 214 daily newspaper was published in the country were 44 were English daily newspaper and the rest were either Hindi or regional languages. Regional paper including the Malayalam Manorama, Malayalam language published from Kerala with a daily circulation of 673000, the Hindi Dainik Jagran published in Uttar Pradesh with a daily circulation of 580,000.in 2006, the Ananda Bazar Patrika from Kolkata with daily circulation of 4,35,00 in 2006. The Ananda Patrika group is the oldest surviving Hindi newspaper in India. Others are Time of India group, the Indian express, the Hindustan times, the Hindu group important printing houses. Newspaper sales in India has been increased by 11.2% in 2007, 62 of the best selling papers are been published in china, Japan and India. Indian 4
readers consume about 99 millions newspaper copies as of 2007 making it the 2 nd largest market in the world for newspapers. Categories: Newspaper industry has a broad spectrum of readers usually geographically defined as the reader s interest in location. They can be daily and weekly business newspaper and sports newspapers. Frequency: Daily:-These are the paper issued on every day basis sometime they are not published on the government holidays and the publications on Sunday and Saturday are tend to be larger and include more specialized sections and advertisement and have more cost. The staff works on Monday to Friday and the rest two days content depend on the advance work done by the workforce that is syndicated. Mostly daily newspapers are published in morning. Afternoon and evening papers are for the commuters and office workers. Weekly newspaper: They are published once in a week and tend to be larger than daily newspaper were as some are published twice or thrice a week such papers are called as weekly. Example is fortnightly. Geographical Scope and Distribution: Local: Mostly every city and town has a domain newspaper for their area. Large metro towns have large distribution of network and can be found outside the normal area, sometime widely and sometimes from fewer sources. National: At least one newspaper is circulates throughout the whole country: a national newspaper such as The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal of UK national market. There are international newspapers like The International Herald Tribune is a regular newspaper while the rest 5
are having international editions for the national or large metropolitan newspaper. There are English has become the medium of communication for business and technology. Before many papers used to publish in their regional languages but now they started to print in English language as is international language. Technology: Print:-from the ancient time, there is a trend of printing news on paper and distributing to the readers mostly there is a center made for each paper industry and their printing is done then after they are distributed to the various locations Online: As advancement of internet the paper industries publish online editions over internet but some industries find printed based model sustainable then the online papers, whereas some companies such as South Port reporter in UK and the Seattle Post Intelligencer have stopped printing and have started to publish paper online. Custom: This new way of publishing oneself was the papers are personalized and printed according to the demand of customer. It allows the reader to publish their own views and happening in their own words by having individual pages and moreover they get an opportunity to publish in multiple publications. Here the printed based model remerged and provided a new directions to readers to share and discuss and read the new happening all round the world in just a fraction of second these customized newspaper are offered by twitter (Economic Times, Web Duniya, Mint etc.). Authority: A newspaper industry includes four important streams editorial, printing, circulations and advertisements. 6
Person who select the content of the paper to be published are the editors of paper, top management includes editor in chief, executive editor, senior editor. At small newspaper industry the editor is responsible for all subject areas were as in larger firms the senior editor is overall in charge of publication house the less senior takes care of sports news and local news. These are various news bureaus taken by various designated editors. Editors check the copy of news stories but they are cross checked by proofreader and fact checker. The reporters are the most important aspect of a newspaper industry they gather and write the reports and bring the photographs of the happening from different location, they are called as feature writers. The journalist are experts in different area known as beat, like sports religion, science and entertainment etc, columnists write the article for journalist and also include personal comments. The printer and the press operators are responsible for printing the newspaper and also outsource the newspaper of different newspaper industries or journals or books etc. as to decrease the cost of machine and not let the machine are in idle state. If the newspaper offers online options then there is a special web designer and master for uploading of the newspaper in an attractive manner. There are staffs for circulation linked with retailer they sell as well find subscriber for the paper and also supervise the distribution online as well as the newspaper sellers. Sales staff are the advertising department of the newspaper industry they sale the space of the paper to different clients can be local or these are also used for advertising campaign. Designs of the ads are designed by the graphic designers. Circulation and Readership: The circulation rate is number of the newspaper distributed every day, every week, month or yearly which mainly determine the advertisement rate they make for the space. Sometimes copies of newspaper are sold 7
without any cost. Readership number may always differ from the circulated copies as a single copy circulated is mostly read by more than one reader. Audit bureau of circulation keeps the record of the average circulation of newspaper. Whereas print industry has developed a body called OECD nations, it is for chief developing nations like Brazil, India, Indonesia, China, and South Africa whose paid circulation exceeds developed nations circulation. The Times of India daily circulation is the largest with 3.14 million copies daily. Where as that of Dainik Jagran local newspaper is with 55.7 million readers. The economist has the circulation of 110 million copies a day as coated by Tom Standage. According to the audit bureau of circulation the largest circulated newspaper in the world in English is The Times of India with a total circulation of 3.14 million certified as the world largest English selling daily newspaper and 3rd largest in any language in the world with a readership of 76.43 lakhs it is owned and published by Bennett, Coleman & co. ltd. which is owned by Sahu Jain family then after Hindustan times with 1.4 million circulation in the year 2010. It was founded in the year 1924, with 37.67 lakhs of readers its owned by KK Birla branch of Birla family and is managed by Shobhana Bhartia. Other publication includes mint as a English business daily, Hindustan in Hindi daily and Nandan a monthly magazine for children s. Then comes the Hindu started in 1878 as a weekly newspaper but later in 1889 it became a daily newspaper. with a circulation of 14, 66,304 copies per day and readership of about 4.06 million, it is printed in 14 centers across the country. In the year 1995 it became the first online edition, editor of the paper is Siddhartha Varadarajan and is owned by kasturi and sons ltd. according to audit bureau of circulation the telegraph comes on the 4rth position depending on circulation it has 484,971 copies daily and a readership of 12.75 lakhs it is owned by ABP group and in managed by Aveek Sarkar. Deccan 8
Chronicle comes at the 5th position according to circulation of 13, 33,668 and with a readership of 10.88 lakhs people it is hold by Deccan chronicle holding limited and editor in chief is A T Jayanti. Dainik Bhaskar: Dainik Bhaskar started in Indore approximate two decades ago and today they have the largest circulation in India for their flagship publication. D B Corp is the only Newspaper Group which has presence in 13 states and 1 Union territory, in 3 different languages namely Hindi, Gujarati and English. D B Corp Ltd. is one of the leading print media companies in India, publishing 7 newspapers, 51 newspaper editions and 130 sub-editions in three languages (Hindi, Gujarati and English) in 13 states in India. Table No. 01 *( 000, IRS 2013 Report) In the recent IRS survey of 2013 Dainik Bhaskar secures the top position amongst other popular newspaper brands. 9
In their flagship newspapers, Dainik Bhaskar (in Hindi),Divya Bhaskar and Saurashtra Samachar (in Gujrati), have a combined average daily readership of 17.2 million readers, making us one of the most widely read newspaper groups in India with presence in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Delhi, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Our other newspapers are Business Bhaskar, DB Gold and DB Star and, on a franchisee basis, DNA (in Gujarat and Rajasthan). Due to unique launch ability, they became no.1 from the date of their Launch in almost all places, out placing the decades old local newspaper of that place. Warburg Pincus, one of the leading Private Equity Investors, acquired 7.14% stake in our Company in 2006 and since then, the nominee director from Warburg Pincus is on board, which has further strengthened and consolidated our Corporate Governance practices. The results of professional management and brand strategies can easily be read in the readership survey report of IRS for top news dailies. Table No. 02 10
The first edition of Dainik Bhaskar Group was launched in Bhopal in 1958. In 1983, it entered Indore, the business center of Madhya Pradesh (MP). On the back of excellent editorial content - fair reporting and quality printing, it soon became the No. 1 newspaper in Indore and subsequently in the whole of Madhya Pradesh in 1995. This success in a market dominated by an incumbent enhanced the group's confidence to expand outside MP. In 1996 the Dainik Bhaskar Group zeroed in on Rajasthan as it was culturally similar to Madhya Pradesh and being a vast geographical territory offered scope for expansion. Traditional approach for launch of a newspaper was to produce a good paper and wait for readers to subscribe. However, Dainik Bhaskar Group took a leaf out of the automobile industry's book where pre-booking was a practice and pre-marketed the paper and got confirmed paid-up circulation. Dainik Bhaskar Group conceptualized a twin-contact program. The response was overwhelming. On the first day, Dainik Bhaskar Group had a circulation of 1.72 lakh copies against 1.48 lakh copies of Rajasthan Patrika in Jaipur. By 1999, Dainik Bhaskar Group expanded its operations in the whole state with Dainik Bhaskar. After Rajasthan, Dainik Bhaskar Group targeted Chandigarh and Haryana as they lacked the presence of a strong Hindi paper. Although Chandigarh was considered an English newspaper market (Tribune, an English paper was the market leader), Dainik Bhaskar Group's research showed that people would be more comfortable with Hindi language newspaper and they patronized English newspaper only because of absence of a good Hindi newspaper. Within a short period of time, the group's newspaper - Dainik Bhaskar became the market leader. Dainik Bhaskar Group then explored the remaining markets. Wanting to break the language barrier, it selected Gujarat which was also prosperous and had high literacy. With its focus on quality content, Dainik Bhaskar 11
Group became a leading paper of Gujarat too. It then expanded into other cities and bought Saurashtra Samachar for making inroads into Saurashtra region in Gujarat. After the success in Gujarat, Dainik Bhaskar group entered Punjab in 2006 and Jharkhand in 2010 with great success. The quest for growth led the group to launch its newspaper in Maharashtra in 2011. It has successfully launched in Aurangabad, Nasik, Jalgaon, Ahemdnagar and Solapur. 3 The success story of the group is visible in its achievements as it has grown from a newspaper to a big corporate group having its presence in both the leading stock exchanges and being traded as reputed scrip. Transforming from news paper to a corporate house and though was a long journey but the progress in the last ten years or so was multifold of what the group achieved before ten years. Milestones 1958: 13th August 1958, Dainik Bhaskar launches its first edition in Bhopal. 1977: India's one of first WEB off Set Machine got installed at Dainik Bhaskar, Bhopal Edition, against uniform prevalent practice of rotary Machine. 1981: Dainik Bhaskar Bhopal Edition became the Largest news paper of Bhopal City. 1983: 5th March 1983, Dainik Bhaskar Group commenced its ambitious journey with the launch of Dainik Bhaskar's Indore edition was the first and biggest move outside home town of Bhopal, also emerged as a challenge to old established news paper of Indore City. 1988: Dainik Bhaskar Group launched Raipur edition. 1993: 20th September 1993, Dainik Bhaskar Group launched Bilaspur edition. 3 Prof. Seema Gupta(2012) Case Study on Dainik Bhaskar, IIM Bangalore. 12
1995: Dainik Bhaskar emerged as the No.1 Newspaper in Madhya Pradesh and was declared the Fastest Growing Daily in India, by the Readership Survey. 1996: 9th Dec 1996, Dainik Bhaskar launched its Jaipur Edition in Rajasthan with 172000 copies on Day 1. Became No I from Day 1, replacing the 42 years established paper of Rajasthan, a landmark in the print media domain. This development marked a critical point for the Company, which significantly altered the strategic direction and growth plans of the company. The launch of the Jaipur edition has been used as a case study by the Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad ("MICA") and many other institutions. 1997: 16th October 1997, Launches Dainik Bhaskar's 4th edition of Rajasthan from Bikaner 3rd August 1997: 3rd Edition, launched from Jodhpur ( 2nd Largest City of Rajasthan) within 4 months of launching an edition from Ajmer 6th April 1997: The Launch of the 2nd Edition in Rajasthan from Ajmer. 1998: 31st May 1998, Dainik Bhaskar Group launched its 5th fully fledged, independent Edition from Udaipur. 1999: 6th March 1999, Kota city, the educational hub of the country, was launched as 6th Edition of Dainik Bhaskar. 2000: 4th June 2000, Dainik Bhaskar Group expands presence to Haryana State. Launched Haryana first own newspaper, which is printed within Haryana state and also launched 2 editions from Panipat and Hisar and 13 separate district papers. was certified and 13
declared as the No 1 news daily of Haryana in 2001 ( IRS 2001), piping other established competitors. 7th May 2000, The Dainik Bhaskar Group launches Chandigarh edition. Prior to the launch of the Hindi edition,, Chandigarh was perceived to be primarily an English newspaper dominated region. In a short span of time Dainik Bhaskar emerged as the largest Newspaper of Chandigarh city with a significant lead of approx 2.5 times over its English newspaper rival. 2001: 17th June 2001, Dainik Bhaskar Group further consolidated its position by launching Faridabad edition, in Haryana state. 2003: 22nd June 2003, Dainik Bhaskar Group launches 'Divya Bhaskar' edition from Ahmedabad. The launch of our Ahmedabad edition has been used as a case study by the Indian Institute of Management ("IIM"), Ahmedabad. Dainik Bhaskar Group also launched its new Hindi Magazine, 'AHA Zindagi', the first of its kind on lifestyle and positive thinking. 2004: 2004 Merger and Acquisition, In its first Merger and Acquisition, the Dainik Bhaskar Group acquired 'Saurashtra Samachar' the 60 year old, largest circulated daily newspaper of Saurashtra, and consolidates its Gujarat Operations. 12th September 2004, Launch of Divya Bhaskar, Baroda edition. July 2004, Initiates presence in Maharashtra with the launch of Divya Bhaskar Mumbai edition. 28th March 2004, Dainik Bhaskar Group launched full fledged and independent Divya Bhaskar Surat edition, (2nd largest city of Gujarat) and became No 1 in Surat City out placing old established newspaper of the city. 14
2005: Inception of D B Corp Ltd., pursuant to the demerger of publishing business of Writers and Publishers Limited (WPL). The Dainik Bhaskar Group won license from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for Launch of Radio business, through its subsidiary, SYNERGY MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT LTD. (SMEL), in 17 stations, in the name of My FM. Dainik Bhaskar' presence in all 17 FM stations (listed above) therefore presents an integrated offering to potential advertising clients in all the mentioned cities. 'AHA Zindagi' Magazine launched in Gujarati Language. 'IMCL', a new Web Media Company was formed as a subsidiary of DB Corp Limited. 2006: 1st November 2006, D B Corp Ltd., launched Divya Bhaskar Rajkot edition. 8th Oct 2006, D B Corp Ltd., enters Punjab and launched Amritsar and Jalandhar edition, again became no 1 from Day 1, out placing very old established competitive newspapers of the state. 28th May 2006, D B Corp Ltd. through its subsidiary, SYNERGY MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT LTD. (SMEL), launched first Radio station at Jaipur in the name of My FM, "Jio Dil Se 94.3". 2007: DB Corp Ltd. played an integral role as an exclusive partner to New7wonders and its efforts enabling The TAJ MAHAL its rightful place in the "7 Wonders of the World". Launch of DB Gold - the first compact newspaper in Gujarati from Surat. Launch of DNA in Ahmedabad and Surat as a franchise by DB Corp Ltd. 15
Launch of "Young Bhaskar Magazine" for Children and "Lakshya" - a Career Magazine. MY FM enhances its reach to 14 cities across India. 15th December 2007, D B Corp Ltd. further consolidated its position by launching Dainik Bhaskar Ludhiana edition, thus becoming the only news paper who was present in Greater Punjab (Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab). DB Corp also became the largest newspaper of Greater Punjab (IRS 2008). 30th July 2007, D B Corp Ltd. launched Divya Bhaskar's Bhuj edition, making it the only Gujarati newspaper with 7 editions in Gujarat. 2008: Dainik Bhaskar completes 50 glorious years as a leading Hindi Publication. Dainik Bhaskar was the first Publication in the country to sign a celebrity as a Brand Ambassador. Indian Cricket Team Captain M.S. Dhoni. An integrated Brand Campaign titled "Zidd Karo, Duniya Badlo" was launched on a nationwide scale.led by M S Dhoni. 'Business Bhaskar', a Financial Hindi Newspaper, was launched in Bhopal, Indore, Raipur, New Delhi, Panipat, Jalandhar and Ludhiana with separate editions for each of these cities. Launch of Dainik Bhaskar editions in Pali, Nagaur, Bhilai, Ratlam and Shimla. Launch of DNA in Jaipur as a franchise by DB Corp Ltd. Launch of editions of DB Star in Bhopal & Indore. MY FM consolidates its network with 17 radio stations in 7 states, across India. 2009: Launch of highly successful maiden public issue of DB Corp Ltd 16
from 10th Dec to 15th Dec which was oversubscribed by over 39 times. a record oversubscription in 23 months for any IPO, after Reliance Power IPO in January 2008. Installation of KBA Printing Machines imported from Germany at Jaipur and Ahmedabad. Launch of 'DB Star' Jodhpur editions on 15th of Aug 2009. Dainik Bhaskar Introduced The India Pride Awards for the PSU Segment on Oct 9th. Mr. Ramesh Chandra Agarwal, Chairman, DB Corp Limited was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. 2010: 12th December 2010, D B Corp Ltd. launched 52nd Edition by launching Jamshedpur Edition on 12th Dec. 2010. 18th October 2010, D B Corp Ltd. launched 51st Edition by launching Jammu Edition on 18th Oct. 2010. 12th September 2010, D B Corp Ltd. launched 50th Edition by launching Bhatinda Edition on 12th Sep. 2010. 22nd August 2010, D B Corp Ltd. launched its 12th state of Jharkhand with launch of 49th Edition in Ranchi on 22nd August 2010. The launch for reader was very successful, with around 135000 subscribed copies on the day one of the launch and thus becomes most popular News Paper from day 1 of the launch. 6th January 2010, Listing of DB Corp Public Issue on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The listing opened at Rs. 250 i.e. with a margin of approx 19% for retail investor, rose to Rs. 275 in the day that finally closed at Rs. 265.90 i.e. at a margin of approx. 27% for the retail investor. The DB Corp Pubic Issue was one of the best listings of 2009 and 2010 after the revival of the Primary Markets. 17
The DB Corp is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE). 2011: October 2011, Prabhat Kiran, Indore became a part of DB Group, Divya Marathi entered Ahmednagar as its 4th Edition. 3rd September 2011, Divya Marathi entered Jalgaon as its 3rd Edition. July 2011, Divya Marathi Launched its 2nd Edition in Nasik. May 2011, Dainik Bhaskar group launched its marathi daily as "Divya Marathi" and launched its 1st Edition in Aurangabad. April 2011, DNA launched its Indore Edition in MP. January 2011, Dainik Bhaskar entered Sikar, Alwar, Bhilwara, Sriganganagar. 2012: April 2012, 5th Edition of Dainik Divya Marathi Solapur Edition. Times of India: Owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., The Times Of India also known as TOI is one of India's leading English daily newspapers. TOI group has 45 dailies and periodicals in 3 languages and 108 editions from 9 centres across the country and a combined readership of over 40 million. Started 170 years ago, the paper has earned credentials for its authentic and up to date news publications. India's largest media group, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, along with this newspaper also publishes " Economic Times", "Mumbai Mirror", the "Navbharat Times" and "Maharastra Times". In January 2007, the Kannada edition of the paper was launched in Karnataka's capital Bangalore. The Times of India has its daily editions from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Pune, Nagpur, Chandigarh, Patna, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mangalore. 18
Recently Times group has launched a controversial new business initiative, called "Private Treaties." It offers to take an equity stake in a company in exchange for advertising. Table No. 03 *( 000, IRS 2013 Report) Historical Background: The Times of India came into being on November 3, 1838 and was known as "The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce". Initially the paper served only the British residents of western India. Published twice a week on every Saturday and Wednesday, The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce contained news from Europe, America and the subcontinent and was circulated between India and Europe via regular steamships. From the year 1850 the daily editions of the paper were started and the newspaper got its present name in 1861. In the 19th century, the company employed over 800 people and had a good circulation in India and Europe. The Times of India was originally British-owned and controlled. After India's Independence in 1947, the ownership of the paper was passed on to the industrial family of 19
Dalmiyas and later it was over by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain group from Bijnore of Uttar Pradesh. TOI Circulation The newspaper has the widest circulation among all English-language broadsheets with about 2.6 million daily paid copies. In the year 2005, the newspaper reported that (with a daily circulation of more than 2.4 million) it was certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations as the world's largest selling English broadsheet newspaper. TOI Sister Publications Economic Times - A Financial daily. Navhbharat Times - Hindi Daily Newspaper. Maharashtra Times - Marathi Daily Newspaper. Mumbai Mirror - Morning newspaper from Mumbai. Femina - Women's magazine published in association with BBC. Filmfare - English Film Magazine published in association with BBC. TOI Supplements: The Times of India comes with several city-specific supplements, such as Delhi Times, Bombay Times, Lucknow Times, Bangalore Times etc. These city supplements carry entertainment news, gossips, page3 party news, photographs and other lifestyle related happenings in metros and big cities. Other major supplements of TOI include: Times Wellness: Carries health related news and also provides solution of your grievances by experts. Education Times: Education Times is weekly supplement focused towards students and acts as a counselor and advisor for student community. 20
Times Ascent: A weekly supplement Times Ascent seeks to introduce more understanding of Human Resources and corporate life related stories. Also carries the advertisements of various kinds of jobs in India and abroad. Times Drive: Times drive is a supplement related to auto-mobiles and latest development in the industry. Times Property: The weekly supplement has real estate news. Times Life: Times life comes once in week carrying news about life of personalities and famous people. Times Classifieds: It carries advertisements regarding jobs, buy and sell of items etc. Times Matrimonial: Feature marriage advertisement of boys and girls looking for match. Rouge: A weekly supplement. Times en Vogue: A weekly supplement. Milestones: 1999: Started the journey with a new product, www.economictimes.com, which derived its content from The Economic Times, India's leading business daily 2000: Times Internet launched Indiatimes - its flagship online portal; timesofindia.com that leveraged on the content of Times of India, the world's largest broadsheet English daily; and Indiatimes sub channels comprising movies, InfoTech and chat divisions. The group pioneered the launch of India's first m Papers TOI Mobile & ET Mobile. 21
2002: Times Internet entered the telecom space and introduced the first short code with voice service 8888 (now 58888) which worked across operators and offered a bouquet of value added services including news, entertainment and live sports updates. In 2002, Times Internet, through Indiatimes Shopping, ushered in online consumer goods & white goods auction by inviting customers to "Tell your price" 2003: Times Internet was first to recognize the new needs of an emerging globetrotting generation and started the delivery of utility/gift items such as fresh flowers to international destinations from India. We also introduced market-altering concepts like "cash on delivery" and "build your own PC". Indigenous secure web-based electronic payment solution - Times of Money was launched to make secure online transactions. Times Internet pioneered knowledge-based seminars in India followed by digital media downloads in 2004. 2005: Times Internet became the largest retailer in the online category and had all major brands on board. Times Internet got recognized as a business Super Brand in 2005 and 2006. 2007: With 'Lagaan', an Oscar nominated movie, Times Internet was the first to launch multimedia marketing initiatives for Bollywood. 2010: Times Internet launched Times city with focus on food and lifestyle listings. Times city is now a one- stop destination for restaurants, events, movies and nightlife hotspots. 2011: 2011 was an exciting year. Times Internet won the contract for digital and mobile rights of IPL and created a new wave in live sports broadcast. 22
Times Internet continues to be associated with big events by way of online tie ups with leading TV Shows. Times Internet became the first to launch a TV channel on Mobile, with Times Now. Launched Gaana.com, a premier music streaming portal, that rose to the No.1 spot within 3 months of launch Times Internet launched TLabs, a startup accelerator, to support and encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. 4 1.02 Literature Review: Dhanshri M. Patil, Recent trends of print media in development communication, Global Media Journal Indian Edition/ISSN 2249-5835, Winter Issue / December 2011, Vol. 2/No.2 This article studies the circulation trends of the print media: newspaper and magazines in India and other few countries and also discussed how the role of print media in the development communication is changing in recent era. It also concentrates on what is the impact of new electronic media on the print media; media has its own existence, role, and impact on the society. Hence the print media has its lion share in the development communication of both developed and under developed countries. Rebekah (2006) Wade has remarked that the newspaper success would probably depend more on free CD s and DVD s than on it journalists. Newspapers particularly hope that CD s and DVD s will appeal to the young who are increasingly getting their news online. Narasimha Rao P.V.L.National consumership survey (2005) press continues to grow from time to time. Press adds 34 million consumers in 4 Source: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/, IRS (Indian Readership Survey) 2013, KPMG Industry Analysis 2013 23
the last 2years over the last 3 years the number of consumers of dailies and magazines put together among those aged 15 years and above has grown from 179mn to 200mna growth of 4% every years. Chrystal Szeto and Luis Jimenez (2005), new media offer consumers a wide array of choices to access, disseminate and display all forms of information. Historically, new media complemented rather than eliminated the older media. Is this pattern changing with the more recent introduction of digital media/ what does market research tell us about the preferences of today s consumers for electronic vs. paper media. Kathleen and Collins, The consumption of paid newspapers in the United States and most other mature print news markets has been in slow but general decline throughout the last four decades. Much of this decline has been precipitated by a variety of (usually) free electronic news and information sources most notably radio, television and now the internet. A recent addition to these sources is free newspapers, some introduced as competitors to paid newspapers, others designed to encourage newspaper reading among current non-readers. The impact of free newspapers on the market for paid print dailies in four major United States markets is analyzed in terms of whether these two sorts of products are competitors or complements. Anderson and Mittal 2000 in their study said that, Customer satisfaction and retention that are bought through price promotions, rebates, switching barriers, and other such means are unlikely to have the same long-run impact on profitability as when such attitudes and behaviors are won through superior products and services. Thus, squeezing additional reliability out of a manufacturing or service delivery process may not increase perceived quality and customer satisfaction as much as tailoring goods and services to meet customer needs (Fornell, Johnson, Anderson, Cha, and Everitt 1996). 24
Chris Lapham,The Evolution of the Newspaper of the Future, CMC Journal1995, page 7. The paper studies the impact on innovation and ideation on growth in circulation of the news paper using descriptive analysis. The researcher stated that use of electronic media to promote the print media through advertisement and sponsorship also plays a significant role in increasing circulation. Anderson and Sullivan 1993; Reichheld 1996; Anderson and Mittal 2000. Empirical studies have found evidence that 6 improved customer satisfaction need not entail higher costs, in fact, improved customer satisfaction may lower costs due to a reduction in defective goods, product re-work, etc. (Fornell 1992; Anderson, Fornell, and Rust 1997). However, the key to building long-term customer satisfaction and retention and reaping the benefits these efforts can offer is to focus on the development of high quality products and services. 1.03 Objectives of the Study: A study of the literature reveals a lot of aspects that require determination of certain factors which can be considered as tailor-made aspects to be treated as vital for the development of any newspaper. 1. To find out the reader preference on the basis of certain factors. 2. To carry out the competitive analysis of two newspaper brand promotion strategies. 3. To determine which newspaper is good in coverage. 4. To identify the attributes which attract the readers. 5. To know which newspaper supplement is most liked by readers. 25
1.04 Research Hypothesis: H01: There is a significant relationship between Good image of News Paper Brand and customers preference towards English news papers. H02: There is a significant relationship between Good image of News Paper Brand and customers preference towards Hindi news papers. H03: There is a significant relationship between coverage of news and customers preference towards English news papers. H04: There is a significant relationship between coverage of news and customers preference towards Hindi news papers. 1.05 Research Methodology: The universe of study includes newspaper readers in Madhya Pradesh. The sample size is 500 readers (50% male and 50% female) of Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar in India well diversified among researchers, professionals, senior executives from marketing and media segment along with students and teachers across Madhya Pradesh as potential respondents to the questionnaire so as to identify the factors that affect the brand strategies of the two leading brands. The sampling method was convenience sampling for the study. Data Collection: Primary Data: This method shall be applied to collect the data through questionnaire, live interviews and discussions with media experts, research scholars and renowned professionals having potential to contribute. 26
Secondary Data: Reference of all related and relevant published records, journals, research reports available, case studies through news and media centers and journals published by various agencies and previous research work printed and online was considered for the same. Data Analysis: Data analysis is done by Factor Analysis and Chi Square Method with the help of SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16) to data so collected through questionnaire filled by the respondents. Factor Analysis was considered mainly to identify filter the factors so that reliability and validity of information gathered can be increased and Chi Square Test was applied to identify the value and measurement of responses. 1.06 Probable Contributions: Every research is conducted with the objective of contributing to and enriching the existing body of knowledge. The general objective of this research is also contributing the existing body of knowledge, but in special, the probable contribution of this research can be summarized as follows; Brand management is a dynamic activity and is affected by multiplicity of factors. The researcher believes that if the Findings and Conclusion made in this research are accepted, it would facilitate the Newspaper industry to lay out its plans for overall growth as the sample considered here is a well diversified and provide a valuable data. 27
It has been experienced and thus believed that even the professionals and readers read the newspaper casually. The researcher believes that if the Findings and Conclusion made in this research are accepted, it would facilitate the Newspaper brands to lay its plans for content enrichment, identify, penetrate and discover new dimensions of existing market. It is also found and thus believed that the news brands though using supplement strategy for increasing market share but still they are sticking to sensational news category not educational and value consciousness category. There is a need to add new dimension to the business as the industry possesses a high margin and potential of growth. The researcher believes that if the Findings and Conclusion made in this research on the basis of extensive area studies under various chapters especially in Future Scenario of Indian Newspaper industry, Challenges and Opportunities in print media sector are considered, it would facilitate the industry to lay its plans for increasing business and creating awareness along with a healthy society. 1.07 Limitations of the Study: The research is done with due care and caution taking in to consideration originality and precision in measurement of responses and collection of information, ideas, and facts and figures. All resources and analysis whether existing or derived are done with keeping in mind the authenticity and reliability along with the degree of freedom and confidentiality permissions. A research is a compendium of collection, interpretation and analysis of information qualitative and quantitative, perceptive and factual which 28
always runs through the test of degree of care, caution and awareness of respondents and general perception of society. During the study gathering information from the media professional especially sensitive information like marketing strategies and matters affecting revenue whether related remotely were of difficult in nature. Time, distance and availing information from people and system during the time was a crucial aspect to counter with, which indeed affected collection of information and its mode in some situations to some extent. 29