MARKETING MANAGEMENT – II

FIRST DRAFT

THE TIMES OF INDIA

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 GROUP 1

SUBMITTED TO: PROF. SUJO THOMAS

COORDINATOR: HARSH SHAH (1813009)

Name Roll No.

Luv Gupta AU1813050

Aska Sheth AU1813047

Yashvi Shah AU1813041

Dhairya Shah AU1813069

Mimansha Brahmbhatt AU1813049

Radhika Contractor AU1813027

Aditi Tejwani AU1813028

Akshat Shah AU1813025

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Success in any endeavor can never be achieved single handedly. It requires guidance, co-
operation and support by many individuals. A number of people have contributed towards
making this project a success. Some have contributed to this work by their valuable suggestions
and advice while others were our pillars of support from which we drew our inspiration and
strength.

We as a group would like to express gratitude to our marketing Prof. Sujo Thomas for giving
us guidance and for clearing our obstacles while completing this project. We as a group learnt
a lot from the project.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Topics Page
No.

1. Introduction 6-7

1.1 History 6

1.2Mission 7

1.3 Mantra 7

1.4Tag Line 7

2. Concepts of Marketing 8-10

2.1 Need 8

2.2 Want 8

2.3 Demand 8

2.4 Segmentation 9

2.5 Target Market 9

2.6 Positioning 10

2.7 Value Proposition 10

2.8 Offerings 10

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 3. Analyzing Macro environment 11-14

3.1 Political 11

3.2 Economic 12

3.3 Social 12

3.4 Technological 13

3.5 Environmental 13

3.6 Legal 14

4. Dynamics of competition 15-20

4.1 Identifying the Competitors 15-16

4.2Analyzing the Competitors 17-20

4.2.1 History and market share 17

4.2.2 Circulation and advertising rate 18-19

4.2.3 Product life cycle 20

5. PLC stages 21-22

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 1. INTRODUCTION

Press is the fourth estate the other three being the legislative and the judiciary. It owes its
emergence following long struggle between the disputes and people for establishment of
democracy and representative institutions. The press is supposed to play crucial role of a
watchdog to see that, the foreside in situation functions fairly within the constitution of
framework and serve the people of whose they were created.

The Times of India (TOI) is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Times
Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest selling English-
language daily in the world.

HISTORY

The Times of India issued its first edition on 3 November 1838 as The Bombay Times and
Journal of Commerce. The paper published Wednesdays and Saturdays under the direction of
Raobahadur Narayan Dinanath Velkar, a Maharashtrian Reformist, and contained news from
Britain and the world, as well as the Indian Subcontinent. J.E. Brennan was its first editor. In
1850, it began to publish daily editions.

In 1860, editor Robert Knight (1825–1892) bought the Indian shareholders' interests, merged
with rival Bombay Standard, and started India's first news agency. It wired Times dispatches
to papers across the country and became the Indian agent for Reuters news service. In 1861, he
changed the name from the Bombay Times and Standard to The Times of India. Knight fought
for a press free of prior restraint or intimidation, frequently resisting the attempts by
governments, business interests, and cultural spokesmen and led the paper to national
prominence. In the 19th century, this newspaper company employed more than 800 people and
had a sizeable circulation in India and Europe.

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MISSION

“Create & build brands with differentiated content to capture relevant audiences and
market the value of these to advertisers to help them sell and strengthen their brands”.

THE MANTRA

TAGLINE

“LET THE TRUTH PREVAIL”

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 2. Concepts of Marketing:

Need:

Need can also be defined as a basic necessity of any person, an essential part of life. In the
context of Times of India, here the basic necessity is the global information.
News, something that falls under the category of basic necessity. Earlier in the era before E-
newspaper, printed newspapers were the need of every individual, as it was the sole source of
information for them.

Want:

Want is another word for “Desire”, something that doesn’t fall under the essential part of any person’s
daily routine.
Taking account of this era, the generation is very well versed with gadgets and so it is also with the
digital newspaper popularly also known as E-newspaper. This advancement in the world brought
changes in the medium of global information too. Printed newspapers are now considered outdated and
E-newspaper are now in trend. This change is dealing in a good way with the people of this generation
but the ones from elder generation are still habituated with the printed newspaper, and so printed
newspaper becomes their “Want” as they can still manage with the E-newspaper but they “Desire” for
the printed ones.

Demand:

Demand means the willingness to buying a product of any individual. Here purchasing power also plays
a major role, willingness and also money to decide whether to buy the product/ service or not.
Times of India mainly target literate people, as this newspaper is exclusively in the English language,
and so only literate people can read it. Also, the demand depends on the bifurcated products of it for
instance Times of India is also having regional paper and economics times as it’s sub – product.
Economic times contain news related to business on a global level and so it mainly targets the
businessman, who seeks for information of the global markets. Talking about regional newspaper like
Ahmedabad Mirror, then this solely focuses on the people of Ahmedabad, likewise Mumbai Mirror
focuses on the people of Mumbai.
In spite of being, 3 largest in selling the newspaper globally has a disadvantage of not being able to
rd

sell to illiterate people, as it only prints in one language.

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 3. Segmentation:
The process of dividing people in different segments on the basis of their needs and desires is known
as segmentation. The Times Group did this segmentation on the basis of behaviour of readers, major
parts of India that can be influenced by their newspaper.

Geographic segmentation:
The times Group segmented the major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad where more people are
interested in the English language newspaper. Educated class of people is the main segment where TOI
can sell their newspaper. TOI later published editions on the names of different locations (for example,
Mumbai Mirror for Mumbai city).

Psychographic segmentation:
Psychographic segmentation mainly deals with the behaviour of people and their personalities. TOI
focused on the types of readers and their attitude regarding the newspaper and thus formed a segment
of people who are seeking knowledge more than just entertainment.

Demographic segmentation:
TOI mainly focused on the youth generation who are educated and business class people who are more
in habit and able to read an English language newspaper regularly.

4. Target market:
Based on the segmentation of TOI, the core target is the educated class of the country. For setting
geographical targets, TOI published new editions for different locations. Mumbai Mirror in Mumbai
city, targeted whole Mumbai population. This concept of publishing the newspaper by city’s name gave
sense of belongingness to the target. Like Mumbai Mirror, Ahmedabad Mirror and Pune Mirror are also
added that talks more about the city along with other current affairs.
TOI targeted people who don’t know English language with same strategy by publishing its sister
edition Navbharat Times (in Hindi) and Maharashtra Times (Marathi language newspaper where that
targeted group of people who only knows Marathi).
The Economic Times targeted students and businessmen who are more interested in current affairs and
stock market. It actually helped people to gain knowledge about the topics that they were unable to talk
about. “The Economic Times- Against half knowledge” is their slogan.

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 5. Positioning:
Positioning means a brand image that is formed in the mind of customers. That shows how individual
customer thinks about your product or service. Positioning is very important for any company because
it defines the product that is provided.
TOI’s is positioned as one of the most reliable sources of information in India that too in English
language. This newspaper is symbol of Elite group of educated class that can afford and are interested
in knowledge (like students). Different publications make this newspaper more diversified from other
newspapers that are available in the market and people think that it is worth paying more for TOI
newspaper than any other English language newspaper (talking about Indian market

Value Proposition:
Value proposition is an innovative or unique feature which establishes the brand’s value which attracts
the consumers.
The Times of India is one of the largest newspapers in circulation in India and in the world. It is the
oldest English language newspaper in India. The Times group also circulates regional newspapers like
“Ahmedabad Mirror”,” Mumbai Mirror”. etc.in many cities of India[i]. This allows the residents of the
particular city to get more information and news about their city. The Times group had also launched
other newspapers like “The Economic Times” and “Education times” etc keeping the news featured in
that paper to business sector and providing information about economies around the world.

Offerings:
Offerings are the additional value which a brand offers to the consumer.
The Times of India and all its other newspapers are also available online for the readers who like to
read them digitally for free. It also makes it easier for consumers to subscribe for the monthly, yearly
subscription of the newspaper very convenient through its websites. [ii]

[i]Newspapers under “The Times Group”, Retrieved on 17 September,2019

th

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/newspaper-subscription
[ii]The Times of India, Retrieved on 17 September,2019
th

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

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 6. Analyzing the Macro Environment

Macro environment analysis is the external force that can affect the business.
The environment of a country also affects the progress and stability of the company. The
condition of a country which includes choice, atmosphere, population, requirements, economy
etc. affects a business. The economic downfall in a country will affect a business as people
react the way the economy fluctuates. In India, people prefer reading newspapers rather than
reading news through digital platform. This is an appropriate market for Times of India to sell
its newspapers. Times of India is a mega trend in India. As it has been an influencing and
preferred newspaper to read from many years among readers. There are many factors in the
macro environment that affects the business which are PEST i.e. Political factors, Economic
factors, Social factors and Technological factors.

PESTEL Model is a tool used to study the macro environment in the organization. The tool
helps in studying the current situation keeping in mind the Political, Economic, Social,
Technological, Environmental and Legal factors.

POLITICAL:
• GST on newspaper sector is as follows:
As a newspaper space is sold to an agency at 100rs at a trade discount of 20%, the taxes laid
are 5% on that space to the agents and if the agents sell that space to individuals at 120rs then
the agents have to pay the GST at 5% on 120rs. TOI offers advertisement’s space on
matrimonial aspect at a price ranging from 175Rs to 10,001Rs. The package available in
Ahmedabad is of 900Rs where they provide 5 lines for the advertisement. It does provide other
categories on advertisement such as property, recruitment, business, personal, vehicles,
announcements, services, situation wanted, tenders, to rent, travel, wedding services, public
note, court or marriage notice, share capital, change of name ads, retail, lost and found,
education, remembrance, entertainment, marriage bureau, obituary, astrology, computers and
others.
So, as they provide space to direct consumers also therefore, they are charged 5% on every
transaction.

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• Regulations:
The regulatory body of Newspaper sector is Press Council of India. It takes care that the
independency of newspaper is not hindered, building code of conduct for new agencies, helps
in maintaining the tastes of readers. Times of India does come under the same regulations which
PCI lays. The government does not interfere in any of the working.
• Product labelling and other requirements in publishing:
It needs to have name and address of the importer, generic or common name of the commodity
and date of packing on the label.

ECONOMIC:
• India’s economy is the 12th largest in the world and is considered to be 4th largest on
Purchasing Power Parity basis. The growth of publishing sector is now increasing in more of
digital form and there is a large scope that majority of the people will adopt the digital form of
newspaper.
It is believed that 56% of the people in India in the age group below 35 years use online sites
and applications as their source of news and around 38% of people in India in the age group
above 35 years use online applications and sites as their source of news.
This shows that there is a large scope of development in the digital sector of publishing.
• The growth rate in India is 6.6% annual change from 2017. So, there is a huge scope of
development in India.
• Gross Disposable Income was reported at 131,525,002,483 INR MN in 2018. This all shows
that there is a huge scope of improvement in the market and the market does support the growth
of all sectors.
• Unemployment rate in India is 6.1%. This is the natural rate of unemployment.
• Inflation rate in India is 6.2%.

SOCIAL:
• There is 86% of the population which Understands English but are not reading Times of India.
These are the people who are more towards reading their regional language papers such as
Gujarat Samachar and Divya Bhaskar.
• If we consider the physical copies then, people do believe in that they don’t have much time
but they usually read TOI very often. The reason for this could be that people have now shifted
to the digital forms.

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TECHNOLOGICAL

Society’s level of adoption of technology – Newspaper Concurrent must determine the

level of adoption of technology in society before launching fresh goods. Companies often enter
the arena without the necessary infrastructure to support the model based on technology.
It focuses on using better technology so as to improve its efficiency as well as productivity. It
also takes into account the extent of emissions that the machinery produces. Thee firm however
incurs huge production costs and that it even controls the level of research funding to the
company which serves a driving factor.

The Times of India group has seized the opportunity and has come up with e-newspapers. This
has served as a great technological advancement due to its feasibility. It also needs to take into
consideration the extent of technological diffusion and also that its impact on product offering.
It should not only analyze the industry technology, but also the rate at which technology
disrupts the industry. Slow pace will offer more time, while quick technological disturbance
speed can offer a little strong time to deal with and be lucrative.

ENVIRONMENTAL

Various markets have distinct standards or environmental standards that can affect an
organization profitability within these markets. Even within a nation, countries can often have
distinct legislation and liability laws pertaining to the environment. What the recycling
strategies exist in the potential market and how they can be adhered to by Newspaper
Concurrent. Waste management strategy in the potential industry and how well concurrent
newspaper can conform to the demands of waste management in that industry. It also controls
the level of pollution that it creates. Typically, there exists four types of pollutants being- liquid
effluents, noise pollution, air pollution and solid pulp extracts used for their product. Moreover,
the raw materials which are forest based have been declining by a significant percentage.

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LEGAL

Legal variables often govern — conditions for market entry, regulations for market operation,
and procedures for resolving disputes with other stakeholders. If the legal system is not
powerful, Newspaper Concurrent can face many difficulties – from customer requests to
government shakedowns. Antitrust law in the newspaper publishing sector and in the nation as
a whole. Laws like data protection can even hamper the same.

Bibliography:

https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2019-03/India_DNR_FINAL.pdf
https://www.export.gov/article?id=India-Labeling-Marking-Requirements

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 7. Dynamics of Competition

7.1 Identifying the competitors

The Times of India (TOI) is mainly one of the leading English language newspapers of India.
Its parent company is Times Group and owned by Sahu jain family. Mainly Times of India
sale newspapers but serve people with different books, magazines, research paper, novels,
movies etc. in India as well as in South Asian market. Like different items media/morning
newspaper also have their competitors. The below listed are some major competition.

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1 The Hindustan Times

2 DNA

3 Indian Express

4 The Hindu

5 Business Line

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 7.2 Analyzing the competitors

7.2.1 History and Market Share

Company Parent Company Year of Market

Name Launch Share

Times Of India Times Group 1861 49%

Hindustan Times The Hindustan Times 1924 18%

Limited

DNA Diligent Media Corporation 2005 6%

The Indian Express Indian Express Group 1931 5%

The Hindu Hindu Group Publication 1878 20%

Business Line Kasturi and Sons 1889 2%

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In above data, it shows that Times of India was launched in 1861 but today their market share is around
49% compare to other newspapers company like Hindu Newspaper which was launched in 1878 which
still has 20% of market share and Business line was launched in 1889 has only 2%. The following are
the causes for its rising market share. They have strongly committed and innovative product
development team. Biggest framework for publicizing and circulation sales. Times of India has
wide scope of brands in various regional languages because of that it covers large range of
public in India. And they have strong sales team and dedicated employees. Because of these
all points Times of India has grown above from their competitors.

7.2.2 Circulation and Advertising Rate

Company Name Circulation (per month) Advertising Rate

Times Of India 175000 617

Hindustan Times 15000 203

DNA 70650 383

The Indian Express 25000 198

The Hindu 22060 238

Business Line 22065 230

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The data clearly shows that Times of India’s circulation is the highest above all the data showed
53% of public who purchase Times of India newspaper compare to all other newspapers
company and although the demand of their newspaper is more in market, they charge more for
advertising with the use of marketing strategy and continue its customer loyalty. As above seen
in table they have 49% market share so it concludes many people are reading Times of India
so their advertisement cost is much compare to others and still it has maintained its higher
position in the environment of competition.

Bibliography:
https://www.themediaant.com/newspaper/times-of-india-main-ahmedabad

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7.2.3 Product Life Cycle

Each product must have its own life cycle. It will be born, develop, grow old and eventually
die. Some products, like newspapers, magazines of TIMES OF INDIA has maintained its
market position throughout the life-span. Others might have been facing fall in market shares
because of having tough competition.
The product life cycle depicts how products change over a period of time. The four stages of
product life cycle are shown in the diagram. Not all the products of TIMES OF INDIA follow
this stages and time periods precisely according to their sales and profits for a long time. The
growth period of Times of India’s product life cycle has taken several years which generally
takes a few months.
However, perhaps the most important stage of product life cycle happens before the diagram
starts, the research and development stage. Here the company has designed various products to
satisfy the customer needs in the market.
Times of India is at the maturity stage because it is an emerging English language daily
newspaper in India innovating day by day by various marketing strategies although having
50% of the market share and being the 8th largest selling newspaper in the world.

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PLC stages:
1. Introduction
Many companies start well when they first introduce their products in the market and Times of
India has gradually developed his brand with different marketing strategies. Launched its
products in 1838, Times group has made its revenue of $700 million USD till 2007 which is a
magnificent start.

2. Growth
The sales and market of Times of India started increasing rapidly by promoting and becoming
well known among the competitors. It increased its growth by 50% of market share and had a
national character in such few years through increasing shareholders and customer loyalty.
Times of India has a good growth in the market as without even spending high costs.

3. Maturity
Successful growth of Times of India attracted more and more competitors to start selling
equally beneficial products. This indicates the third stage of the product life cycle- Maturity.
In this stage, the company can have the maximum profitability and power over the market, in
which profits of the company can be used to take over the higher position in the whole market
by branding through different strategies. Although having the tough competition by many
companies like Hindustan times, the Hindu, Indian express and many more, Times of India
keeps gaining customer loyalty as a pioneer. Times of India continued developing its products
like newspapers, magazines and many other products by keep struggling in the crowded market
and continue its sales’ position stable.

4. Decline:
At this point, Times of India is still having key business decisions which has maintained its
position in the market sufficiently. There is no decline stage of Times of India came because
of having stable sales growth in the environment of competition and healthy position but the
competitors of Times of India have faced the problems in surviving and faced the decline stage
as well.

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Product life cycle is a bell-shaped curve representing profits and growth based on the time
period. As companies face different stages due to competition, it needs its marketing strategies
for positioning and differentiating techniques to maintain the stage in product life cycle.

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