City’s newest English daily ‘does not compete for numbers, but aims to satisfy readers’ appetite for good quality content’. Is that good enough for advertisers and media planners?
BY SRABANA LAHIRI & SIMRAN SABHERWAL
Saturday, November 28, 2015: Mumbaikars wake up to find the first copies of The Hindu’s Mumbai edition on their doorstep. The lead story is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s olive branch to the Opposition for consensus on critical issues such as the Goods and Services tax Bill (GST) and his assertion on the currently raging intolerance debate. (All other English dailies have led with the same story). There is a quarter page Union Bank of India ad and a launch special: Shah Rukh Khan’s charcha on Mumbai and Bollywood. But the quality of printing leaves a lot to be desired and this in turn ensures that SRK does not quite add pizzazz to the page.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015: The Hindu’s Mumbai edition is the only newspaper in the city to lead with the Chennai floods on Page 1. Resident Editor Sachin Kalbag gets a lot of phone calls from other journalists asking whether he did it under pressure from The Hindu’s Chennai headquarters. But readers respond with passion. Other newspapers follow up with the Chennai floods story the next day.
Q&A: ‘Everything is maximum here and we have to devote special attention to it’
Q&A: ‘We have no desire to shake up the Mumbai market’
As the 137-year-old Hindu launched its 41st edition in Mumbai last week, the questions uppermost on the minds of most were ‘Why now?’ and ‘Is there a place for The Hindu in the Mumbai market in spite of stiff competition?’
For Kasturi & Sons Limited, the parent company of The Hindu - the third largest read English newspaper in the country - entry into the Mumbai market was a long time coming. In the words of N Ram, Chairman, Kasturi & Sons Ltd & former Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu Group of Publications, “We have something to contribute in terms of trustworthy and relevant journalism”, while Rajiv C Lochan, MD & CEO of Kasturi & Sons, feels that Mumbai is an important market from a reader standpoint, and the entry has been triggered by an objective “to serve the readers of Mumbai”.
However, the simple fact is that Mumbai is a very difficult market to enter; a market where the Times of India has managed to hold on to its strong hold position despite the entry of competition like Hindustan Times and DNA during the last decade. Besides, the tabloids Mumbai Mirror and Mid-Day too are competition, in addition to smaller players such as The Indian Express, Asian Age, Free Press Daily and The Afternoon Despatch & Courier, all vying for the English reader’s attention.
The Mumbai launch is the first major launch from Kasturi & Sons in the national space after many years (Tamil Hindu was launched two years back) and it may be that The Hindu has been forced to look at other markets since the Times of India launched its Chennai edition in 2008. Internal problems at Kasturi & Sons that also made headlines perhaps held it back, but with those issues now resolved and a new professional CEO who has worked to turn the ship around, the timing is right for The Hindu to expand its geographical presence.
NOT IN THE NUMBER GAME
In terms of readership, The Times of India leads with 22,52,000 readers in Mumbai, followed by Hindustan Times with 14,35,000 readers and Mumbai Mirror with 10,98,000 readers respectively (according to IRS 2014 TG 12+ AA, market Mumbai). Acknowledging the strength of competition, Lochan believes that it is the strength of the product that will help The Hindu make its mark. “Mumbai is an intensely competitive market with well established and well-heeled players. But we believe there is room for our kind of journalism in the Mumbai market,” he says, adding that The Hindu is not looking to become a mass paper and take on the market leaders in the number game. Instead, its aim is to create a niche space for itself where the focus will remain on quality long format content. Strangely, none of the spokespersons for the city’s English dailies were ready to comment on the advent of The Hindu in Mumbai.
While it will be interesting to see how the Hindu manages to carve out its space, what will help is that Brand Hindu has over the years earned its stripes. It has built strong credentials as a quality newspaper across India, which though published and headquartered in Chennai, has the reputation of being read in Delhi and elsewhere by the intelligentsia.
The conservative long format broadsheet enjoys a strong and loyal readership base in Southern India. With Print still growing in India and an aspirational class taking to English, experts are betting that the overall English newspaper readership will grow and The Hindu will make a space for itself in this expanding pie.
WHAT MUMBAI CAN EXPECT
The Hindu’s Mumbai edition will have eight pages dedicated to Mumbai. “We hope to capture both the buoyant and the poignant stories emanating from here,” says Editor Malini Parthasarathy, who made sure that almost all the Hindu’s editorial leaders across the country stayed put in Mumbai to launch the edition. The concept of the Mumbai edition is to incorporate special pages on each aspect of the ‘Maximum City’, as the financial and corporate headquarters of the country, as well as a film and fashion hub. Besides, it will carry the columns and editorials that the newspaper is renowned for. Priced at Rs 8 (same price as The Hindu in New Delhi), the newspaper is way costlier than any other Mumbai daily.
Sachin Kalbag, Resident Editor of The Hindu, Mumbai, says the emphasis is on visuals, with clean design being a key component of the editorial structure. “Our first task is to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the broadsheet offerings by making features as mainstream as news reportage and investigations. We are free and fair in our reporting, and the Mumbai edition will follow The Hindu’s rich tradition of objective news journalism that fears no one, and favours no one,” says Kalbag. “Our fundamental aim is to take Mumbai to the rest of the country, and bring the rest of the country to Mumbai. It is no secret that newspapers have become hyperlocal in nature, thereby making themselves insular from what is happening across the country. We don’t believe in that.”
He anticipates mistakes and that some stories will inevitably fall through the cracks. “Yet, as a solid news brand that, unlike others, has steadfastly stayed away from paid content, we will come back with strong stories such as the six-part series on Dawood Ibrahim’s continued influence on Mumbai’s cinema, real estate and even politics,” he says. Observers, meanwhile, worry how the “conservative and serious” Hindu will adapt to Mumbai and the perceived Page 3 culture.
WILL THE ADVERTISERS HOP ON?
One of the main reasons for The Hindu to enter Mumbai would be to tap the large advertiser base in this market, especially since Mumbai is the largest Print advertising market in India. According to the Pitch Madison Media Advertising Outlook 2015, Print advertising spends accounted for 41.2% of the total ad spends in 2014, standing at Rs 15,274 crore and expected to grow to Rs 16,086 crore the next fiscal.
CVL Srinivas, CEO, Group M South Asia believes that the entry of The Hindu is a great opportunity for both advertisers and media planners in Mumbai. He says, “For advertisers and media planners, it’s great news since there are more options and media formats for the Mumbai market, which is the market for most media plans. It just gives us more opportunities. The Hindu, of course, has got an extremely credible lineage and we’ve been waiting for years. Knowing the Times group, they will not just take this in their stride, but do whatever it takes to stay No.1. It is a win-win for everyone – advertisers, readers, and existing brands will also emerge stronger.”
Meanwhile, Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network, feels that in addition to reputation, what The Hindu needs is deep pockets - something that its competition has. “The important thing in a market like Mumbai is that you need deep pockets for sustenance. You will not be able to make an impact in the short term and you will need to be in the game for the very long term. I am sure The Hindu with its credentials will do very well but I would advise them to be very patient because it is a very difficult market to penetrate,” Bhasin says.
Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Mediabrands India, says that The Hindu’s entry into Mumbai is a welcome move, and it is “better late than never”. “There is a core readership for The Hindu and people enjoy reading it. It is a great product, and now that they have entered Mumbai, it is a great opening.” Sinha believes that there is an audience for the newspaper: “There is a core English audience you will find everywhere. Whether they have experienced the product in Tamil Nadu or not, it will work for The Hindu,” he explains.
But advertisers follow eyeballs and if the edition becomes a hit with readers, advertising will definitely follow. It usually doesn’t happen the other way round, so media planners are likely to wait and watch to see what the response from the market is. If the response is positive and circulation is seen to be growing, the ads and marketers will certainly follow. On the other hand, if it is not, as has been seen with newspaper launches in the city earlier, it could be very difficult to get advertisers on board.
A LAUNCH MINUS THE HYPE AND HOOPLA
The last big launch in the Mumbai English newspaper space was that of the Daily News & Analysis (DNA) in 2005, amidst a multi-crore media blitzkrieg. A high-profile advertising campaign with the tagline, ‘Speak up, it's in your DNA’ preceded the birth of the daily. It was a two-stage teaser campaign – one with people from different walks of life with their mouths taped, and the second, with similar creatives, but with a tagline ‘Speak Up – It’s in your DNA’. There were more than 150 hoardings, accompanied by price cuts and competitive activity to rope in readers.
In contrast, what stood out was the low decimal advertising that the Hindu opted for its Mumbai launch. Not surprising, some would say, in the spirit of the conservative Hindu. But we witnessed a far more aggressive Hindu when the Times of India entered the Hindu’s home turf of Chennai. Then, it was a Hindu that stood up to and took on the onslaught of the Times of India in its home territory with memorable ad campaigns from both the parties.
Says CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia, “So far, there has been no big bang launch. There seems to be more of a slow drip kind of a launch and it might be deliberate. Maybe they are trying to seed into the market and see the initial reactions and then build on from there. So far, there has been no in your face campaign.” Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network, agrees and adds, “Perhaps it is in line with Hindu’s understated positioning. I don’t think the launch was as impactful as it could have been, particularly because you are entering a new market. I was particularly disappointed with OOH. Usually, it is a huge medium for a newspaper... while one did see some of it, it wasn’t impactful at all. Digital needs to be used in a big way because readers are becoming digital. It could have been handled better, but I can understand the tone of communication because that is the personality of The Hindu.”
The last word on the matter comes from Lochan: “It is unclear that an ‘aggressive ad blitz’ is the need of the hour.”
Feedback: srabana@exchange4media.com
