Lingua Franca... and scores of them at that

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Regional media is at an all time high, with English dailies left with a relatively dinky chunk of the market share pie. Are leading English dailies prepared? ratan lal bhagat finds out

From government babus, to leisure tour operators, to state governments, to ad film makers, everyone seems bent on cashing in on India’s unique ‘cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity’ these days. So, when national media houses decided to make good of this ‘diversity’, their cash registers soon starting singing a very fulfilling tune. We’re referring to the manner in which The Times of India (TOI), Hindustan Times (HT) and dozens of others have come out all guns blazing with multi-lingual publications to strengthen their foothold in this ‘real’ India. Rahul Kansal, Director, Times of India, concurs. “Rightly envisaging the trend and potential demand we already have Nav Bharat Times in Delhi and Mumbai, Maharastra Times and Vijay Karnataka. All these news dailies are doing really well,” he says, adding that the group has also recently launched the TOI in Tamil Nadu to get a firmer foothold in the South Indian market.

Contrary to popular global perception that the onslaught of television and Internet actually takes away from print media readership, in India, national readership survey’s testify that despite growth of TV and digital media, print readership is actually soaring. Rising literacy levels in the country on the one hand and the multiplying number of regional dailies and magazines on the other, are testimony to the trend.

If numbers are anything to go by, the shift is promising. Sample this: India’s print media market has over 62,483 registered newspapers, wherein the market share is dominated by vernacular languages. According to some estimates, Hindi dailies are leading with 40% market share, closely followed by a 35% share by regional languages. English news dailies do cut a sorry figure, garnering just 15% of the total pie, with Hindi media alone claiming a seven times lead over English readership.

In retrospect then, the excitement with which so-called national dailies (HT and TOI) are bending over backwards to accommodate more regional papers in their kitty, is understandable. To expand their reach, big cities apart, they are now launching vernacular dailies in the untested waters of many Tier-II and Tier-III cities, especially in the Hindi heartland. Explains Amit Chopra, Business Head, Hindustan Times Media Limited, “With our vernacular news daily Hindustan, we are expanding our footprint. The aim is to scale up our presence and market share in UP, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh.”

According to the 2007 National Readership Survey, no English daily figures among the top 10 dailies in India, by way of circulation, with Dainik Jagran and Dainik Bhaskar retaining their number 1 and 2 positions among dailies. In fact, Saras Salil (a non-English magazine) enjoys higher readership (at 4760,000) than the leading English daily Hindustan Times (readership at 3,331,000 according to NRS 2007).

As if on cue, even advertisers and media planners have started showing their affection for vernacular newspapers in a big way. Their impetus is easy to understand. With metros and big cities reaching a saturation level, advertisers are eyeing the lucrative, untapped potential of the semi-urban and rural hinterlands, where literacy and awareness levels are rising. “There is a change in the mindsets of companies advertising their products through newspapers. They plan to cash in on the rise in prosperity and disposable income of people across the country,” explains Aditi Mishra, General Manager, Lodestar Universal.

However it’s early days yet. English newspapers still account for more than 53% of the total newspaper advertising pie, with even advertising rates nine times higher than most Hindi newspapers, and almost 13 times higher than that of vernacular newspapers. “Earlier English newspapers were growing at a very fast rate in terms of both advertisements and revenue generation. But seeing the increasing readership of vernacular papers has led to an increase in the advertisers’ interest in these newspapers. This has resulted in an equal growth pace for both English and vernacular newspapers,” clarifies Kansal.

Besides, increasing regional daily penetration in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, lower competitive intensity and higher bargaining power are other factors pulling in the advertisers toward Hindi and other regional dailies. “Advertisers have been metro focused till now. There is a change due to more penetration and advertisers have begun to spend money in non-metro areas,” explains Chopra.

However, N. Murli, Managing Director, The Hindu, is not completely convinced of English daily veterans entering and succeeding in the vernacular space. “Very few players can succeed in running both an English paper and a regional language one. There are a host of difficulties in running both successfully, as there is an impression that the two markets are too far apart, requiring totally different strategies,” he says, citing previous examples of such failed attempts. A crucial hurdle is the strong presence of purely vernacular players in targeted areas of operations. Dainik Jagran, Malayala Manorama, Anand Bazar Patrika (ABP), et al, with their dominant presence have often proven to be tough rivals in their home market. “When TOI entered Bengal, it affected Statesman but not ABP. The reason was ABP’s committed readership. I see no threat to local vernaculars like ABP by the national dailies,” clears an industry analyst (Eastern Region).

Bottlenecks apart, the growth potential of regional media is keeping the big players interested in their vernacular advances. Fact is also that in a relatively virgin Indian media market, dynamic leadership has been able to more often than not, change the rules of game. Scares of a zero sum game apart, vernacular revenues promise to continue flowing in, at least for now...

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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