With the launch of 'Mumbai Mirror', a tabloid from the stable of Benett Coleman and Co, on May 30, the first salvo has been fired in the impending media war in Mumbai.
The city is also awaiting two more confirmed launches – that of the Mumbai edition of the Hindustan Times and Zee-Bhaskar group’s DNA in the next couple of months. A Kolkata-based newspaper group too is eyeing the Mumbai market with the backing of a large television network.
The tabloid – referred to as a "compact" sized newspaper – by the Times Group, was launched amid lot of fanfare including a laser show at Mumbai’s famous landmark, the Gateway of India, over the weekend. The Times group had roped in Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan to herald the arrival of its latest product.
There are already six English language newspapers (actually 10, if one adds four business newspapers) in the megalopolis, but the market is dominated by The Times of India, followed by an eveninger Mid Day. The other newspapers include Indian Express, Free Press Journal and The Asian Age. The city has one more eveninger – The Afternoon.
Readership surveys
The significance of all the new launches is that all of them are coming out after extensive readership surveys. The Times had undertaken what it claims to be an intensive survey of readers, so also the Zee-Bhaskar and Hindustan Times. The expectations soared sky high. But readers were slightly disappointed with the very first issue of Mumbai Mirror.
The inaugural issue’s cover story was on Ajitabh Bachchan who is writing a critical book on his brother, the movie icon Amitabh Bachchan. For the tabloid, it was supposed to be its inaugural exclusive, but the same story was also in the Mid Day.
Nevertheless, the copies of the newspaper sold out like hot cakes on the first two days. "The response was quite fantastic," said Meenal Baghel, editor of Mumbai Mirror and she was candid enough to acknowledge that the tabloid needs "many improvements".
"It is an intelligent paper, or to be more precise, it is a lively paper, which is aimed at younger readership," Meenal said. "Our competition is with The Times of India," she added.
But, it is well known that the Times Group launched Mumbai Mirror to position itself for the impending launch of DNA, an acronym for Daily News and Analysis. Says Alhad Godbole, Resident Editor of Loksatta (the largest Marathi newspaper of Mumbai brought out by Indian Express group) and an old Times hand, "It is neither an eveninger nor a morninger. If one goes by the contents and the presentation, one fails to understand which constituency (of readers) the newspaper is targeting."
Poaching
As the media war hots up, poaching of journalists is in full swing. The poaching activity will increase as the DNA readies for the battle. DNA is headed by a former Times honcho Pradeep Guha, who is determined to break the ToI monopoly in the city.
He is backed by Zee TV and Dainik Bhaskar, known for its circulation network. DNA will also come out in a unique size, somewhere between a tabloid and a broadsheet.
