…from hibernation!
I could give a lot of excuses for this two-month lull: hectic traveling, heavy workload, heightened pressures and so on. And true too. Yet there’s another hidden reason – my laziness!
I promise I won’t hibernate hereafter. You would see frequent updates here. If frequency means ‘every fortnight’.
I am probably making it sound like there’s a whole bunch of guys out there who wish to see me here often. I got a few calls; received more than a couple of reminders and presume there are a few good souls who wish to see me write often. God bless you nice souls…and hope you have a satisfying sex life till 80!
This time, I wish to continue on the Hindu Vs TOI issue that we discussed a few blogs back.
Times of India, indeed, has been launched in Madras on April 14th. It's too early to comment on what TOI has done, how people perceive it etc., Let’s give it some time and see how things unfold.
But what’s interesting is not what TOI has done. But how The Hindu has reacted.
The venerable ‘Maha Vishnu of Mount Road’ has slashed its price downwards. The weekday paper is now Rs.2.50 – down from the previous Rs.3.25. The Sunday edition is just Rs.3 vis-à-vis the previous Rs.4.50. Note the TOI is Rs.2 on weekdays and Rs.3 on Sundays.
You call it panic? You call it smart pricing?
I call it competition. I call it capitalism. The consumer can now laugh all the way to the bank. Even if it is to deposit a mere 75 paise every day!
All this makes me wonder why these newspapers were charging so high all these days; fleecing us all this time. Recall how these newspapers jacked up their price at every given opportunity, with an apologetic sounding due-to-increase-in-newsprint-rates-we-are-forced-to-increase-our-price blah blah.
To put things in perspective, newsprint prices have just increased world over by around 35% in the last few weeks.
Whatever be it, if any of you needed any proof on what capitalism can do to you and me, here is it in black and white….and literally too! Competition benefits consumers!
Now just imagine the scenario if only we let foreign newspaper brands launch their editions here. Envisage the ensuing competition. Visualize the consequent price war. Picture the payback to us consumers. Who knows, there might even be a newspaper that would pay us money to read it.
Wishful thinking you laugh?
Today if a Virgin mobile could pay us 10 paise for every minute of incoming call, why not a newspaper tomorrow pay us Re.1 for reading it every morning?
18 comments:
To begin with, trust me, It's so good to see you back writing on your blog! I was actually wondering if you had temporarily put the brakes on your blog for lack of time but then for once I am glad I was wrong! I am not saying this to flatter you(There's no need for me to :))but I really enjoy reading your blog....Now back to your topic. All that you say may be true and may well be a dream for the consumer but wouldn't it be a long time before they even decide to touch base in India? What I mean is, isn't the content of say a Dallas Morning News so totally different from the content that the Indian consumer enjoys? Even if they touch base in India, they obviously would consider a different content. I don't mean to degrade Indian newspapers ..they never got better than this! But there's definitely a world of difference between the two...So wouldn't it be a misfit for the Indian Consumer?
Nice to see your post sir. At the same time i was amazed at the entry of TOI with such an reach in their advertisements which make Hindu to put the ad saying " if its chennai its Hindu" nice war going on one side. I think you all can remember the teaser TOI released before entry... such a planned entry which pulled the asses of HINDU , Indian express. Now many HINDU readers have started thinking whats reason of price reduction... whether is this the real price of HINDU? are we fooled these days? this includes even my colleagues... Like Airtel even TOI got the full use of ARR. I went to ARR show organized by TOI on 20th of april.Its absolutely free to cover variety of segment people. Just imagine crowd was 50,000+ and all were murmuring about TOI.just think if those 50,000 go in for good WOM about TOI..what will be the reach?? Anyway this post of mine is not that much related to the topic.. but hope it make some sense
Hindu can be compared with Sun tv , Sun tv too enjoyed a similar mind and market share . But slowly Vijat tv and other new channels are competing with sun tv on the new plat forms of innovativeness( reality shows etc ). So if similarily Hindu does not respond quick to the competition, it may face Bad Times.........
Even I think so too because last week my uncle was here and he was telling me how Times of India are quickly wooing their audience what with free passes to the A.R.Rehman concert with every cutting in the Times of India and a tag line that reads "Vanakam Chennai, Times of India". One could easily pass this off as a marketing gimmick an temporary fame but the truth is that in a market where word of mouth and massive publicity works, The Hindu may well soon be behind in the race if it does not act fast. Any thoughts?
Nice to see you back Sir, and I really mean it.
Was really surprised by the price slash…reminds me of the price war between HUL and P&G in detergent market, few years back..
But I really doubt whether this will help Hindu to retain it’s position (do remember reading somewhere that price positioning is not good).
And Sir, it would be really interesting to know your comments on the new look of ‘The Hindu’
Keep the good work coming up Sir, looking forward for your ‘frequent updates’.
Sir time for your next post! Its a fortnight since your last post:)
I have always been an avid reader of the Indian Express more for its news coverage unlike The Hindu which has always sounded like a pro government publication. When DC came to town, the first stage of the war started and their news coverage, especially international news was great. Their introductory offer made the competition sit up and take notice. They have clocked up a good circulation at the expense of IE and TH. Now that TOI is here the share will be again divided between the four of them. After all how many newspapers can an individual read during the mornings, including the financial ones. If SUN group launches their newspaper and if HT also comes to town as is the news, the customer may or may not laugh all the way to the bank, but our newspaper vendors are going to have a tough time in the mornings. The article was really great Satish. Keep it up.
Sir now its your time to have a look at all our views and post your view... Only then we will know whether our conversations are on the right way or not.
Yep... but its happening in each and every sector... Like Mobile std Rates and roaming rates Dropped to 1.50 and 1.....
Every one want to make money at the end.Even U r writing this blog for some good or bad reasons... but still by using Ad sense program U r also trying to make money with out any investments(Money value). Even U have to come with huge ideas and other topics to sustain ur readership other wise its tough like wat TOI is doing.
At the end wat i felt is... Wat hindu did is right...
Sir!!! your next post Sir....All of us are waiting. The fortnight is long over :) Lol, just kidding
Guys, I would be updating this blog in a day or two. I have been traveling. And this is to 'Wherearewe': I am not sure if you have read my blog right. My case was not against 'making money'. I took off from where I had left in a previous blog. And I ended the piece highlighting the virtues of capitalism. The article was not about whether TOI was right or The Hindu was wrong. I gently urge you to read the entire series before you get that uncontrollable urge to comment. Yes, I do have ads in my site. Interestingly so do you in your blog! No investments from my part you claim. What about intellectual property? What about time, effort and thoughts spent in coming up with these articles? And what about the fact that my blog is free and doesn't force any one to read it or come back for more. My case is not that I deserve money, which I have not got or even bothered to check yet. I am just reiterating what any half-bred media guy would tell you even when he is half asleep - content is king. If my blog is good, readers would come back. You included!
hi
Yes Sir, I completely agree with your argument that competition does benefit the consumers.
The revenue model today (its long been) for newspaper companies is from Advertising. The other factor for this price fall is the threat of substitutes the industry is facing from news channels and Internet. Today there is nothing new that we read in the morning that we dont know before we sleep. Newspapers today are mere habbit (Good habbit i should say). So, Considering all these things in mind,the day is not far when a newspaper might actually give a rupee to a consumer to actually read it. (The Hindu would definetely not be the one to do that ... Atleat I hope it would'nt)
This may not relate directly to the current topic of discussion but definitely relates to your blog and I would love to have your opinions and thoughts on this one. Sunday’s Times Life carried an article titled “Whose voice is it anyway?”It spoke of the increasing use of male voices for voiceovers in advertisements and reasoned that voiceovers were supposed to be the voice of authority which in the Indian Society can only be the man. It said that women may be preferred when it came to visual appeal (no pun intended) but when it came to voiceovers the balance all but tilted towards men. It further went on to say and I quote “Men have a deeper voice which is perceived to convey authority, reliance and seriousness”. This was their reasoning behind almost 9 out of 10 advertisements ending with a male voiceover. Do you agree? Or is it just a reflex that advertisers tend to chose male voiceovers? And do voiceovers have any relation to the gender of the brand in question?
Interesting topic Aarthi. I would try and write about it.
And I'll wait for it.:) I am certain you'll come up with something a lot more interesting to read than what I've just read. When I read that article I knew you'd be the best person to write about it:)
Sir, i am a student of yours at IIPM chennai. I just love the stuff written in there. Great work sir!! Keep scripting more.
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