UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI
Project report on
“Hindustan Times and Times of India
- A comparative study”
SUBMITTED BY
“RASIKA V. CHITNIS”
PROJECT GUIDE: Ms. SUDHA SINGH
SEMESTER 5
BACHELORS OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES.
J.V.M.’s MEHTA COLLEGE
Plot no. 9, Sector-19, Airoli Node,
Navi Mumbai-400 708
ACADEMIC YEAR
2010-2011
A COMPARATIVE STUDY
OF
“HINDUSTAN TIMES
&
TIMES OF INDIA”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
For success in any walk of life we need proper guidance especially when
we are walking on the new way, so was the situation for we all BMS students.
We had been given an opportunity for the first time ever to take up any topic of
our choice and to make a project on same which gave us chance our skills to
prove ourselves by putting in hardcore efforts and to bring out the best possible
results.
I am grateful to Prof. Sudha Singh, as she devoted her precious time for
making us cognizant about different aspects of project.
It is the matter of utmost pleasure to express my indebt ness and deep
sense of gratitude to various persons who extended their maximum help to
supply the necessary information for the present thesis, which became available
on account of the most selfless co-operation.
Last but not the least, I would like to thank my parents and I am also
thankful to my friends and colleagues who helped and supported me for the
work I had done.
I, RASIKA V. CHITNISstudent of JVM Mehta degree College of T.Y.BMS
hereby declare that I have completed this project on “Comparative Study of
Hindustan Times and Times of India” in the academic year 2010-2011. The
information submitted is true and original to the best of my knowledge.
Rasika V. Chitnis
DECLARATION
INDEX
SR. NO. TOPIC
Executive summary
1. Introduction
2. List of top newspapers in the world by circulation
3. Importance of newspapers
4. Newspaper Marketing in India
5.
Times of India
a) History
b) Marketing strategy
c) Market share
d) Prominent supplements
e) Pricing
f) Target audience
g) Achievement
6.
Hindustan Times
a) History
b) Launching of Hindustan Times
c) Marketing strategy
d) Market share
e) Prominent supplements
f) Pricing
g) Target audience
h) Achievement
i) Growth of HT
j) Brand HT today
7. Competition for Times of India and Hindustan Times
8. HindustanTimes taking over Times Of India
9. Case study
10. People’s view on Times Of India and Hindustan Times
11. Survey
12. Conclusion
13. Bibliography
14. Annexure
THE TIMES OF INDIA
AND
HINDUSTAN TIMES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
According to NRS 2006 (National Readership Survey 2006), there are an
estimated 204 million readers of daily newspapers and an estimated 222 million
readers of all publications in India. An important feature is the rising profile of
`rural’ readers who constitute nearly 50 per cent of all daily newspaper readers;
this is in striking contrast to the composition of newspaper readership in India
20 years ago.
The press is still the dominant medium for advertising in the country, even if
television has steadily increased its share. The Times of India is, by some
distance, the world’s top-circulated general interest broadsheet daily newspaper
in English.
The Times of India still leads English dailies with a total readership of 133.4
lakh, dropping from 134.8 lakh readers last year. Hindustan Times is second
with a total readership of 63.5 lakh, registering an increase from 60.9 lakh last
year.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Indian print media started from Calcutta, the then first colonial establishment of the
East India Company. Since Calcutta was first to come under the British rule in India,
it opened to western values. James Agustus Hickey is considered as the "father of
Indian press" as he started the first Indian Paper the Bengal Gazette in 1780. The first
paper in an Indian language was SamacharDarpan in Bangla. 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 RamojiRao. The
second reason being the growing literacy rate. Increase in the literacy rate has direct
positive effect on the rise of circulation of the regional papers. 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 rises. The next reason being thelocalisation of news. Indian
regional papers have several editions for a particular State for complete localisation of
news for the reader to connect with the paper. Malayalam Manorama has about 10
editions in Kerala itself and six others outside Kerala. Thus regional papers aim at
providing localised news for their readers. Even Advertisers saw the huge potential of
the regional paper market, partly due to their own research and more due to the efforts
of the regional papers to make the advertisers aware of the huge market. However
When the history of India's newspaper wars is written, this one is going to take the
cake. Both The Times of India and Hindustan Times know it well too. The battle will
be bloodier than the legendary Hindustan Times-Times of India battle for the Delhi
market. The Times of India prised open the Hindustan Times territory in Delhi and
planted its flag there in a span of 10 years. . Both Hindustan Times and Times of India
stake their own claims, and the battle has often led to the corridors of courts. The
Times of India has traditionally pierced other newspapers' turfs in unchartered
territories with aggressive pricing and marketing strategies.
Current Scenario
The Indian Newspaper industry is one of the largest in the world. It publishes the
largest number of paid-for titles in the world
Metrics
Newspapers in India are measured on two parameters, circulation and readership.
Circulation
Circulation is certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations which is an industry body.
It audits the paid-for circulation of the member newspaper companies.
CHAPTER 2
LIST OF TOP NEWSPAPERS IN THE
CIRCULATION
This is a list of the daily newspapers in the world by average circulation.[1]
These figures are compiled by the World Association of Newspapers, in 2008,
and represent each paper's average circulation of the year. Some newspapers in
some countries did not submit their figures to the independent International
Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circulations. In those cases, figures were
provided by the publishers themselves, WAN partners Zenithmedia (who
compiles the report) or other sources.
Out of the 215 countries and regions, China, Japan and India are the countries
with the largest number of newspapers by average circulation in the top 100,
with 62 on the list
NEWSPAPER COUNTRY CIRCULATION LANGUAGE
1 Yomiuri Shimbun JAPAN 10,021 Japanese
2 Asahi Shimbun JAPAN 8,054 Japanese
3 Mainichi Shimbun JAPAN 3,912 Japanese
4 Bild GERMANY 3,548 German
5 CankaoXiaoxi CHINA 3,183 Chinese
6 The Times of India INDIA 3,146 English
35 Hindustan Times INDIA 1,143 English
According to WAN’s ‘World Press Trends,’ 70 of the world’s 100 best-selling dailies
are published in Asia; and 60 of them in China, Japan, and India. The world’s three
top countries in daily newspaper circulation are China (98.70 million), India (88.90
million), and Japan (69.10 million). They are followed by the United States (52.30
million) and Germany (21.10 million).
CHAPTER 3
IMPORTANCE OF NEWSPAPERS
The charm they still hold in today’s world and the popularity they still have in common people's lives.
Newspapers and newspaper advertising has been the most important tool in
shaping the growth and development of any society in the modern world. More
than anything, they have been very instrumental in bridging the communication
gap between people that contributes to the air of awareness in a society. Since
the very first day that the oldest newspaper in the world had made its
appearance, there have been seen progressive changes that have catapulted the
status of every society to new levels of evolution from time to time. The
newspaper industry in every country stands out as an influential body
contributing to the development of the modern society by acting as one of the
most potential platform for exchange of thoughts and opinions. Moreover, by
covering a wide arrange of topics that are relevant to the daily lives of the
people in a society, it promulgates the identity of the society, and acts as the
dispenser of public opinions. One of the most crucial tasks of the newspaper
industry is its contribution towards the economic and industrial development of
a country through its assimilation of the people’s voice.
The Indian newspaper industry has passed various stages of evolution to reach
the status that it enjoys today – that of a leading press arena in the world. There
are hundreds of newspapers that reach out to the people of this vast country in
enormous numbers every morning. A typical Indian daily newspaper is the
staple diet for a typical Indian, bringing him/her news from all over the globe.
Since daily newspapers succeed in attracting more readerships, an Indian daily
newspaper is the order of the morning for eager news hungry readers across the
country. By garnering an increasing number of subscribers in the form of
readers, newspapers clearly reflect the individuality of a reader and the country
as well. The growth in the circulation of newspapers in the country results in the
overall economic prosperity of the country, elevating it to higher levels. An
Indian daily newspaper strikingly plays a significant role in the structural
shaping of the country’s economical development. In fact, the newspaper
industry of any country for that matter spreads knowledge and awareness
amongst the people by propagating itself as a medium for a wide area of topics
such as politics, sports, social issues, medicine, entertainment, advertising and
marketing and so on. These factions gel betweeneach other on paper to rope in
prosperity for a country by cashing in economic prosperity.
CHAPTER 4.
NEWSPAPER MARKETING IN INDIA
Before Independence the Indian newspaper in general had a missionary role and
saw itself as a powerful instrument in social reformation and freedom struggle.
As of now, newspaper making in India is a multicrore business. The print
medium, in recent years, has been making news rather than just reporting news.
A newspaper business, after all, is to sell news to readers, then sell those readers
to advertisers. The media mix in India is changing rapidly to the point that many
newspapers are finding themselves an endangered species. The marketing
warfare in the segment of Indian language dailies is no less riveting, and in
some cases more mind-blowing. Inter- and intra-media competition is one
reason which is forcing newspapers to change and to react creatively. However,
most of the books available on Newspapers Marketing are from the West. In
this pioneering work, treatment of the subject is not too academic and is marked
by a logical flow of topics. Current and real-world examples help a logical flow
of topics. Current and real-world examples help the students and scholars of
journalism, mass communication, advertising and marketing, besides media
business practitioners.
CHAPTER 5
THE TIMES OF INDIA
HISTORY
The Times of India was founded on November 3, 1838 as The Bombay Times
and Journal of Commerce, during the British Raj of western India. It adopted its
present name in 1861. Published every Saturday and Wednesday, The Bombay
Times and Journal of Commercewere launched as a bi-weekly edition. It
contained news from Europe, the Americas, and the Subcontinent, and was
conveyed between India and Europe via regular steamships. The daily editions
of the paper were started from 1850 and by 1861, the Bombay Times was
renamed The Times of India.
The Times of India can be traced back to the British owners of the organization.
For a long time it served the British colonizers who resided in the western parts
of India. Initially it was launched as a bi-weekly edition and was published on
Wednesdays and Saturdays. By the year 1850 daily editions of the newspaper
began to be published. Then it used to cover news from America, Europe as
well as the Indian Subcontinent. Each edition of The Times of Indiawas
regularly transported to some of the European countries.
In the 19th century this newspaper company employed more than 800 people
and had a sizable circulation in India and Europe. Originally British-owned and
controlled, its last British editor was Ivor S. Jehu, who resigned the editorship in
1950. It was after India's Independence that the ownership of the paper passed
on to the then famous industrial family of Dalmiyas and later it was taken over
by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain group from Bijnore, UP. Their
headquarter is situated in New Delhi. Jaideep Bose is functioning as the
Executive Editor from the year 2005.
The Times of India is published by the media group Bennett, Coleman & Co.
Ltd. This company, along with its other group companies, known as The Times
Group, also publishes The Economic Times, Mumbai Mirror, the Navbharat
Times (a Hindi-language daily broadsheet), the Maharashtra Times (a Marathi-
language daily broadsheet).
MARKETING STRATEGY
According to Debashish Gosh, Vice President Corporate IT and Operations,
Times of India Group,”In India, and at the end in any country of the world, the
media industry, and more over the newspaper industry, is very dynamic in terms
of doing businesses. Therefore, we need to be very quick in taking decisions
and in realising what is being the impact of the marketing strategies we are
putting into practice. This is why it is nowadays very important to have a
business intelligence tool that can give you all the information that you want
very quickly, in a matter of minutes rather than having to wait during hours to
get a business report. So, given the fact that we are working and active in a very
volatile environment and that it is very important today to take business
decisions on a very fast pace, this tool has proofed to be very useful. Plus,
another thing is that the business warehouse we have is not only fed with our
own data but also is linked to a lot of third party sources that give us
information about the developments of the market, about how the newspaper
industry and the media industry in general are moving, about how other big
newspapers are doing all over the world and, of course, about how some of our
competitors are managing... We put all the data together and we can see all
these entire analysis and information in a collective manner. This is a
knowledge tool that helps us to define our strategy for the next month, the next
five months, and the next year and so on... And this referring to all the areas of
the business, such as marketing, pricing politics, production, launch of new
products, customer centric strategies...”
MARKET SHARE
Also notable was the breaking of the story of the leakage Common Admission
Test Exam paper for the IIM's. This shift in style of reporting, along with
massive revamping of the City offerings like the Delhi Times and Bombay
Times has helped the newspaper maintain its position as the largest selling
English daily in India, and in one year even usurp the largest English broadsheet
Daily in the world beating the USA Today.
The newspaper today sells 2.6 million copies daily and has an average issue
readership in excess of 7 million, which makes it by far the world's largest
English Broadsheet Newspaper.
PROMINENT SUPPLEMENTS
Editions
Delhi Edition
Bombay Edition
Bangalore Edition
Pune Edition
Calcutta Edition
Lucknow Edition
Ahmedabad Edition
Hyderabad Edition
City Centric Supplements
BombayTimes
Delhi Times
Bangalore Times
Pune Times
Hyderabad Times
Calcutta Times
Lucknow Times
Ahmedabad Times
Baroda Times
Chandigarh Times
Patna Times
TOPICAL SUPPLEMENTS
Education Times Weekly roundup of Education related news, articles et al,
goes every week with all editions on Monday
Times Ascent Appointments advertising section, goes with all editions of
The Times of India on Wednesday
Times Property Weekly Supplement on Property, goes with the Delhi,
Mumbai and Hyderabad editions every Saturday
Times Life / Men and Women / Sunday Review
Times Matrimonial
Times Classifieds
CHANGES IN A SNAPSHOT
3 new supplements: Brunch, PowerJobs and Premiere
Crisp & concise 2-minute HT
4 page Sports pullout
Redesigned HT City
Graphically depicted weather section
Easy to navigate Television schedules.
Reader friendly stock page
PRICING OF TOI
Analyst says that 3.5m people read English in Mumbai but only 2.1m buy
English newsprint of any kind. Two and a half years ago,Mumbai had only six
English dailies.Withnew 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. With a turnover of Rs 20 crores and
yearly profit of Rs 8 crores TOI can afford to lose Rs 1.5 crores on Mumbai
Mirror.Apart from this on sale of each copy of TOI the newsvendor makes a
profit of Rs 2.50 compared to the copy of HT.
TARGET AUDIENCE
The Times of India is nation's leading media conglomerate with 45 dailies and
periodicals in 3 languages and 108 editions from 9 centers and a combined
readership of over 40 million. In fact The Times of India Group accounts for
30% of the measured ad spend in the country. We include in our stable The
Times of India, among the top 2 English broadsheets worldwide; and The
Economic Times among the top 3 English business dailies worldwide. The
Times of India Group gives the highest reach among Indian decision makers,
intelligentsia and the elite. The Group also has a range of 9 Business2Business
publications from The Economic Times catering to industry segments as diverse
as machinery and polymers. In addition its 16 Special Interest offerings are
targeted at groups of consumers ranging from photography to education to
annuals on beauty, fashion etc.
Your career counselor, advisor, influencer and guide anytime anywhere,the
first Indian education portal for all education needs is here. This portal will
cater to the ever-expanding student community and learning experience.
The philanthropic arm of the group, the Times Foundation, offers Non
Government Organisations, institutions & others all over India, a platform to
converge and address the country's developmental needs.
As a publishing house, it has not only sought to bring news but to portray the
country's changing social scene. Through its incisive editorials, The Times of
India Group has effectively molded public opinion and is indeed an accurate
barometer of the nation today.
ACHIEVEMENT
International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA) World Congress
hosted the73rd Annual INMA competition in Beverly Hills, representing the
world's best newspaper marketing campaigns from the past year. JWT would
like to congratulate the Times of India on its award-winning "Lead India"
initiative, which has received four out of 10 INMA awards in the newspaper
marketing category, including the grand prize Newspaper Marketer of the Year
award – in recognition of a campaign that started with a front-page newspaper
ad and went on to inspire a nationwide movement and the emergence of a new
era of leadership in India.
"We are honored to have contributed to the Times of India's award-winning
effort to promote cultural progress in India, the world's largest democracy," said
Craig Davis, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, JWT. "This campaign is a
testament to the ongoing power of print media, as both a branding medium and
a catalyst for social change. 'Lead India' serves as a true inspiration for our
global agency, on both professional and personal levels."
The Times of India is the first Indian and Asian newspaper to ever win the
INMA Awards competition's "Best of Show" recognition. The win reinforces
the Grand Prix Award the Times of India received at Goa Fest 2008, a national
competition held in April.
"The ongoing success of this campaign comes at a critical time for the print
media category, as many are predicting the decline of traditional newspapers'
power and influence," said Davis. "This campaign is the perfect example of
how print media remains an influential tool for cultural engagement and
democracy."
JWT Mumbai partnered with the Times of India for the campaign, which serves
as a clarion call to be the change that we expect in Indian society. The "Lead
India" initiative included eight full front pages entirely dedicated to the cause.
Further support was provided by over 100 additional print ads and more than 18
hours of reality TV programming, as well as multiple Web sites. Ultimately,
the initiative attracted over 34,000 candidates and three million SMS votes, and
generated numerous rallies and street marches further demonstrating the
initiative's enormous impact.
The Times of India was selected from among 755 entries submitted from nearly
200 newspapers representing 34 different countries. For the first time, judging
was conducted via the Internet by 21 judges worldwide, including executives in
the media, advertising, marketing and research industries. Judging was based on
concept, creativity, copy/graphic design, production and overall effectiveness,
as well as results.
CHAPTER 6
HINDUSTAN TIMES
HISTORY
Hindustan Times (HT) is a leading newspaper in India, published since 1924
with roots in the independence movement.[2] Hindustan Times is the flagship
publication of HT Media Ltd. It has a nationwide reach in India (barring
Southern India), with simultaneous editions from New Delhi, Mumbai,
Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi and Kolkata. It is also printed from Bhopal and
Chandigarh. HT has also launched a youth daily HT Next in 2004. The Mumbai
edition was launched on 14 July 2005.
Hindustan Times is one of India's leading Media Houses with a strong presence
across the country, particularly in the northern region where it has been a
market leader. Hindustan Times ever since its launch more than 70 years ago
has maintained a lead position in all of its key markets.
Hindustan Times was founded by Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri, founder-
father of the Akali Movement and the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab. S Mangal
Singh Gill (Tehsildar) and S. Chanchal Singh (Jandiala, Jullundur) were made
in charge of the newspaper. Pt Madan Mohan Malayia and Master Tara Singh
were among the members of the Managing Committee.
The Managing Chairman and Chief Patron was Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri
himselfK. M. Panikkar was its first Editor with Devdas Gandhi (son of
Mahatma Gandhi) also on the editor's panel. The opening ceremony was
performed by Mahatma Gandhi on September 15, 1924. The first issue was
published from Naya Bazar, Delhi (now Swami Sharda Nand Marg). It
contained writings and articles from C. F. Andrews, St. Nihal Singh, Maulana
Mohammad Ali, C. R. Reddy (Dr. Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy), T. L.
Vaswani, Ruchi Ram Sahni, Bernard Haton, Harinder Nath Chattopadhyaya, Dr
Saifuddin Kichlu and Rubi Waston etc.
It has its roots in the independence movement of the first half of the twentieth
century. It was edited at times by many important people in India, including
Devdas Gandhi (the son of Mahatma Gandhi) and Khushwant Singh. Sanjoy
Narayan, has been appointed the Editor in Chief of the Paper and is due to take
over in August 2008.
Recently the editorial page has seen a major make-over and has been named
"comment" to bring in more flexibility and some-what less seriousness to the
page.
LAUNCHING OF HT
HT is published by Hindustan Times ltd. The organization has been a major
force for over seven decades in the print media. Its New Delhi edition continues
to be the single largest English daily edition in the country with a circulation of
over a million. It is also the largest circulated and most widely read newspaper
in Delhi.The Times of India and Hindustan Times who were the bitter rivals in
the national capital, joined hands in Mumbai to take on DNA.The
collaboration 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.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. But this does not mean that the two would not
compete with each other for readership. This was the exact message conveyed
by Ht with their New Year ad campaign-“This year give up one old habiT –
Change to HT.”With capital ‘T’ indicating Times of India looks like HT now
ready to take over the Big daddy in the business.
MARKETING STRATEGIES
HT-adopted a two-stage process
The first stage focused on building the brand in a new market by targeting
the discerning English reader.
In stage two, they focused on building the circulation. Unlike DNA it
concentrated specifically on households that subscribe to English
newspapers. It built quality circulation instead of just increasing sales
numbers.
All this became possible because the strength of HT as a company is its
marketing. Our marketing team is very well equipped to articulate the
needs of the customers and what should be the defined criteria. Of course,
it was solidly backed up by an excellent product, because that is the
strength of our company, that we have an outstanding editorial
department. The two departments were able to come out with a great
offering and that’s what made it possible.
MARKET SHARE
The Hindustan Times Ltd. plans to consolidate itself as a vibrant and modern
media powerhouse through strategic partnerships, ever-increasing scope of
operations and a consumer focused approach.
The flagship publication of the Group has editions from Delhi, Lucknow, Patna
and Kolkata, thus, dominating the Northern, Eastern and Central regions of the
country. It is printed out of eleven centre including Bhopal, Chandigarh, Delhi,
Jaipur, Nagpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Bhagalpur, Patna, Ranchi and Raipur,
reaching closer to the consumers.
Its New Delhi edition continues to be the single largest English daily edition in
the country with a circulation of over 9.2 lakhs, while maintaining its leadership
status in Delhi as the largest circulated English daily at 5.5 lakhs.
HINDUSTAN TIMES .COM
India's foremost media conglomerate is home to the leading newspapers in the
country - Hindustan Times (the flagship English daily) and Hindustan (Hindi
newspaper). And it has a significant online presence with HindustanTimes.com.
HindustanTimes.com, a news led media portal is today one of the most popular
port of call for news and infotainment content seekers on the Web. Besides
carrying stories from the newspaper, the site has exclusive and in-depth
coverage by its independent editorial staff. Its exclusive properties include HT
Tabloid.com, which is Asia's first tabloid on the Web; and HTCricket.com, a
popular destination for cricketing bytes. The site also provides sections written
by popular columnists, along with in-depth web exclusives on politics, business,
new economy, entertainment, fashion and lifestyle.
In another major achievement, HindustanTimes.com is the only Indian media
site featured amongst the top 10 international newspaper sites by Forbes for the
third time running, ranking above the likes of International Herald Tribune.
HINDUSTAN
The group's Hindi newspaper, Hindustan is the 9th largest read newspaper in the
country. (Source: National Readership Survey 2002). The publication's
readership has grown by an impressive 11% to 63.85 lakhs (NRS).
Hindustan has grown considerably from strength to strength and has gained
significantly across markets. It remains the Number 1 daily in Bihar with a
market share of more than 75% of the Hindi daily market. In Uttar Pradesh and
Delhi, Hindustan has grown by 34%. Lucknow has been a trailblazer, recording
an unprecedented growth of 169%.
The popular Hindi daily has also featured innovative advertising campaigns
tailored to meet the specific needs of advertisers.
PROMINENT SUPPLEMENTS
The No.1 daily leads the way in style and substance
The new Hindustan Times comes with more news, more supplements, more
sports, more colour .
Looking good has never been as easy as this...just grab the new Hindustan
Times and you will always be in vogue! Beginning February 1, the leading
publication will don a new look that reflects the newspaper's commitment to
providing news with substance in a modern, contemporary style. Says Mr.
Anand Bhardwaj, Vice President-Marketing, The Hindustan Times Ltd.
"Today's readers seek a product that offers superior content in a trendy, reader
friendly format. Keeping this in mind, we have introduced a number of
innovations in the new HT which, I am sure, will delight our loyal readers. The
changes in the paper will meet a number of emerging needs of the readers and
will enable us to strengthen our leadership position."
From the spirited youth to the business minded executive; from the gossip-
friendly nannies to the fashion conscious teens, there is enough for everyone to
enjoy in the new Hindustan Times. A significant change in the new Hindustan
Times is the introduction of three new supplements:
HT brunch
HT power jobs Premiums
2 minutes HT
HT Sport
HT City
HT BRUNCH
HT is bringing Sunday reading back in fashion with a 28-page magazine
packed with stories and snippets from lifestyle to travel.
HT POWERJOB
A comprehensive supplement dedicated to careers with information on
everything from job listings to career counseling, PowerJobs will be offered
to readers every Tuesday.
HT Premiere
HT is introducing a weekly entertainment supplement every Thursday which
will cover Hollywood and Bollywood like never before.
New HT will maintain its high standards of excellence, its passion for news and
an unbiased and fair reporting and editorial style. All these will come in a
newspaper with more colour and a sleeker, contemporary design.
New HT also comes with the following additional features:
2-minute Hindustan Times
A special offering for those on the move, the 2-minute HT will give a gist of
the entire days news in half a page during weekdays. Laid out in an easy-to-
read and visually appealing format, the capsule on the second page of the
paper will be the first of its kind in India.
HT Sport
Sports fans can look forward to even more sports news as the new Hindustan
Times will devote four pages to a wider spectrum of sporting events - both
national and international - to cater to the sporting choices of a wider and
increasingly cosmopolitan audience.
HT Sport will come as a center pullout! For convenience, the sports enthusiasts
of the family can enjoy their favorite sports news exclusively, while the rest of
the family decides who goes through the main paper.
HT City
HT City buffs have something to look forward to as well. The new
redesigned HT City has a trendier layout, with a brand new masthead.
Bringing even more news-making events from across the city, this chic
supplement will now have more celebrity news and views.
The television schedule in HT City will be in a new reader friendly, time band
format instead of the channel band format that would ease out the 'which
programme at what time?' hassle. For, at one glance at a particular time, readers
can now know all the programmes being aired across all channels.
Among the other changes incorporated are a clearer front page adding on to the
visual appeal of the paper for reading pleasure and a bigger and information-
packed weather section with attractive, easy to grasp graphics.
Also changing is the Stock page, now in an easy-to-navigate format and
informative graphics that will remove the monotony out of stock pages and keep
you abreast on the bulls and the bears.
The launch of new Hindustan Times will be supported by a multimedia
promotional campaign which will include TV, cinema, radio and outdoor apart
from other below-the-line activities.
PRICING OF HT
The earnings growth over the next two-three years may not justify the pricing
on offer, unless the Mumbai edition of Hindustan Times rakes in profits, or, at
least breaks even within a couple of years. That seems a daunting prospect as of
now.
But we believe the key drivers of the stock price would be the growth in
earnings of the non-Mumbai operation, which is an emerging story, and the
circulation numbers that Hindustan Times notches in Mumbai. The price-
earnings multiple will acquire a critical role only over the longer term.
We would be more comfortable had the final pricing been closer to the lower
end of the band, as it would provide investors some cushion. It could also lead
to a higher degree of interest in the post-listing period which would augur well
for investors in the
HT costs Rs. 2.50 price which is much lower than Times of India but higher
than DNA. DNA costs Rs. 2. The only aim of HT was to provide Mumbai a
replica of TOI at cheaper rate.
However, when it comes to content, HT has an edge over DNA .HT has a
balance in content. It has edit page where in the newspaper takes a stand and
gives a well-researched analysis on topical issues.
Compare this to DNA, which does not have a traditional edit page. It has given
prime importance to op-ed page. And in the run to analyse daily news, the paper
fails to do any sort ofin-depthstory or take a standincase of national issues.
TARGET AUDIENCE
HT targets predominantly top end English readers, in other words TOI
dissatisfied consumers.HT on the other played safe. It did not feel the need to
understand the mindset and requirements of Mumbai readers. They wanted to
provide everything just like TOI . Therefore the target consumers were that of
TOI.
GROWTH OF HINDUSTAN TIMES
The Average Issue Readership (AIR or daily reach) for the Hindustan Times,
showed a growth of 2.5 lakh, which is more than double any other English
Daily in the latest IRS round.
Significantly this growth has been achieved on the more stringent AIR (or Daily
Reach) measure, that is most relevant to advertisers and media planners, as it
defines the eyeballs or readership that advertisers get, when they place an ad
with the daily.
Hindustan Times saw a simultaneous strengthening of its brand across the two
biggest markets –Delhi & NCR and Mumbai.
DELHI-NCR
AIR for HT went up by a robust 1.7 lakh, over the previous IRS round (2008
R1),confirming its status as the No. 1 English newspaper of Delhi-NCR. Even
in Total Readership(TR), HT grew by 3% while its nearest competitor declined
by 8%. Also, demographically, HT t +13% is the only English daily to have
shown growth amongst the elusive 20-29 years age group
MUMBAI
HT reached a 5.26 laky AIR (daily reach) by recording a growth of 1.5 laky, the
highest growth by any daily in Mumbai. In TR terms, Hindustan Times grew by
1.58 lakh readers, about three times the total readership increase by the nearest
competitor.
AIR for HT went up by a robust 1.7 lakh, over the previous IRS round ( 2008
R1), confirming its status as the No. 1 English newspaper of Delhi-NCR. Even
in Total Readership (TR), HT grew by 3% while its nearest competitor declined
by 8%. Also, demographically, HT at +13% is the only English daily to have
shown growth amongst the elusive 20-29 years age group.
HT reached a 5.26 lakh AIR (daily reach) by recording a growth of 1.5 lakh, the
highest growth by any daily in Mumbai. In TR terms, Hindustan Times grew by
1.58 lakh readers, about three times the total readership increase by the nearest
competitor. This success story has been driven by a mix of aggressive product
differentiation, an editorial focus to include younger readers, and, especially in
the case of Mumbai, a fine-tuning and enhancement of circulation to reach
larger numbers and the right reader-groups. In terms of product differentiation,
launch of HT Business and the re-launch of HT City and Café (the
entertainment and lifestyle offering in Delhi and Mumbai respectively) have
been the most visible structural changes. Equally relevant has been the
consistent focus on large editorial campaigns that have had a high impact on
significant blocks of readers. This phenomenal success and significant growth
in numbers, is just the start for this iconic brand that turns 85 next year. It
reflects a brand that continues to resonate and delight its readers in a truly
relevant way – and delivery consistently for its advertisers, who value its high
quality readership and ambience.
BRAND HT TODAY……
According o HT manager, “HT has worked in various functions, and not just
marketing. It has worked in both front end and back end of businesses, both in
India and abroad. So I have a fairly good 360-degree experience of how a
business works. But I am gifted with an outstanding marketing team in HT,
some of which I have built after coming here. We are very fortunate to have
some of the best marketing talents with us which is a strong differentiator for
the company vis-à-vis other companies.”
One of the first things that HT tried to do is to make sure that its brand is more
sharply defined in the minds of its readers. He adds “For this, in Delhi we did a
campaign to communicate the positioning of HT as a brand. One of the
strengths of HT is that over several decades, it has been seen as a dominant
brand influencing the thoughts and behavior of people it reaches out to. In
certain ways, HT was playing the role of a thought leader, a brand which
stimulated thought, thus empowering the reader. So we communicated that
using various means of communication”.
The creative that were made with the help of O&M were absolutely
outstanding. It took us almost four to five months of work to very clearly
articulate the positioning of the brand. Besides O&M, we got help from Deepak
Jain of North Western University, and much of the work was done by our
marketing team alongwith the editorial team. Let me tell you, research has
shown that the entire effort was highly successful in communicating the
message to readers.
CHAPTER 7
COMPETITION FOR TIMES OF INDIA AND
HINDUSTAN TIMES
Why has Mumbai's lethargic newspaper industry suddenly become a `hot
market' for new competitors? First, because it has the country's largest
advertisem*nt revenue of Rs.1,000 crores, of which only one player - The
Times of India - has the lion's share. The new entrants are vying for a piece of
the pie. The Times of India's advertising rates are the highest in the country. For
long, advertisers have felt that they have been held to ransom as they have no
choice but to pay exorbitant rates to The Times of India in order to reach
Mumbai's up market consumers. Now, there are other platforms, but they will
have to prove themselves before advertisers start considering them an option.
"Advertisers are happy that there will be competitors. But, there won't be a
dramatic shift in ad spends in the short term. Only when any of these
newspapers cross 50 per cent of The Times of India readership, will they claim
a place in any advertiser's media plan," says Himanshu Shekhar, Investment
Director of Mindshare Fulcrum, a leading media planning agency. At present,
DNA and Hindustan Times' advertisem*nt rates are around one-fourth that of
The Times of India.
Both DNA and Hindustan Times are essentially competing for the No. 2 slot in
the market. The Times of India is too old and established to be overthrown in
the short term. With a six lakh circulation, it was far ahead of earlier
competitors like Indian Express (58,000). In fact, it was The Economic Times
(1.47 lakhs) and Mid-Day (1.40 lakhs) that trailed in second place after The
Times of India in Mumbai. While there are varying estimates on how the new
newspapers are doing, market sources estimate that DNA sells around two lakhs
and Hindustan Times 1.40 lakhs. However, DNA claims that it is printing 2.90
lakh copies and Hindustan Times says it sells 2 lakh copies.
Though The Times of India claims that its circulation remains the same, a
newspaper agent says that its counter sales have reduced by 40,000 to 50,000
copies. "It's probably because other newspapers are half the price, while the
content is not very different. Moreover, people are curious about the new
newspapers," he says.
Months before DNA and Hindustan Times launched in Mumbai, The Times of
India went on the defensive and started a new `compact' newspaper, somewhat
like a tabloid, called Mumbai Mirror. 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. "We always knew that there
was space for a second newspaper in Mumbai, and so we started an alternative
to broadsheets - a compact. By including Mumbai Mirror with The Times of
India, we are improving the price performance ratio of our brand," says Bhaskar
Das, executive president of The Times of India group. "The Mirror is a
newspaper for the new generation who want news-on-the-go like McDonalds.
It's for the supersonic age where people want to scan news without going into
too much depth."
It is essentially a `blockading' strategy - you flood the reader with so much that
he/she does not feel the need for another newspaper. "A normal reader spends
20-25 minutes on newspapers. Do you think he/she will spend more time
reading just because there are new newspapers?" asks Das.
The Times of India readers are suddenly seeing a lot more news in a paper that
once gave news a back seat to fluff. "The TOI has also taken a lot of rear guard
action by beefing up its coverage. New competitors have raised the bar," says
Das. Moreover, both The Times of India and Mirror 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
advertisem*nt rates are as expensive as ever, around four times that of DNA or
Hindustan Times.
What seems inevitable, however, is that circulation will expand. "Around 40 per
cent of Mumbai's population speak, read and write English, of which only 20
per cent are buying English newspapers," says Shekhar. As Girish Agarwal,
Director of the Bhaskar group that owns DNA, points out, "We believe in
widening the market, like we have in all the cities that we have launched
newspapers and become the leader. Since the time we started Divya Bhaskar in
Gujarat, readership there has increased by 49 per cent in two years and ad
revenue also increased by 40 per cent."
"In the next few years, Mumbai's market will expand by up to 75 per cent, with
even The Times of India growing," says Meenakshi Madhvani, Managing
Partner of Spatial Access media solutions. "Delhi has a slightly lower
population than Mumbai, but there are 12 lakh [copies of] English newspapers
sold there as compared to only 7.5 lakhs [copies] in Mumbai. There will be
dramatic market expansion in Mumbai. But ad spend won't keep up, since it is
already oversaturated. Mumbai has the highest ad rates in the country."
Why has Mumbai's newspaper industry been stunted for so long?
"The demand for newspapers is extremely price sensitive. Until now, The Times
of India was way ahead of the competition. So, it had a high cover price and
didn't push for greater sales, because that would increase their costs (since the
cost of producing a newspaper is much greater than its market price). They
didn't need to increase circulation, since they anyway milked all the ad
revenue," says Madhvani.
THE new newspapers are priced much lower - Hindustan Times at Rs.2.50 and
DNA at Rs.2 - which have boosted initial sales. "Generally, the price of an
English newspaper in every city is around Rs.2, only Mumbai was an aberration
where The Times of India was priced at Rs.4. However, now they have tried to
increase their value proposition by adding a second free newspaper to The
Times of India," says Sandip Ghose, Vice-President, Marketing, Hindustan
Times. DNA's vice president, Sales, N.B. Verma, says: "We want as many
people as possible to sample our product, so we have kept the price low."
The Bhaskar group, which has established several successful Hindi editions and
the Gujarati Divya Bhaskar, has always followed the strategy of reaching out to
readers through surveys, flooding the market, distributing freebies. Surprisingly,
DNA's counter sales are giving the afternoon tabloid Mid-Day a run for its
money. But, as a newspaper agent points out, a vendor stands to earn 45 paise
more per copy if he sells DNA in the raddi (recycled paper) market, rather than
selling it at the counter at Rs. 2.
So, are the new newspapers really offering the reader anything different?
Hindustan Times says it is targeting the `discerning' reader who wants more
than `regurgitated headlines' and page 3. "We are trying to engage people in a
dialogue, and create a product that is uniquely Mumbai. Hindustan Times takes
up Mumbai's issues without dumbing down the content or making it tabloidish,"
says Ghose. With fewer pages than its competitors, Hindustan Times' layout,
more classical and less cluttered, does look different.
DNA, with different business, sports and lifestyle sections, says it is trying to
make newspapers more accessible to readers. "Ours is a family newspaper that
offers value for money. In our paper, we clearly differentiate fact from fluff.
Readers want both, but they are not mixed together. We have recruited the best
journalists for our team," says Agarwal. "We have a lot of city news which
reach out to the younger but informed audience. In fact, we even have a page
called `Speak Out' where readers can write in," says Gautam Adhikari, editor of
DNA.
The Indian Express is emphasising its USP - `Journalism of Courage'. As part of
a campaign called "India Explained, India Empowered", it has got several
prominent leaders including the President, Prime Minister, former Prime
Ministers and film actor Shah Rukh Khan to write columns on the front page
describing their idea of an `empowered' India.
The Times of India, while maintaining some of its fluff, has become far more
news-oriented and also more colourful. "Our newspaper is aimed at
empowering the reader. We are not into crusading or agenda journalism, but are
still doing investigative stories on issues that matter in our reader's life," says
Das. "With all the new newspapers coming in, the reader is the ultimate winner
because everyone is splurging to gain his/her attention."
But is it merely a Hobson's choice? As Charudatt Dangat, Mumbai's largest
newspaper agent, put it, "What choice does the reader really have? It's more in
terms of price. Most of the stories in all of the newspapers are the same. The
journalists keep shifting, from The Times of India to DNA and back again."
Another industry insider added, "Even though the readers want better content,
unfortunately, the competition is taking place on the marketing and sales front,
rather than the editorial."
ACHIEVEMENTS
HT has a good track record at the IFRA and has won several awards this year
HINDUSTAN TIMES LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
What Hindustan Times began in November 2003 as an annual Leadership
Summit has grown in representation and credibility into a powerful forum
seeking to bring together leaders from different walks of life, encouraging
interactions and debates, and raising the bar of discussion on critical world
issues.
Hindustan Times launched the Leadership Summit - an annual conference that
seeks to enhance the level of discussion on pressing issues, encourage
interaction among leaders in various areas and present international quality
thought platforms, as part of its mission to contribute to thought leadership and
evolve action plans for a secure and better future.
This year we bring to you the third such meeting of minds, at a summit titled
“Building a Better Future “on 15th –16th November 2005.
The Hindustan Times Leadership Summit will deliberate on “Building aBetter
Future“ and will aim to evolve a roadmap for economic and social
transformation in the developing world, building trust and mutual confidence
amongst various groups and ensuring environmental conservation and
sustainable development. Key political and business leaders, strategists and
leading minds from India and overseas will attend this select, by-invitation
gathering. The Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, 2005, is a platform for
eminent leaders to interact, share their opinions and views on important issues
of concern and arrive at solutions.
The conference aims to understand the world's views on social, economic and
political issues. It tries to gain insights on India's role in the world and its
importance in the global growth scenario.The Hindustan Leadership Summit
invites international business leaders, strategists along with renowned
personalities from India and abroad. All speakers, delegates, major
corporations, policy-making institutions and thinktanks around the world are
also given a documented copy of the conference proceedings at the end of the
summit. Strengthening its mission to contribute to thought leadership,
Hindustan Times, India's leading national newspaper, brings to you the fourth
annual Leadership Summit: ‘India: The Next Global Superpower?' on 17 th -18
th November 2006, New Delhi.
CHAPTER 8
HINDUSTAN TIMES TAKING OVER TIMES OF
INDIA
The Hindustan Times is encroaching on its rival's turf about a decade after The
Times of India cut the price of its New Delhi edition by half, a move that
ultimately helped expand the English-language newspaper market in the Indian
capital. The Hindustan Times is being sold at an inaugural price of 2.50 rupees
in Mumbai; The Times of India has a cover price of 4 rupees.
At month's end, The Hindustan Times and The Times of India will be joined on
Mumbai newsstands by Daily News & Analysis, or DNA, which kicked off a
billboard campaign across Mumbai in March with a series of images depicting
people with their mouths taped shut and tag lines such as "Speak up. It's in your
DNA."
DNA is owned by Diligent Media, a joint venture of Zee Telefilms, the largest
listed broadcaster in India, and Dainik Bhaskar, publisher of the second-biggest
Hindi-language daily newspaper in India. Diligent has booked orders for
300,000 copies of DNA, said Girish Agarwal, a director of the company.
Still, the market may not be big enough to sustain the ambitions of the new
entrants, said Vinod Mehta, editor of Outlook, the second-biggest weekly news
magazine in India.
The Times of India, which began as The Bombay Times and Journal of
Commerce in 1838, has been able to retain its hold over Mumbai against rivals
such as The Indian Express, The Free Press Journal, The Daily and The Indian
Post. Only The Indian Express and The Free Press Journal are still publishing.
"It's very difficult to get people to change their reading habits," said Mehta, who
has written a book about the city. "People are generally conservative about
changing a newspaper. It's like changing your wife."
The Times of India is not threatened by the arrival of fresh competition, said
Arun Arora, president of Bennett, Coleman, which owns the paper.
We believe there is space for a second or even a third general newspaper in the
city," Arora said. "We welcome competition."
The publisher has sought to broaden its appeal by starting a new tabloid-sized
daily, The Mumbai Mirror, which began publishing on May 30 and is being
delivered free with its flagship newspaper.
"The current run-up of launches in the English space is largely to gain control of
the single largest market" for print advertising in the country, said Atul Phadnis,
vice president of TAM India. "The race for the two prominent newspapers being
launched will be to fill the void in Mumbai for a strong No.2 English
newspaper."
The convergence of the biggest names in the Indian newspaper industry on
Mumbai has come as a windfall for media professionals, said Anurag Batra,
chief executive of Exchange4Media, a New Delhi-based company that owns
advertising and media publications.
"I know of journalists and newspaper executives tripling their salaries," Batra
said. "Given the paucity of talent and the growth in the media industry, it's quite
natural that they are spoilt for choice."
CHAPTER 9
CASE STUDY
Competition between Hindustan Times and Times of India, pricing strategies of
the two companies Restructuring plan of Shobhana Bhartia for Hindustan Times
A BRIEF ON THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY
Newspaper companies in India came to be projected as public service
institutions after independence.
However, in the late 1980s, they became just another fast moving consumer
commodity. The companies started aggressive marketing and promotional
strategies to increase circulation and readership. The industry witnessed tough
competition both regionally and nationally. In 1999, the top 10 newspapers
accounted for about 90% of the readership and the top two made 90% of the
profits. There was fierce competition for the advertising rupee By late 1990s,
electronic media like television had made a dent into the print media revenues.
Print media was facing a squeeze due to the increasing popularity of television-
initially color television and then satellite television. The ad market worth about
Rs.90 billion slowed down and newspapers saw a steady decline in advertising
share - from about 75% in 1995 to almost 50% in 2000.
Newsprint costs too spiralled. The companies survived by increasing the ad
rates every year. However, analysts felt that newspapers could not survive for
long by increasing advertising rates. In 2001, the print industry was expected to
see a negative growth in revenues for the first time.
The case discusses the fierce competition in India between two major
publishing houses - Hindustan Times and Times of India. The case focuses on
the aggressive pricing strategies adopted by the companies to counter each
other. However, to gain a bigger share, Hindustan Times' vice chairperson
Shobhana Bhartia chalked out a restructuring plan with an investment of Rs.4
billion. The case discusses in detail, the restructuring plan. The case is intended
for MBA/PGDBM level students as a part of the Business Strategy curriculum.
From the case, it is necessary to understand and analyze the strategies of the two
newspaper companies. And also ought to analyze whether Hindustan Times
should counter Times of India in Mumbai, Chennai and other cities or stick to
northern India.
In the late 1990s, Hindustan Times (HT) was facing tough competition in Delhi
from The Times of India (TOI) so far as circulation, readership and revenues
were concerned.
HT earned more than half of Delhi's ad revenue, but TOI too, was getting close
to 40% by 1999-2000.
This was a major cause of worry for HT, as three-fourths of its ad revenues
came from Delhi. Also, except for the Hindi daily Hindustan, HT had no other
strong brand whereas TOI had The Economic Times, Filmfare and Femina.
For the first time in its 76-year history, HT made an operating loss in the first
quarter of fiscal 2000-01. Though the gross profit stood at 6% in 2000-01, it
was far below the average of 30% earned during 1990s. In 2001, Shobhana
Bhartia, Vice Chairperson of the HT Group, decided to fight back and
announced an investment of Rs.4 billion to counter TOI. It seemed to be the
beginning of a spectacular battle in the domestic publishing industry.
PRICE WARS
The early 1990s saw HT and TOI engaged in a bitter battle for supremacy in
Delhi, which is perceived to be the most important market in India. In 1991,
TOI had a circulation of around 70,000 in Delhi as against 0.35 million for HT.
In 1994, TOI slashed its price from Rs.2.30 to Rs.1.50. By 1998, the difference
in circulation figures narrowed down to a few thousand copies. (Refer Table
III). Since 1991, TOI's circulation has increased in percentage terms more than
HT. Analysts felt that TOI increased its share largely by breaking into HT's
readership. A fresh round of price-cuts began in 1999. On March 19, 1999, HT
cut its price from Rs.1.50 to an all-time low of Re. 1 on all days except
Sundays.
CHALLENGING THE MARKET LEADER
From a strong one-city brand in the early 1990s, TOI emerged as the only
national newspaper with a circulation of 1.7 million all over the country by
2000. HT with a circulation of about 0.9 million in Delhi was still restricted to
Northern India.
With revenues of Rs.4.05 billion during 2000-01, HT's share was roughly a
third of TOI in revenue. (Refer Exhibit I) To strengthen its presence in Delhi as
well as to expand nationally, Shobhana Bhartia initiated a major restructuring
plan in 2000-01. (Refer Exhibit II) As a first step towards realization of the
plan, in September 2000, Vir Sanghvi was appointed editor of HT.
Rajan Kohli, of Fujitsu-ICIM was brought in as the executive president to head
a new team of 20, which redesigned the paper and made it moreyouthful. Five
new supplements were introduced, and new editions were launched in nine
cities in India. HT followed the TOI style of marketing blitzkrieg: events,
promotions and ad campaigns
VIEWS
"We are totally baffled by this price war and don't have funds to compete.
Pricing a paper at Re.1 is ridiculous, even by its own admission. We can only
hope this irrational pricing does not last."
- A Senior Manager at The Indian Express.
"For many years, no one (at HT) considered TOI competition. We thought the
advertiser can't do without us. Now, we are on our toes, always looking at what
the competition is doing."
- Shobhana Bhartia, Vice Chairperson, Hindustan Times.
CHAPTER 10
PEOPLE’S VIEW ON TOI AND HT
Target audience: 14 – 60 yrs.
Navi Mumbai.
Audience/ Respondent profile: Business and service class, students,
housewives.
Total number of respondents: 100
RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
Brand’s personality in terms of how the brand would look like,
Broke up in:
Physical attributes:
What people, places and colors associate with the brand.
Symbols:
What does the brand symbolize?
Related Brands :
What sort of brands does it relate to, how much efficacy does the
communicationhas in brand building?
ASSOCIATIONS HT TOI
PEOPLE
Most people associated with HT
are Vir Sanghvi, Manmohan
singh, Karan Thapar.
.Somepeople associated HT
with the irrepressible
Khushwant Singh.
Cartoonist RK Laxman
Page3 models, film stars
like SRK, Katrina Kaif,
Politicians & Sports icons.
PLACES
Associate with Delhi. Delhi is a
dog-eat-dog print market .DU
festival carnival, College
canteens, Delhi Metro, Markets
(Khan, Basant lok & Siri fort)
Separate editions for
Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai
,Hyderabad, Chennai
Lounges Fashion Shows
like ( Wills, Pantaloons,
Lakme ) Café Coffee Day
COLOURS Red & Blue Stripes
Respondents also citied the
colors of HT’s new avatar i.e.
green, pink and purple.
Red and Black
followed by white and
other vibrant colors. Some
respondents also
mentioned blue.
VISUALS AND
PICTURES
Politicians, The Hindustan
Times web site is good, that too
with Archives. ‘.
Some respondents also
mentioned columns including
Life& Universe, The Sunday
Magazine Section and the HT
Job. Seema Goswami column
which is usually featured under
Photos of the beautiful
semi clad women, one of
the USPs of TOI Others
including cartoon strips
(specially Dubyaman), the
Speaking tree. ‘GOD & I’
article by celebrity.
Astrology (Daily
Prediction), then comes
the column of Live the most favorite -
SUDOKU
SIGNS AND
SYMBOLS
Straight lines,
Most respondents could not
draw an association with any
particular symbol, however they
only had known their sun sign
and symbol.
Bennett and Coleman logo
(some referred to it as the
two elephants) and the
mast head
WITH OTHER
BRANDS
Fever 104FM,Vodafone
Philips Electronic goods,
Domino pizza ,Other news
papers like Asian
AgeNavbharat Times etc
Many respondents
mentioned Nike, Reebok,
Koutons ,TNG,Others
mentioned brands like HT,
ford, Samsung ,India
times poll ,ICICI bank
WLC college, Pantaloon,
IPL (Cheerleaders!!)
ADVERTISING
RECALL
Its only fewer among business
executives and 2 students had
recalled theLeadership Summit.
A daily column on Hot new
careers hasthe max recall.
Lead India campaign had
a very highrecall. ’INDIA
POISED’. India today”
Conclave “has no recall,
despite of max
coverage in papers
&magazine
OBSERVATION
HT’ under Vir Sanghvi has overtaken them in almost all the issues of
importance. The only area where ’TOI’’ competes favorable is the
’’Delhi Times’’ supplement.
The language is simple and yet expressive.
TOI associates itself with people who are the heroes of modern society
like SRK, Business Tycoons, and Designer Clothes.
The Edit Page layout of HT is of high quality with lots of good articles
and editorials to look forward to.
The problem with this was that TOI was more concerned with image,
style, gossipy Language
BRAND PERSONALITY
So, if the brand had a mood, what would it be? What exactly is the brand to a user?
HT TOI
WOULD
SUM UP THE
BRAND AS
DOMINANT THOUGHT:
HT is a paper that
combines the
sophistication of a design
with topicality of content
OTHER THOUGHT:
Balanced, properly
structured.
DOMINANT THOUGHT:
TOI has enjoyed a wide appeal,
more so among younger
generation for its uninhibited and
bold approach towards news
OTHER THOUGHT:
Where the other news is where
who noted whom, who wore the
skimpiest clothing, where is the
hottest party
MOOD OF
THE BRAND
DOMINANT THOUGHT:
Serious, not happening,
lacks the in-depth coverage
OTHER THOUGHT:
sober
DOMINANT THOUGHT:
Spicy, infotainment, young,
entertaining, dynamic.
OTHER THOUGHT:
For more matured audience,
sobriety, mindfulness.
OBSERVATION
The HT has an impressive editorial board and good articles of national
interest, but it loses out on national level news.
Since many respondents read both papers noticing the inherently
better coverage on local City issues in the HT as compared to TOI.
TOI is heading all attempts at internationalization.
EMOTIONAL ASSOCIATION
What feeling does the brand evoke and how much has it been able to move beyondthe functional benefitsinto the consumer’s life?
HT TOI
FEELINGS
AND
EMOTIONS
ASOCIATED
‘Feeling of restlessness
and an incompleteday if I
missed reading it.’
‘Empowered in sync with
one likingsKudos to HT
city for offering gamut of
offerings on
career,fashion, My
city,games, bollywood ’
‘I will say that the paper is
worth readingfor a person who
wants to be updatedabout the
current happenings.
‘Lots Of Masala for Breakfast’
TOI viz. Education Times
Times Ascentetc. are icing on
the cake. It helps us to
getupdate with relevant
HOW DOES IT
MAKE ME
FEEL ABOUT
MYSELF?/
OTHER
PEOPLE USING
HT
The respondents reading
HT or TOI doesn’t really
make a difference in any
ones’ image.
The respondents reading HT
or TOI doesn’t really make a
difference in any ones’ image.
But reading economic times or
any other business paper does
make a difference in the way a
person is perceived by others.
FEELINGS ABOUT THE BRAND
HT TOI
HT READERS
Balanced
Matured
Catchy phrases
Easy language
Boring, Less
gossips, Politics
oriented
Spicy, entertaining infotainment
but no news
TOI is just not meant for the
masses.
Uses slang even to report critical
news
TOI is often confusing. It uses
cheap gimmicks
TOI READERS
lifeless, boring
Page 3 missing
Sports pages are better
than the rest of the news
paper covers.
The front page newsare
sometimes bizarre.
Times: Pride of India
Useful with some top news
and company specific news.
Brilliant presentation,
Resourceful
Good times of page 3
celebrities
The Life of Indians.
Soft News, Infotainment.
OBSERVATION
No newspapers, be it HT or TOI have really been able to make a space in
consumers life.
However TOI - education times gives info about the career opportunities to
students. The economic times is the best economy newspaper in India. The
accent provides info on the various job opportunities. With such
supplements TOI is ahead of HT.
Many readers believe that the general outlook of the Times of India is so
better than that of Hindustan Times. Not only the main newspaper but also
the supplements are of interest.
The brevity of description is compensated by good design and excellent
edit pieces & HT is the testimony to the fact. Here HT outplayed TOI.
Respondents believed that New HT City REALLY LOOKS GOOD. The
headlines are very catchy ones.Also the use of these pink, red, Green and
black color on top looksattractive. Having separate sections is suited to
those looking for tailored made new
LEARNING
Respondents didn’t find the idea great to leave their existing paper for the
other, unless one is price conscious. Not all changes are welcome.
Habit & loyalty are the only things which are responsible for keeping the
Readers base of both HT and TOI.
Newspaper should bring out the headlines from the T.V. news, in a more
elaborate manner and be truthful to the news as well as to its readers,
letting them decide which side of story they are, not by commenting on
the news, giving the notion that the Reporter/Editor have instead of the
reader forming a opinion on his own
CHAPTER 11
SURVEY ANALYSIS
RESULT
1) Which newspaper do you read?
a) TOI
b) HT
c) DNA
d) Mid day
e) Any other_________________
TOI
HT
DNA
MID DAY
OTHERS
TOI
HT
DNA
MDOTH
OI
As per the survey around 39% people prefer reading Times of India and the next
most read newspaper is Hindustan Times with around. % of people read DNA,
Mid-Day is read by % of people while % read other newspaper.
2) Are you satisfied with its overall content?
a) a) Yes
b) b) No
yes
no
yes
no
Around 78 % of the people surveyed said they were satisfied with the overall
content of the newspaper they read while the rest 22% said they were not
satisfied.
3)In which section of the news do you need improvement?
a) Overall news
b) International
c) Sports
d) Business
e) Crosswords, comic strips
f) Horoscope
overall news
international
business
crosswords
horoscope
overall news
INT
business
CW HS
48% of people said that the overall news needs to be improved a bit, 9% said
international news,31 % for business,7% crosswords and 5% horoscope.
4) For how long have you been reading this newspaper?
a) Less than a year.
b) 1-2 yrs. 2-5 yrs.
c) More than 5 yrs.
LESS THAN 1YR
1-2YRS
2-5YRS
MORE THAN 5YRS
MORE THAN 5YRS
1-2YRS
2-5YRS
LESS THAN 1YR
About 54% of people were loyal readers for about more than 5 years, 30% of
people said they have been reading it for 2-5 years, 9% for 1-2 years and about
7 % for less than 1 year.
5) Do you intend to change your newspaper?
a) Yes
If yes to which one,__________________________
b) No
YES
NO
YESNO
About 43% respondent said that they don’t intend to change the newspaper and
57% were deciding to change the newspaper they read.
6) Does price affect your buying decisions?
a) Yes
b) No
yes
no
yesno
About 60% said that price does not affect their buying decision while for 40%
price did affect their buying.
CHAPTER 12
CONCLUSION
‘Comparative analysis of Times of India and Hindustan times ’ is a project
report that throws light on the competition that Times, today has to face the
markets, courtesy the new entrants in the markets, namely DNA and HT. Times
no wonder is the queen enjoying a lion’s share in the market. However things
changed once the king of north India, HT entered the battlefield, Mumbai, to
claim the throne.
Times which has so long enjoyed the monopoly in Mumbai and has been
formulating marketing strategies resting back, has sat up and arenow
formulating defensive strategies to meet the competition.
This project reveals it’s very hard to overthrow Times from the minds of
Mumbai readers but definitely not impossible. The survey conducted shows the
fact that HT is not even near Times readership but its coverage and quality of
news, editorial skills and prices has been welcomes and appreciated too.
One would think why conduct a survey to find out the winner between HT and
TOI. True. The winner is TOI as expected. But the competition of Times given
by HT as per the survey would be a surprise package for one and all.
The survey conducted reveals consumers are the real winner as they have choice
today. Public outing for the new entrant North India itself is a competition to
Times. As the competition grows, so will the quality and the eagerness to please
the readers. So readers rejoice for the time has come where you can choose
YOUR paper!!!
CHAPTER 13
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEB SITES:
http://www.experiencefestival.com/forum/gtsearch.php
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/specials/leadership2006/index.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_of_India
http://www.icmrindia.org/business%20Updates/micro%20casestudies/Marketing/MCMK0038.htm
www.afaqs.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_press
http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Business%20Strategy1/Hindustan%20Times%20vs%20The%20Times%20of%20India.htm
CHAPTER 14
ANNEXURE
1) Which newspaper do you read?
a) TOI
b) HT
c) DNA
d) Mid day
e) any other_________________
2) Are you satisfied with its overall content?
a) Yes
b) No
3) What else do you expect in your newspaper?
a) Overall news
b) International
c) Sports
d) Business
e) Crosswords, comic strips
f) Horoscope
4) For how long have you been reading this newspaper?
(a) Less than a year
(b)1-2 yrs. 2-5 yrs.
(c) More than 5 yrs.
5) Do you intend to change your newspaper?
a) Yes
If yes to which one,__________________________
b) No
6) Does price affect your buying decisions?
a) Yes
b) No