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Media Watch
Of circulation and competition
For years, indeed practically from the day it was established in Delhi, Hindustan Times was the preferred newspaper for nationalist Delhi-wallahs. It had to compete with The Statesman, once British-owned, whose editorial staff had easy access to the British sahibs running the administration. With independence, The Statesman, faded out and was supplanted by The Times of India which today can claim a capital readership of 2,074,000 in comparison to Hindustan Times? 1,984,000. The competition is cut-throat.
The Times of India, according to a survey-conducted by Outlook Business (October 20) has an all-India readership of 7,502,000, followed closely by The Hindu with a readership of 4,064,000 and Hindustan Times coming a distant third with a readership of 3,857,000.
But aggressive as The Times of India is, it reportedly is planning for ?an all-out war to stem the challenge to its market leadership? and the first trick in its books is ?create a talent shortage by pre-emptively hiring all the employables?. Outlook Business says that ?accordingly, it poached heavily from Business Standard, Business Line and Financial Express and?do not laugh?entered into a ?no-poaching pact? with the HT Group.
Outlook adds : ?The Times group has launched a broadside by expanding its portfolio, including the launch of ET Finance in Bangaluru (Bangalore), a publication that offer in-depth coverage of economy, finance and markets? and can be bought as a ?bundled product as also a separate one? similar to what happened with Mumbai Mirror, which today has an independent readership of 881,000 as compared to Mid-Day?s 734,000 and DNA?s 518,000.
Hindustan Times is fighting back and is reportedly busy with starting a new business daily, armed with a content-sharing agreement with the Wall Street Journal having enrolled an impressive list of senior editors. Comments Outlook: ?HT?s new business publication looks well-placed to take on the market leader, at least in terms of content. Money, clearly, is not an issue here. With around Rs 400 crore raised through its recent IPO, it has enough to spend on its business publication.? As its editor it will have Raju Narisetti, former editor of the Wall Street Journal in Europe.
Meanwhile The Hindu has not been sitting idly either. Its Business Line which currently occupies the Number 2 slot among the four business dailies and is published from 13 centres has started its 14th edition from Kolkata with a good deal of support form West Bengal?s Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya who has become an enthusiastic supporter of The Hindu organistaion. It was he who invited to launch The Hindu Business Line on October 26, in the presence of some of the topmost business leaders of the country.
?Competition in the media is welcome if it remains on right track?the West Bengal Government welcomes criticism which helps promote the interests of the people and it is for the media to protect the multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic identity of India?, said Shri Bhattacharya.
Inviting Shri Bhattacharya to inaugurate the business daily, N.Ram, editor-in-chief of The Hindu warned against ?a new kind of demand being made for manipulating news, analysis and opinion to suit the owner?s financial and political interests? and promised that the task of the Business Line would be ?to make serious journalism more viable, influential and successful and enable successful journalism to keep its soul?. ?Newspapers? he added, ?with a soul know where to draw the Lakshman rekha and how to give primacy to the editorial functions?, the challenge being ?how to internalise this knowledge in the profession of journalism?. What was cause for concern, he went on to say, ?is the new combination of pressures on the core values of journalism, pressures generated by intensifying competition, by communal attitudes and prejudices and by direct political ambition and manipulation as well.?
High praise came from one of those present, Shri B. Muthuraman, Managing Director, Tata Steel, who said that The Hindu is an institution ?that has stood for correctness, sincerity, correct journalism without sensationalism, and cheap tricks?.
In Kolkata, Business Line will primarily have to compete with The Economic Times with a readership of 93,000; nationwide it will have to compete with DNA-Money which has now turned into a stand-alone paper priced at Re 1 in Ahmedabad and Indore. DNA-Money?s primary intention in Ahmedabad is to drive away The Economic Times.
Will the FM Radio Segment ever be a true competitor to the print media? As matters stand now, it is very unlikely. Time was when FM stations were for sale because of competition. Now, says Outlook Business, ?instead of sell-offs and closures, players are today vying among themselves to open new FM stations.? Reliance-ADAG?s media and entertainment Adlabs Radio is expected to invest almost Rs 400 crore on the roll-out of as many as 45 stations by March 2007 while, at the same time, the existing players are busy touching up their expansionist plans. Entertainment Network India, owned by Media behemoth Times group is set to add 22 more stations under Radio Mirchi. Other big media houses like Hindustan Times group, Jagran group and Sun group also reportedly have ambitious FM radio plans. According to a FICCI-PWC study quoted by Outlook Business, the FM industry can be expected to grow at a compounded 32 per cent till 2010.
Suddenly, it seems, the FM radio space is crackling again at high volume. It is all for the good; The expansion of such stations means more employment not just in the industry itself which quantitatively speaking is not much to talk about, but in production of goods and their marketing. A time may come when one might notice amalgamations in the face of stiff competition. Who would have imagined a decade ago that two old and friendly foes, Bennet Coleman and Hindustan Times will join hands in Delhi to launch a morning paper targeted at the city?s metro commuters? It obviously has to be in a tabloid form, if its target is the metro commuter. And if that succeeds, who knows, there may be more varied hands joining to start a tabloid?apart from Mumbai Mirror, to meet the Mumbai commuter?s needs. In the media world, it now seems nothing can be written off as impossible.
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