INSTITUTE FOR INTEGRATED LEARNING IN MANAGEMENT

IILM GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

PGDM GENERAL 2010-2012
SECTION A
PROJECT REPORT
MARKET SURVEY FOR LAUNCHING A NEWSPAPER
Submitted to:
Professor Ajit Shrama
Submitted by:
Amit Sharma
Amrita Paramanik
Anuraag Shrivastava
Radhika Bhardwaj
Sabyasachi Panda
Vishal Goyal

Were it left to me to decide whether we should

have a government without newspapers, or
newspapers without a government, I should not
hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

Thomas Jefferson, 1787

Literature Review

Origin of Newspaper:
The first printed forerunners of the newspaper appeared in
Germany in the late 1400's in the form of news pamphlets
or broadsides, often highly sensationalized in content.
In the English-speaking world, the earliest predecessors of
the newspaper were corantos, small news pamphlets
produced only when some event worthy of notice
occurred. The first successively published title was The
Weekly Newes of 1622. It was followed in the 1640's and
1650's by a plethora of different titles in the similar
newsbook format. The first true newspaper in English was
the London Gazette of 1666. For a generation it was the
only officially sanctioned newspaper, though many
periodical titles were in print by the century's end.

Newspaper History in India:

The history of newspapers in India is equally
interesting. The introduction of newspapers in India was
hastened by the spreading sense globalization amongst
the countrymen who wished to be informed about the
recent events in the world. It was during the same time
that the first newspaper of the country was introduced in
Calcutta (Kolkata). The newspaper titled Calcutta General
Advertise or Hickeys Bengal Gazette was introduced by an
eccentric Irishman called James Augustus Hickey during
the 1780s. In the years to come India was the
establishment of another newspaper daily in the form of
Bombay Herald followed closely by Bombay Courier

History and Evolution of Indian Newspapers:

Although there was a flurry of English broadsheets during
the eighteenth century, newspapers in regional languages
made its way much later during the second half of the
nineteenth century. First on the list were two Bengali
newspapers called Samachar Darpan and Bengal Gazette
while the first Hindi newspaper was Samachar Sudha
Varshan. The Hindu newspaper which was launched as a
competitor of Madras Mail became the first national
newspaper of the country. Soon it became the voice of
the nation during the establishment period

Role of newspaper
Pen is mightier than sword
Newspaper is primary source of information.
Newspapers are more than just a sheet of paper lined with
ink. Newspaper is a medium through which the facts and
figures of the events going on around the world reach
even to the places where there is no electricity. Their
Productions hold a much greater significance than
providing profit for the company.
Newspapers give us a medium to get information about
news regarding employment, matrimony, gadgets, real
estate, sports and the list goes on...
The daily newspapers express the interests and
understanding of the public. As a result, the entire
conservative community -- from researchers to managers
to educators -- watches the press carefully.
Apart from this, newspaper industry gives employment to
millions of people across the globe.

Some facts and figures:-

Very affordable source of information available @ Rs.

2.50
Number of company such as Amarujala takes 70%
revenue from advertiser and 30% from consumers.
242 millions newspapers are circulated daily
6542 different newspapers are printed daily.
* according to survey 2007

Research objective
Our objective is to design a newspaper according to the
taste and preferences of the consumers. Launching of the
newspaper will be based on a survey conducted to find out
the demographic and geographic segment which is to be
targeted.
Segmenting and positioning the newspaper correctly in
the market will maximize the revenue and add to the
value of the product.

Research methodology

We followed two methods to get the data.

1) Primary Data
2) Secondary Data
Primary data constitutes of the following ingredients.
1) Questionnaire pamphlets

2) Online surveys
3) One to one conversation with newspaper company
such as Amarujala, Agra
Secondary data has been taken from some reliable
resources.
The questionnaire were filled by people at different places
such as Delhi, Greater Noida, Gaziabad, Agra and different
Age group, profession, gender so that we can get more
precise and accurate data.
We also published our questionnaire on survey websites to
get the response from various segments of consumers.
This gave us the primary data to work upon during our
analysis.

Questionnaire
The pattern followed for the questionnaire is as follows
No of question 15
Close ended question
- Dichotomous
- Multiple
Open ended
- Unstructured question

Sampling Plan
As the newspaper that we are planning to launch is in the
northern area of the country. Hence forth the sample
included the NCR region like Noida, G. Noida, Gaziabad,
Delhi and Agra.
We all together had a 300 pamphlets questionnaire which
were to be filled by people of different regions, social
groups, age and gender to overall generate and analysis
which could give us some inputs in order to how we could
design the paper for the best output and mutual benefit to
the company and the society
The surveys work carried out in the forms pahamplets and
online surveys.

Sample of the society that was chosen to give the best

and the varied was

Students
Office goers
House wives
Shopkeeper
Hawkers
Children
Teachers
Auto driver
Businessmen

These gave us varied outputs as per the different

mentality and choices of the sample picked up

Data analysis

Data analysis was done on the basis of the information

obtain from the questionnaires. We have drawn four
graphs which captures the entire analysis.

The first graph is plotted between the preference given by

the people to various sections of the newspapers to the
percentage of people liking it.
General news, education, and entertainment sections
were given the maximum preference followed by business
and editorial sections.

The next bar graph is about psychographic factors like

price, delivery, paper quality and colour.
Majority of the people (85%) were particular about the
delivery of the paper and a very few were concerned
about the colour.
Since there are many papers available in the market the
people or consumers have many options, so price does
matter to about 80% of the people.

Now to launch a successful newspaper in North region we

have taken up five very popular papers in regions like
Agra, Delhi, Gaziabad, Greater Noida, Noida.
Basically the above graph deals with the geographical
factors.
For example in Agra , Amarujala is most popular.
Economics times, times of India are preferred in Delhi.
In Gaziabad and Greater Noida Times Of India is
voraciously read.

Last but not the least in Data analysis section , the other
sources of like Internet, television and radio we taken up.
From the PIE chart we can make out that internet ( the
electronic media) is widely used by the people followed by
television and Radio

Recommendation
The front page should be simple and margin should be a
little more to minimize congestion. Gists of important
news are to be given on the front page with page
numbers for easy excess to the reader. Weather and
market update are to be given on the bottom of the front
page.
Continuity of the newspaper should be maintained. More
emphasis should be given to the information rather than
gossips.
Equal priority should be given to the updates about all
over India rather than stressing more on metro cities.
News should not be too lengthy to read

In sports section the photograph of players while they are

in action looks attractive so its should be the general
practice

Conclusion
Finally we have reached to a conclusion that: By
considering the various aspects and parameters mention
in the questionnaire and the data analysis section we have
design our newspaper.

Bibliography
http://blog.releasemyad.com/2010/07/newspaperhistory-the-origin-of-newspapers-in-india-and-the-world/
www.historicpages.com/nprhist.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspaper