Times of India is apparently readying itself to launch its Chennai edition. At Rs.2. These are unconfirmed reports though.
The average Madrasi has heard this many times before but this time it seems to be more real. TOI has been handing over advertising materials and soliciting subscriptions in select neighbourhoods in the city.
A few newsagents I spoke to confirmed TOI’s entry. One of them said something that is the subject matter of this blog: “Sir, The Hindu is planning to reduce its price and sell at Rs.2, to counter TOI”.
Assuming TOI would price itself at Rs.2, will the venerable Hindu reduce its price?
Why should it, some may ask. After all, it countered Deccan Chronicle’s Re.1 assault without reducing its price. And successfully too.
But this is TOI - with a respected pedigree and roaring circulation that has made it the leader among English newspapers in India.
Will ‘The Hindu’ be cheapening its image if it panicked and reduced its price?
Or, if it didn’t, and stay put at its current price, will its die-hard users ditch The Hindu. After all, The Hindu has been the reason why most Madrasis woke up! Will they wake up to TOI instead, to save a few bucks.
Will TOI pull the rug under ‘The Hindu’? Or would the grand old man of Mount Road send TOI packing back.
What do you think The Hindu should do?
17 comments:
An excellent topic to debate on. If the fact that Times of India emerged triumphant in IRS’S survey with a readership of 2.4 million, overtaking The Hindu’s readership by 0.2 million is anything to go by, one might be inclined to believe that Times of India entering Madras might spell doom for The Hindu. But reality looks different. Times of India may be the number one English daily in India, but let’s not forget The Hindu is the undisputed leader in Madras with a whooping market share of 85 percent. And no matter how popular Times of India may be, no matter how appealing their campaign is, what with a 6-month subscription at Rs 170 and a year’s subscription at Rs 299 and a travel bag free, no matter how attractive their pages may be, any marketer will tell you that it’s almost close to impossible to overtake a leader with such a huge legacy and tremendous loyalty among the masses and the classes. But this obviously does not mean The Hindu can sit quiet and watch the red carpet entry of Times of India. If The Hindu needs to retain its market share and still stay at the same price level, it needs to revamp its paper, features, content, plan a new look. They did lower their price to combat TOI’S entry into Hyderabad, but there’s really no need of that in Madras because they still rule!
These were just my views and thoughts. I don't know whether it makes sense or not. I would want to know your comments on this as well as your opinions, thoughts and ideas.....
The Hindu should not change it's price negatively......
Because they're having the brand loyalty customer base as their support, includes childrens.....
when DC entered into the market, readers of The Hindu ( including me) have been thought "there will be a decrease in price ".
but possitively they have'nt reduce the price and retained their market share by improving the quality or value to the readers.
Hindu should go for price reduction...Now just see what happened in hydrabed.
" It is the price war that The Times of India started three years ago, when it launched in Hyderabad. Hindu simply responded by reducing the price to Re 1. Let me add here that Hindu cover price is not Re 1 on all seven days of the week. Hindu hawk at Rs 2 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Rs 4.50 on Sundays. It’s Re 1 only on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays."
N Murali,
joint managing director, The Hindu group already said in an interview that ""We will review the price when The Times of India steps in. Deccan Chronicle, is a regional player and unknown in Chennai. So, it does not affect us. With The Times of India, it will be different. So we will review our pricing when it comes in.""
We all know Times of India is the largest newspaper in the country with a strong national presence. It has a track record of attracting the youth through ‘infotainment’. The Hindu, on the other hand, has earned the respect of readers in South India for its pursuit of excellence in journalism.
So there will be surely a tough competition , so to maintain the market share of 85% in chennai,they will surely go for competitor based pricing strategy...
This is just my view and this is my first post to this blog. So if any mistake just correct me. Waiting to know other's comments on this context....
we can't say that the consumer behaviour of the AP & TN are same.
there can be a difference between two districts of the same state.
Ya man with respect to CB its different... now the problem is about pricing . So first Hindu has to go for a deep look at their strategies and go on for price reduction according to that,,Remember they are leading player nationwide.. So there is a wide chance of getting attention to the Hindu customers and they will be very keen in every move to improve their brand image and to acquire market share.Hindu can also go for improving quality of daily by providing more info etc etc.. But again its a problem whether that will be recognized by their customers.
Why wouldn’t consumers recognize quality? No one shies away from good quality do they? And if the Managing Director of The Hindu resorted to price reduction in Hyderabad that was because unlike Chennai, The Hindu doesn’t dominate in Hyderabad. Instead I think Deccan Chronicle does.(I may be wrong, please correct me if I am ). So in Chennai, The Hindu more or less has a monopoly. I was just speaking to my colleagues in office who have relatives in Madras and they tell me, “People there only want to read the Hindu….They have been buying it for decades and they want it. They have an emotional attachment with The Hindu”. You can’t expect this kind of loyalty to die down overnight do you? Times of India may be more attractive than The Hindu, but when it comes to earning trust and loyalty, The Hindu are the undisputed winners. So why should the question of price reduction ever arise?
Ya i agree to what you say... It cant destroy overnight but we cant say all the people who are reading HINDU in chennai are 100% loyal...There are also still many who go to shop to buy a newspaper..
Not all Hindu readers are subscribers.. I am living near Tambaram,where i used to see daily morning that people going to train in hurry will ask shopkeeper to give any English paper and not HINDU paper... If TOI enter with a low price with good coverage,people will surely slip from one to another..We cant expect the monopoly to lie even after the entrance of Competitior..Now i guess the people at Hindu need to start watching their backs.
Whatever you say about the TOI, they keep the language light and easily relate to today's generation. That is why they are a hit wherever they go. The old and fastidious in Chennai will stick to the good old Hindu but I see a lot of young ones going for the TOI. Of course, the glamor quotient will be a lot lesser in the entertainment portions considering that very few celibrities from other parts of India will be covered.
There will be no difference between The Hindu and TOI. Both of them wear masks. The Hindu wears the red colour mask and supports Congress. The TOI wears green colour masks and supports Congress.
So Hindu cant remain idle without caring about TOI, if so it will surely end up in burning their own fingers.
Yes, in a way I agree with you. TOI as a paper is far more attractive than The Hindu. I am in Bangalore and I buy the TOI here. And I must admit, in certain asp[ects they are far superior to the Hindu. To begin with, I find TOI more colourful on the whole, and I somehow I find their content more polished and they do those small things which make a difference like the numbers game, when it comes to cricket, Taking gaurd...yes the hindu too has the same information buyt the way they put it is different. And the city supplement of times has lot more gossip..which might lure younsters. As TOI walks in, if Hindu doesn't change its form and style, very soon we might see a reversal of fortunes. What do you think?
And Sir, whats your opinion Sir? We'd love to know your thoughts too because we may all be missing something or an angle
And Sir, you look great in this snap :) Cool snap :)
Sir can we have your comments... Waiting for you to turn on sir.
Yes Sir, we have all put down our thoughts Sir, now we are waiting for our master!!!!
Sir,
your comment please
We are waiting for yours.....
Sir we are all waiting for your opinion Sir!!!!
After so many decades, The Hindu has an equalent competitor. The TOI is the darling of the masses all over India except TN and Kerala. In TN we have the world standard 'The Hindu' and in Kerala they have their own regional dailies that match world standards. That is the reason why no other paper could match The Hindu and Malayala Manorama in these two states. Now, as TOI enters Chennai, the people living in the city who are from the states other than TN would defenetly try TOI, because they've been used to it as we've been sticked wit Hindu. We know that Chennai is being filled wit more northies... so they'l opt for TOI rather for The Hindu. I've talked to my other state friends..what they feel is that Hindu is left biased... mainly their editorials. But in TOI we get articles from both the wings-right & the left, actually TOI don't take any stand on the issues unlike The Hindu which delibrately voices it's views. So people, mostly the young who have read the Hindu only after Mr.Ram took over would defenitely go for TOI.
Then, did any one note the marketing strategy of TOI? They are doing door-to-door marketing making t people join as 'founder members' of the chennai editon at subscribtion rates lower than Re.1 (Rs.169 for 6 months & Rs.299 for 1 yr). so their target is the household subscribers who read Hindu. The main reason why DC could not compete with Hindu is that they could not woo the household subscribers. But TOI is doing it. Natuarlly people would compare t rates of The Hindu which is more than Rs.1000 per year wit TOI. So, more chances of people going for TOI. They would atleast try a 6 month package to see the quality though they would also be getting The Hindu.
The Hindu is not going to rewamp it's style, as it had just to a new contemporary look and it's similar to the TOI. If you compare the banglore edition of TOI, the concentrate more onthe local issues, more than 6 pages go for the City news, but The Hindu concentrates on the southern states, the other districts of TN and teh city news in these 6 pages. TOI adds more glamour (as New Indian Express does)to the paper, mostly the supplement part. So youth would go try the TOI.
Anyway it's a positive competion were the customers get benefitted. Till now we did not have a worthy alternative to the Hindu, we should be glad that we've got one now. Chennai city with most number of english speaking people was way behind in English journalism..but now we are gonna get a variety.
Let's welcome TOI. But i feel The Hindu has provided with the best to chennaiaits and we hope they stick to the standards even after TOI coming in.
well hindu is an established newspaper and people know its value. so why should it change its price? instead it should be confident enough and face the times of india launch!
Might be the Most excellent subject that i read all month?
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