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.

DECLARATION

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

INDEX
SR. NO.

TOPIC
Executive summary

1. 2. 3. 4.

Introduction List of top newspapers in the world by circulation Importance of newspapers Newspaper Marketing in India

Times of India 5. a) History b) Marketing strategy c) Market share d) Prominent supplements e) Pricing f) Target audience g) Achievement

Hindustan Times 6. 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. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

Competition for Times of India and Hindustan Times HindustanTimes taking over Times Of India Case study Peoples view on Times Of India and Hindustan Times Survey Conclusion Bibliography 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 worlds 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 1 2 3 4 5 6 35 Yomiuri Shimbun Asahi Shimbun Mainichi Shimbun Bild CankaoXiaoxi The Times of India Hindustan Times COUNTRY JAPAN JAPAN JAPAN GERMANY CHINA INDIA INDIA CIRCULATION 10,021 8,054 3,912 3,548 3,183 3,146 1,143 LANGUAGE Japanese Japanese Japanese German Chinese English English

According to WANs World Press Trends, 70 of the worlds 100 best-selling dailies are published in Asia; and 60 of them in China, Japan, and India. The worlds 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 todays 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 peoples 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 countrys 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 Marathilanguage 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.With new 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, founderfather 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 countrys 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, Bennetts 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 thats 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 gossipfriendly 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-toread 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 informationpacked 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 priceearnings 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 of in-depth story or take a stand incase 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 Caf (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--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 advertisement 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' advertisement 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 advertisement 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 televisioninitially 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 PEOPLES VIEW ON TOI AND HT

Target audience: 14 60 yrs. Navi Mumbai. Audience/ Respondent profile: housewives. Total number of respondents: 100 Business and service class, students,

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

Brands 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

Most people associated with HT Cartoonist RK Laxman PEOPLE are Vir Sanghvi, Manmohan singh, Karan Thapar. .Somepeople associated HT with the irrepressible Khushwant Singh. Associate with Delhi. Delhi is a PLACES 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 ) Caf Coffee Day COLOURS Red & Blue Stripes Respondents also citied the colors of HTs 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 Page3 models, film stars like SRK, Katrina Kaif, Politicians & Sports icons.

the column of Live

the most favorite SUDOKU

SIGNS AND SYMBOLS

Straight lines, Most respondents could not draw an association with any

Bennett and Coleman logo (some referred to it as the two elephants) and the

particular symbol, however they mast head only had known their sun sign and symbol. WITH OTHER BRANDS Fever 104FM,Vodafone Philips Electronic goods, Domino pizza ,Other news Many respondents mentioned Nike, Reebok, Koutons ,TNG,Others

papers like Asian AgeNavbharat mentioned brands like HT, Times etc 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 DOMINANT THOUGHT: HT is a paper that combines the WOULD SUM UP THE BRAND AS OTHER THOUGHT: Balanced, properly structured. OTHER THOUGHT: Where the other news is where who noted whom, who wore the skimpiest clothing, where is the hottest party DOMINANT THOUGHT: DOMINANT THOUGHT: Serious, not happening, MOOD OF THE BRAND OTHER THOUGHT: sober OTHER THOUGHT: For more matured audience, sobriety, mindfulness. Spicy, infotainment, young, sophistication of a design with topicality of content TOI DOMINANT THOUGHT: TOI has enjoyed a wide appeal, more so among younger generation for its uninhibited and bold approach towards news

lacks the in-depth coverage entertaining, dynamic.

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 consumers life? HT Feeling of restlessness and an incompleteday if I missed reading it. Empowered in sync with FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS ASOCIATED one likingsKudos to HT city for offering gamut of offerings on career,fashion, My city,games, bollywood HOW DOES IT MAKE ME FEEL ABOUT MYSELF?/ The respondents reading HT or TOI doesnt really make a difference in any ones image. TOI 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 The respondents reading HT or TOI doesnt really make a difference in any ones image. But reading economic times or

OTHER PEOPLE USING HT

any other business paper does make a difference in the way a person is perceived by others.

FEELINGS ABOUT THE BRAND

HT Balanced Matured Catchy phrases Easy language HT READERS Boring, Less gossips, Politics oriented lifeless, boring Page 3 missing Sports pages are better than the rest of the news TOI READERS paper covers. The front page newsare sometimes bizarre.

TOI 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 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 didnt 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_________________

MD DNA

OT TOOI HT

TOI HT DNA MID DAY OTHERS

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

no yes
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

CW business

HS
overall news

overall news INT

international business crosswords horoscope

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

LESS THAN 1YR

1-2YRS
MORE THAN 5YRS

1-2YRS 2-5YRS MORE THAN 5YRS

2-5YRS

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

NO

YES
YES NO

About 43% respondent said that they dont 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

no

yes
yes no

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 lions 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 its 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/Mar keting/MCMK0038.htm

www.afaqs.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_press

http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Business%20Strategy1/Hin dustan%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) b) c) d) e) f) Overall news International Sports Business Crosswords, comic strips 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