This morning on the flight from Calcutta – I was almost startled out of my seat, even before I had a chance to put my seat belt on, to see an announcement in The Telegraph. In a box item on the front page they informed readers that “to partially off-set” rising cost of news prints they were constrained to increase the cover-price by 50 paise (they went on to assure how TT is committed to delivering the best value to its readers etc, etc. On picking the ToI from the next seat – I found they had a similar notification ( but more simply worded – without any of TT’s almost apologetic note). One remembers that, such announcements were common in the 70s and 80s. But, in today’s day and age – when publishers have been tripping over each other in a game of “invitation pricing”, discounted subscription and freebies ( the latest I read was Nike shoe free with an annual subscription of a Delhi tabloid - read the Romantic Realist's piece by clicking here) – who could have imagined even a few months back that this was even possible.
Considering that a very high proportion of the circulation for most papers in metro towns are already locked up in one or two year subscriptions and ‘jodi’ offers, I am not sure how much this would yield in terms of additional revenues in the short-term. But, that such a move was undertaken (obviously, in unison by all the major players) considering that newsprint prices have actually come down from the peaks that it had reached a couple of quarters back, is indicative of the revenue pressures the industry must be experiencing at the moment. Paginations had already been cut-down over the last few weeks. In Calcutta I found The Telegraph had brought there Metro supplement inside the main-paper. The other day – someone traveling to Chandigarh told me that he was surprised to see the city edition of the paper down to only 12 pages. According to a totally unconfirmed (and, probably unreliable too ) source – the ‘old lady’ had posted a cash-loss for the first time in a zillion years last month. While this can well be malicious gossip – it is indicative of how ‘desperate’ the situation must be.
I am sure that the industry will tide out of this crisis – as the economy recovers (at least the industry ‘old timers’ – unlike the brave new ‘cow-boys’ –who invaded the industry lately – know newspapers were always a ‘cyclical’ business and they have seen many a down-turn in the past). But, for me there can be some silver lining in all this. First, it’ll put to test certain hypothesis on which many players have been punting in recent years: 1)Readers perceive greater value in higher pagination; 2)Selling it cheap means higher circulation and readership (put in simple marketing lingo – what’s the ‘price-elasticity’ of the product). And, most importantly – this should, hopefully, separate the men from the boys.
Well, I guess – like everything else – only time will tell. And, to know the outcome, you and I will have to keep reading newspapers!!
Considering that a very high proportion of the circulation for most papers in metro towns are already locked up in one or two year subscriptions and ‘jodi’ offers, I am not sure how much this would yield in terms of additional revenues in the short-term. But, that such a move was undertaken (obviously, in unison by all the major players) considering that newsprint prices have actually come down from the peaks that it had reached a couple of quarters back, is indicative of the revenue pressures the industry must be experiencing at the moment. Paginations had already been cut-down over the last few weeks. In Calcutta I found The Telegraph had brought there Metro supplement inside the main-paper. The other day – someone traveling to Chandigarh told me that he was surprised to see the city edition of the paper down to only 12 pages. According to a totally unconfirmed (and, probably unreliable too ) source – the ‘old lady’ had posted a cash-loss for the first time in a zillion years last month. While this can well be malicious gossip – it is indicative of how ‘desperate’ the situation must be.I am sure that the industry will tide out of this crisis – as the economy recovers (at least the industry ‘old timers’ – unlike the brave new ‘cow-boys’ –who invaded the industry lately – know newspapers were always a ‘cyclical’ business and they have seen many a down-turn in the past). But, for me there can be some silver lining in all this. First, it’ll put to test certain hypothesis on which many players have been punting in recent years: 1)Readers perceive greater value in higher pagination; 2)Selling it cheap means higher circulation and readership (put in simple marketing lingo – what’s the ‘price-elasticity’ of the product). And, most importantly – this should, hopefully, separate the men from the boys.
Well, I guess – like everything else – only time will tell. And, to know the outcome, you and I will have to keep reading newspapers!!
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