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English language premium over Hindi has halved and could vanish in few years: Girish
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Interesting to see how India, a future economic superpower, is developing different markets. A country of .1.2 billion people has a huge potential for print media, and even though the largest English language papers are based in India, regional languages are beginning to enjoy their slice of the market as well.
Starting with a single edition in Indore fifteen year ago, Dainik Bhaskar is now one the largest newspaper group in India with 67 editions in three languages across 12 states. Last month DB Corp entered Bihar by launching Patna edition and claims to have become number one (in terms of subscription). What makes DB click despite a challenging economic environment? The company’s director Girish Agarwal explains his growth philosophy in conversation with Krishna Kant.
How do describe the newspaper industry right now?
In contrast to English language dailies, the language media continues to do well. Be it Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Telegu or Marathi, newspapers in regional languages continue grow and attract more advertisers. We have been able to grow our readership and advertising revenue is growing despite the tough economic environment .
It is the local langue dailies that are driving the industry now. According to figures by the audit bureau of circulation, 90 of the incremental growth in subscription and readership in last years has been due to local languages dailies .
This is because the second and third tier cities are economically doing much better than metros. Ten year ago, top six cities account for 70% of national consumption basket. Now it’s reverse. Media planners and advertisers have noticed this and they are increasingly using local language dailies to reach consumers in second and third tier cities.
The shift is clearly visible in the ad pie. In 2003 it was English newspapers accounted for 60% of ad pie and rest used to go to local language dallies. The ratio has reverse now which has enabled us to nearly triple our ad revenues in the last ten years.
After entering the English language space through DNA, DB Corp seems to have lost out in that genre.
How do describe the newspaper industry right now?
In contrast to English language dailies, the language media continues to do well. Be it Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Telegu or Marathi, newspapers in regional languages continue grow and attract more advertisers. We have been able to grow our readership and advertising revenue is growing despite the tough economic environment .
It is the local langue dailies that are driving the industry now. According to figures by the audit bureau of circulation, 90 of the incremental growth in subscription and readership in last years has been due to local languages dailies .
This is because the second and third tier cities are economically doing much better than metros. Ten year ago, top six cities account for 70% of national consumption basket. Now it’s reverse. Media planners and advertisers have noticed this and they are increasingly using local language dailies to reach consumers in second and third tier cities.
The shift is clearly visible in the ad pie. In 2003 it was English newspapers accounted for 60% of ad pie and rest used to go to local language dallies. The ratio has reverse now which has enabled us to nearly triple our ad revenues in the last ten years.
After entering the English language space through DNA, DB Corp seems to have lost out in that genre.
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