Readers and Viewers

Way back in the Stone Age of online journalism -- late 1996 -- I wrote an article for The New York Times on the Web (a section called CyberTimes) about the tough road to profitability for "e-zines" such as Word and HotWired. But before I listed links to outside sites, I had to include this important disclaimer: Following are links to the external Web sites mentioned in this article. These sites...

Dainik Jagran continues to be the leading daily in the Delhi urban environ - commonly known as the NCR market, which includes Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida, with a readership of 3.52 lakhs, as per the IRS round 2, 2003-04 reports. The publication has grown by 4 per cent in this market from 3.38 lakh readers in the last round of IRS. While The Times Of India continues to be the second...

Hindustan Times has launched the online edition for its Delhi edition. While currently the beta version of the site has been launched, the official launch will happen only on October 15. Sanjay Trehan, chief of Internet, HT Media Ltd, says, "The online edition is more than just scanning the newspaper and uploading it. We have a host of interactive features on the HT e-paper." The e-paper has...

Senior producer Michael Mosettig is running through his lineup for tonight's "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" when a colleague darts into his office and exclaims, "They've just beheaded a hostage." Mosettig doesn't lunge for the phone to deploy reporters or scramble crews for sensational reaction shots. Instead, he thinks a moment and then asks, "What can we say about that?" Five hours later...

The Maharashtra-based Lokmat Group of Newspapers has not only banked on an aggressive strategy of launching editions, especially, in the case of flagship brand Lokmat, it has also attempted to improve the distribution of its publications. One reason for this is the sheer pressure of competition not only from players within the print medium, but also from allied media such as television. The group...

Divya Bhaskar, the Gujarati daily from Dainik Bhaskar group, has not only increased its tally in terms of readership and circulation, it is also growing in advertising revenues. The largest read newspaper of Ahmedabad, with a readership of 9.84 lakh, is also experiencing a quantitative growth in the retail advertising, which is an accepted benchmark for product performance. The maximum growth has...

Dainik Jagran, with 270 editions across India and a colossal readership of 1.57 crore, is the undisputed leader among Indian newspapers. In a move, which is guaranteed to send ripples across the industry and particularly, a warning of sorts to the English dailies, the Hindi newspaper publisher has announced its intention to launch English and other regional language editions. The group is also...

For Marathi daily Deshonnati, which is strong in the north and central parts of Maharashtra, the challenge on hand is not only to maintain leadership, but also to move into allied areas of the state. One such area is eastern Vidarbha (located towards the border of Madhya Pradesh), whose epicentre is Nagpur; and the publication is wasting no time in foraying into this region. The newspaper, whose...

Sandesh is the current number two newspaper in Gujarat, and it isn't very happy with the arrangement. The Gujarat-based paper is serious about becoming the first choice among readers and advertisers in the state, and has already set its ambitious plans in motion. The topmost priority is to strengthen the product in terms of editorial quality, says Kumar Nirmalendu, senior vice-president, Sandesh...

While evening papers (or eveningers) are extremely popular in India's commercial capital, the concept has never quite clicked in Delhi. As per IRS 2003-04, while 7 per cent of readers in Mumbai keenly follow eveningers, in Delhi, a mere 1 per cent of readers (12+ age group) read evening papers. Of course, the percentages for Delhi are likely to have risen since the time these findings were made...