Times of India vs The Hindu - Advertisement War

2. The Hindu is an English-language Indian
daily newspaper. Headquartered at Chennai,
The Hindu was published weekly when it was
launched in 1878, and started publishing
daily in 1889. The Hindu has its largest
base of circulation in southern India prime
source of analytical views on socio-
politico-economical, legal and
administrative acts of Indian and other
world institutions for Indian
Administrative Service aspirants.
The Hindu was the first
newspaper in India to have a
website, launched in 1995.

3. Its parent company, Kasturi and Sons.
It is printed at 17 locations in India,
mostly from southern India.
The Hindu's independent editorial stand
and its reliable and balanced
presentation of the news have over the
years, won for it the serious attention
and regard of the people who matter in
India and abroad.
Group publishes:
oThe Hindu Business Line - Business Daily
oSportstar - Weekly Sports magazine
oFrontline - Fortnightly magazine

4. Our Mission
To innovate and build, anything and
everything to do with digital media, that
brings value to our consumers.
Top English daily in India by readership It
is owned and published by Bennett, Coleman
& Co. Ltd. which is owned by the Sahu Jain
family.
Editor-in-chief Jaideep Bose
Founded 3 November 1838
Headquarters Mumbai, India

5. TOI Values
1.We are entrepreneurs first
At Times Internet, we love geeks, nerds and
other such outcasts who dare to dream insane.
2.Consumer focus
Everything that we do has to ignificantly
benefit the consumer. Do we make money by doing
this? You bet! But bringing values to our
consumers and making them happy is our priority.
3.Trust and respect
At Times Internet, everyone has equal power
and opportunity to voice their opinion and get
their ideas heard.
Sister newspapers:
The Economic Times
Navbharat Times
Maharashtra Times

6. The battle for readership began when the
Times of India (TOI) decided to enter The
Hindu's stronghold in the south Indian
state of Kerala, following stiff
competition in the latter's headquarters in
Chennai.
The Times of India had declared in
its ad that The Hindu (without naming the
paper, of course) puts readers to sleep.
A caption that says, "Stuck with the news
that puts you to sleep?" displayed on the
screen. The ad ends with the words: "Wake
up to The Times of India".

7. "Wake up to The Times of India".

8. The Hindu took nearly three months to
come up with a counter strategy. Many
believe the TOI ads woke a "sleeping giant"
and rattled it into noticing the
competition. The newspaper made a slew of
changes, including appointing a new editor,
and issued fresh TV ads taking "pot-shots
at the TOI's celebrity-driven" journalism.
The Hindu commands a Numero Uno
position in the Chennai market, you can
call it the Rajnikant of newspapers in
Chennai. Now it has come up with its
‘Stay Ahead Of The Times‘ campaign
making an aggressive “up yours” counter
attack at the TOI. And not just on
television but through print ads.

10. Then
Times of
India
comes up
with a
mildly
sarcastic
response to
its rival's
campaign.

11. The Hindu showed a series of
youngsters being unable to
answer basic general knowledge
but totally up to speed on
trivia like Hrithik Roshan's
nickname.
Naturally,
it was
Because
they read
The Times
of India.

12. Reader Response:
•The Hindu is terribly boring, while TOI is really
nothing more than a tabloid!
•The Hindu Business Line is indeed boring, if
compared to the Economic Times. And yes, TOI is a
glamour paper!
•The Hindu is far more superior in terms of quality
and news content to the TOI and this is one paper in
India or probably the only one which doesn’t come
with grammatical errors … however the TOI also
covers all the news but more in a tabloid reporting
format with loads of grammatical errors

13. The TOI, "undisputed leader" in north and
central India has been trying to bolster
its presence in the south.
It launched its Chennai (Madras) edition in
2008 but has not been able to overtake top-
selling The Hindu in terms of
readership.
While new entrants are trying to
consolidate their presence, old players
like the TOI and The Hindu are treading on
each other's toes for bigger slices of the
pie.

14. ‘Whether the Chennai readers woke up
to Times or not, The Hindu certainly did’.
After all, that’s what any competition is
supposed to do.
Competition-induced energy is to ignore
the dynamics of family business (which
Hindu is, after all)

15. Controversies
During Emergency, “The Times of Indira”, due to editorials in praise
of Sanjay Gandhi.
Deepika Padukone controversy, to attract readers is using the power
of influence to proliferate recessive thought.
The Hindu letter to TOI……
Dear Times of India,
………………………….
Yours truly,
Some peeved woman on a Sunday morning.

16. We can see here
how the media
sensationalizes
a normal
statement into
an offensive
one.