Living Media to launch Hindi Daily Aaj Tak
Courtesy: livemint.com
Anushree Chandran, anushree.m@livemint.com
Living Media India Ltd, which publishes print titles such as India Today, Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar, among others, is set to launch a Hindi broadsheet Aaj Tak in the next six months. The group operates a Hindi news channel by the same name which is over 10 years old.
The group has also set its sights on the southern market. It is gearing up to launch a Malayalam daily that would compete with Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi in the Kerala market. A team is already working on the project. A Gujarati news magazine (separate from India Today in Gujarati) is also on the cards.
While a senior India Today executive confirmed these developments on condition of anonymity, Ashish Bagga, CEO, Living Media, said there was nothing in the offing immediately. He declined to elaborate further.
The Malayalam paper and the Gujarati magazine will be published under the newly created corporate entity under Prabhu Chawla, former editor of India Today and current chief executive and editor (languages) of the new set-up.
This business unit has been created for regional expansion in print. Last week, in an internal email to employees, the promoter and editor-in-chief of India TodayAroon Purie announced that the company was hiving off its language publishing business into this firm.
According to Hansa Research Group Pvt. Ltd, Hindi dailies have seen a 26.8% growth in readership since 2005. However, the new Hindi paper from the India Today group will have to contend with entrenched rivals such as Dainik Jagran, the market leader, with a readership of 15,925,000 readers. Jagran is followed by Dainik Bhaskar with 13,303,000 readers.
Hindustan Media Ventures Ltd’s Hindi newspaper Hindustan has 10,143,000 readers and prints out of 15 locations. Mint is published by HT Media Ltd, which owns HT Media Ventures Ltd.
The Hindi daily newspaper market will be a difficult one to enter, according to Anita Nayyar, chief executive of Havas Media. “Whether India Today is able to dent the existing shares of players depends on if the format is refreshingly different —may be a Sunday Times or tabloid-style format (will work),” she said.
Meanwhile, with Rajat Sharma’s Hindi news channel India TV giving Aaj Tak channel competition, “starting a Hindi newspaper (to take the same property forward) is a dramatic thing to do,” she added.
Senior executives of most Hindi newspapers declined to comment on India Today’s plans.
Sanjeev Kotnala, vice-president of DB Corp. Ltd, said, “We’ve always maintained that the growth for print is going to come from tier-2 and tier-3 towns.”
Bhaskar has begun launching new printing centres and editions in Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and expanded its footprint in Jharkhand. “We entered Ranchi and will soon enter Jamshedpur and Dhanbad. We will also launch in at least three cities of Bihar in January-March 2011,” he said. Kotnala refused to comment on the entry of a new player, as did Basant Rathore, vice-president, strategy and brand development, Jagran Prakashan Ltd. But he said regional markets were growing. Jagran sells 30 lakh plus copies in 11 states.
Amit Chopra, chief executive at Hindustan Media Ventures, said Hindustan was growing both in circulation and readership. The paper sells 2 million copies daily in markets such as Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, and Uttarkhand. “We are expanding further in UP. We’ve just put up a new printing facility in Gorakhpur,” Chopra said. He declined to comment on the Aaj Tak plan.
Varghese Chandy, general manager, Malayala Manorama, said the readership in Kerala was largely split between his publication and rival Mathrubhumi. “This is a high-literacy market and brand loyalties are already made. This market is tough to penetrate,” he said. Malayala Manorama sells nearly 2 million copies in the state.
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Anushree Chandran, anushree.m@livemint.com
Living Media India Ltd, which publishes print titles such as India Today, Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar, among others, is set to launch a Hindi broadsheet Aaj Tak in the next six months. The group operates a Hindi news channel by the same name which is over 10 years old.
The group has also set its sights on the southern market. It is gearing up to launch a Malayalam daily that would compete with Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi in the Kerala market. A team is already working on the project. A Gujarati news magazine (separate from India Today in Gujarati) is also on the cards.
While a senior India Today executive confirmed these developments on condition of anonymity, Ashish Bagga, CEO, Living Media, said there was nothing in the offing immediately. He declined to elaborate further.
The Malayalam paper and the Gujarati magazine will be published under the newly created corporate entity under Prabhu Chawla, former editor of India Today and current chief executive and editor (languages) of the new set-up.
This business unit has been created for regional expansion in print. Last week, in an internal email to employees, the promoter and editor-in-chief of India TodayAroon Purie announced that the company was hiving off its language publishing business into this firm.
According to Hansa Research Group Pvt. Ltd, Hindi dailies have seen a 26.8% growth in readership since 2005. However, the new Hindi paper from the India Today group will have to contend with entrenched rivals such as Dainik Jagran, the market leader, with a readership of 15,925,000 readers. Jagran is followed by Dainik Bhaskar with 13,303,000 readers.
Hindustan Media Ventures Ltd’s Hindi newspaper Hindustan has 10,143,000 readers and prints out of 15 locations. Mint is published by HT Media Ltd, which owns HT Media Ventures Ltd.
The Hindi daily newspaper market will be a difficult one to enter, according to Anita Nayyar, chief executive of Havas Media. “Whether India Today is able to dent the existing shares of players depends on if the format is refreshingly different —may be a Sunday Times or tabloid-style format (will work),” she said.
Meanwhile, with Rajat Sharma’s Hindi news channel India TV giving Aaj Tak channel competition, “starting a Hindi newspaper (to take the same property forward) is a dramatic thing to do,” she added.
Senior executives of most Hindi newspapers declined to comment on India Today’s plans.
Sanjeev Kotnala, vice-president of DB Corp. Ltd, said, “We’ve always maintained that the growth for print is going to come from tier-2 and tier-3 towns.”
Bhaskar has begun launching new printing centres and editions in Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and expanded its footprint in Jharkhand. “We entered Ranchi and will soon enter Jamshedpur and Dhanbad. We will also launch in at least three cities of Bihar in January-March 2011,” he said. Kotnala refused to comment on the entry of a new player, as did Basant Rathore, vice-president, strategy and brand development, Jagran Prakashan Ltd. But he said regional markets were growing. Jagran sells 30 lakh plus copies in 11 states.
Amit Chopra, chief executive at Hindustan Media Ventures, said Hindustan was growing both in circulation and readership. The paper sells 2 million copies daily in markets such as Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, and Uttarkhand. “We are expanding further in UP. We’ve just put up a new printing facility in Gorakhpur,” Chopra said. He declined to comment on the Aaj Tak plan.
Varghese Chandy, general manager, Malayala Manorama, said the readership in Kerala was largely split between his publication and rival Mathrubhumi. “This is a high-literacy market and brand loyalties are already made. This market is tough to penetrate,” he said. Malayala Manorama sells nearly 2 million copies in the state.
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