A brief presentation on the Indian Print Industry made as a project for the module 'Media Business Environment'.

1. PRINT
Writing future editions

2. History of Print in India
• The first Indian media were the Print media with The Bengal Gazette which
was started in 1780 by James Augustus Hickey under the British Raj.
• Other newspapers like The India Gazette, The Calcutta Gazette, The Madras
Courier (1785) and The Bombay Herald (1789) soon followed carrying
news under the British rule.
• The Bombay Samachar, founded in 1822 and printed in Gujarati, is the
oldest Asian newspaper still in print.
• The Times of India was founded in 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal
of Commerce by Bennett, Coleman and Company, a colonial enterprise now
owned by an Indian conglomerate.

4. Major Publication Houses
• Jagran Prakashan Ltd.
• HT Media Ltd.
• D B Corp Ltd.
• Malayala Manorama Company Ltd.
• Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd.
• Amar Ujala Publications Ltd.
• Lokmat Media Limited
• Ananda Publishers

6. The Working of the Print Industry in India
The typical cost heads are:
• Production/Printing: Newsprint forms 50-60% of the production cost. These are
variable costs which vary with the size of the print run.
• People Costs: Varying between 12-20% of the revenues depending on whether it is
an English or Indian language publication, staff costs remain more or less fixed.
• Marketing Costs: Marketing is a new imperative in the age of multiple editions and
multi-media competition.
• Distribution Costs: These costs include trade margins and the cost of returns or
‘unsolds’. According to an analysis, the selling and distribution expenses of large
publishing brands like TOI and Dainik Jagran are roughly 7-8% of gross sales.
The
EconomicsCosts

7. The Economics
• Circulation: Money brought in from the cover or retail price of a magazine or newspaper
after deducting trade margins and the cost of unsold copies.
• Advertising: Advertising forms about 80% of a publication’s revenues.
• Subscriptions: Even though they bring in cash they also involve a huge cost. Most
subscription schemes are used to elevate circulation numbers and to demand higher rates
from advertisers.
• Brand extensions: A magazine or newspaper can extend the brand to different revenue
streams like events, TV programmes and others. In specialist media companies, brand
extensions bring about 30-50% of revenues.
• Internet/Mobile/Apps: Most newspapers and magazines have been increasing their Internet
and mobile presence to generate revenues using original content. However, they are not yet
significant contributors to revenue.
Revenu
es

8. The Share of Advertisement and Circulation
Revenue in the Indian Print Industry

9. The Measures
• Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC): Set up in 1948, it is made up of
advertisers, advertising agencies and publishing companies to measure
circulation.
• Indian Readership Survey (IRS): First released in 1995 by the Media
Research Users Council (MRUC) to rival the National Readership Survey
(NRS) which was suspended in 2006. It measures the readership.
In 2011, MRUC and ABC came together to pool resources to create the
Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI).

10. The Trends & Opportunities
• Outsourcing: The shrinking print market overseas and it’s consequent axe on jobs
creates opportunities in India to manage outsourced editorial, advertising or
subscription work.
• Language Newspapers: The growth of language newspapers are a pleasant surprise
and will witness a hyper-growth and competition considering the significant
headroom for growth in regional markets.
• Niche Magazines: With hundreds of unexplored and under-explored niches in
India, niche magazine is a welcome trend.
• Free Publications
• Tabloids: Though it’s revenues or profits are hazy due to less saleable ad space
compared to a broadsheet, over a 100 newspapers across the world have moved to
tabloid.
• Other Media: The rise of Internet and mobile offers publishing houses growth
opportunities with many investing heavily in outdoor, events and in radio for
stronger local connect.

11. The Rise of Vernacular Languages

12. The Challenges
• Lack of Unity: The industry’s lack of ability to act as one on a variety of
issues, like metrics and research, is a major challenge.
• Compromising Content: The industry’s extreme dependence on advertising
revenues has led to an inability to keep corruption of content at bay. This is
usually the intrusion of advertising into editorial space or the pure selling
out of editorial for ads.
• Falling Time Spent and Rise of Digital: Another issue is the drop in time
spent reading and the Internet eating away at print revenues.

13. The Registrar of Newspapers for India
(RNI)
• Established on 1 July 1956, on the recommendation of the First Press Commission
in 1953`and by amending the Press and Registration of Books Act 1867, it is a
statutory body of the Government of India for newspapers.
• It is headquartered in New Delhi and has 3 regional offices at Kolkata, Mumbai
and Chennai.
• It’s duties include;
 Compilation and maintenance of a Registrar of Newspapers containing particulars
about all newspapers published.
 Issue of a Certificate of Registration to newspapers under valid declaration.
 Enforcement of the Press and Registration of Books Act.
 Ensuring that newspapers are published in accordance to the PRB Act.

15. Statistics and Figures

16. Size of the Print Industry

17. Top Dailies in India

18. Top English Dailies

19. Top Language Dailies

20. Top Magazines

22. A Presentation By
Kevin Thomas