Drive through Mumbai and it is close to impossible to miss the raging marketing battle taking place between the city's dailies. Every third billboard seems to be for a newspaper -- at one major traffic junction, seven billboards for The Hindustan Times (HT), Mumbai Mirror, The Times of India (TOI), Mid-Day, Daily News & Analysis (DNA) and Indian Express offer consumers a virtual 'media-planning surround sound' experience.
Three new daily newspapers launched in Mumbai in the last month: Mumbai Mirror, published by The Times of India Group; The Hindustan Times, already a leading paper in Delhi; and DNA, published by a joint venture between Zee TV and Dainik Bhaskar, a publisher of vernacular papers in north India.
Mumbai has long been dominated by TOI, with Mid-Day, a tabloid, a distant second. On the whole, the media industry is upbeat about the prospect of competition, as TOI advertising rates reflect its dominant position in the market. Both new dailies have been offering introductory deals on subscriptions: HT offers a one-year subscription at Rs 350 (US$8), while DNA is offering a 50 per cent discount to subscribers who sign up in advance.
While each paper has a host of regular supplements, pull-outs, weekly magazines and sections, it is generally felt that HT has managed to leverage its strong equity in the capital with its Mumbai version. "People are enjoying it, talking about its content and layout," says Jasmin Sohrabji, head of MediaCom India, who says that while the agency isn't considering replacing the TOI in media plans, HT will be considered as a 'second paper'.
DNA started its marketing effort a few months ago with a teaser campaign, followed by a high-profile consumer survey that was advertised as a way to research a paper that the Mumbai reader could co-create.
Says KS Chakravarthy, national creative director at Rediffusion DYR, which handled the account: "The advertising had to be intense as it had to create enough curio-sity for the reader to want to talk to (the DNA surveyors)."
HT's advertising campaign has been more subdued, focusing on the newspaper's credibility and seriousness. Its ads have appeared in competing newspapers from the TOI group, as well as on television and radio, but without much presence in out-of-home.
Notes Piyush Pandey, executive chairman Ogilvy & Mather, which handles HT's advertising: "HT's media strategy has been dictated by its relevance to New Delhi, so spill-over can't be bad. If DNA goes into audio-visual media, the wastage is much greater."
A week after its launch, HT announced that its circulation had surpassed 200,000. DNA claims to have over 300,000 subscribers. No audited figures are available for either. But DNA has used the pre-subscription tactic with two other launches, so planners are inclined to believe its numbers. TOI's Mumbai circulation is just over 600,000 and Mid-Day sells 140,000 copies, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations report for June to December 2004. Mumbai Mirror is now being distributed free along with the TOI.
According to media industry insiders, both new papers are offering advertisers cheap space, and clients are willing to try them out. "Right now, nobody's going to change any media plans; they're both doing relationship building," says a senior media planner. Signing on now would, of course, give founder advertisers more leverage to demand better deals later on but, she says, "At the moment, all they can offer me is a good rate."
The industry is cautious about both papers, admitting that initial reactions have been mixed. Says Chakravarthy: "It's not surprising. The wait (for the launch) was very long, and people did not know what to expect."
From now on, he says the effort for all new players will be to get readers into the habit of picking them up -- a task that no one in the industry is saying will be easy.
