Innovation, youth and tier 2, 3 markets key for growth of print medium: DB Corp's Sanjay Joshi

While underscoring the the significance of the revival of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS), Sanjay Joshi, Chief Business Officer of Dainik Bhaskar Group said that though the reach and effectiveness of newspapers can be assessed through methods like pre and post-publication impact on various parameters, the revival of IRS is necessary. It will not only help gauge the newspaper's reach but also play a crucial role in rebuilding and strengthening its credibility as a medium in the post-COVID era.

In an interaction with BestMediaInfo, Joshi also asserted that there has been notable growth in Indian language print media compared to its English language counterpart.

In light of this trend, he underscored the crucial need for the print industry to channel investments towards enhancing the relevance and value of the medium for clients in the future.

Joshi said that over the past few quarters, print media has been cemented as the most trustworthy medium and Dainik Bhaskar has been a strong component of that trust. The advertisers are back this year with a willingness to invest in participating in the consumption story across categories leading to handsome growth.

“The company’s consolidated ad revenue grew by 15% for H1 FY24 to Rs 825 crore against Rs 718 crore in H1 FY23. Our strategy of providing customised solutions to our advertisers and maximising the uniqueness of the print medium has played a key role. Our readership too has grown back close to pre-COVID levels as a result of our sustained efforts in building back readership,” Joshi said.

Furthermore, he went on to say that credibility and trust, good content and innovation - that make an immediate impact are unique attributes which make print a great option for advertising. When it comes to Impact, reach and response over a short period of time, print is one of the most effective mediums available.

“Also, with the media habits of people being very diverse, there is a significant portion of the consumers that consume newspapers and rely on them for credible information and trustworthy brands. New media continues to grow expensive year on year and is no longer necessarily cost-effective. We also see reaching the consumer now requires a larger range of media than before and print has a prominent role to play in that,” Joshi added.

While highlighting how 2023 presented a favourable opportunity for the print industry to return to pre-COVID levels, Joshi explained that the Indian economy is on a robust growth path and the consumption story continues to fuel the buying sentiment. Many new products and categories are expanding in the tier 2 and tier 3 cities with new segments of consumers entering the market while existing consumers are looking to upgrade and move towards more premium products.

“Some categories which do significant business with us like real estate and education are doing really well and in turn, they are willing to invest in advertising. This has also been a newsworthy year with many large key events like the G20 events hosted by India, the Cricket World Cup and the Assembly elections,” Joshi said.

Further, newsprint costs that had gone up have been corrected by up to 15% leading to better margins, he added. 

Joshi emphasised that their average cost for newsprint has reduced from the high of Rs 63,500 PMT in Q2 FY2023 to around Rs 56,500 PMT in Q1 FY2024 and now further down to Rs 51,500 PMT in Q2 FY2024 resulting in newsprint cost reduction of 16% YoY.

“This has helped us in making our product better for our readers by improving the product quality. It has also allowed us to do a variety of innovations with some of our clients. The industry as a whole will also benefit as a result of this improvement in newsprint costs,” he added.

Joshi also elaborately explained what impact did the state elections have on DB Corp, this year. He said, “Elections always generate a lot of interest among our readers and it provides a great opportunity for our advertisers to get even better consumer engagement with their advertising. The relevance of news reaches an all-time high during this period as there is curiosity and high interest.”

“Pre-election, the government goes out to finish communicating their schemes and offerings and at times their achievements over the past term period. This creates good opportunities for advertising from the government. In specific states, we have also seen the doling out of cash to certain segments in hundreds of crores monthly, all of which flows back into the consumption economy. This provides a good opportunity for categories like consumer products, lifestyle and jewellery to advertise and maximise on the opportunity,” he added.

While speaking about some of the biggest challenges currently being faced by the print industry, Joshi said that the print media, especially Indian language print, is growing as validated by the last two years' performance.

“One challenge that faces the print industry is it being seen as a legacy medium, especially by younger generation decision-makers. While these decision makers may not be large consumers of newspapers they do tend to miss out that a large chunk of their customers continue to rely on newspapers for credible information including advertising,” Joshi said. 

“We at DB Corp address this challenge by sharing our reader insights including the importance of newspapers in the daily routine of readers in tier 2 and 3 cities. Further, we engage with clients and media agencies to have their younger generation experience the market where newspapers are widely read to give them a feel of how non-metro works different from metro markets where most large clients and agencies operate. It’s always interesting to see the reactions of clients based in Mumbai for e.g. who tend to not read newspapers but they realise that readers in Bhopal or Jaipur will spend anywhere between 25-40 minutes on newspaper reading as a daily ritual,” he added.

Joshi also highlighted certain areas for print to improve, going forward. He said that the Indian language print media is growing, unlike English language print media. This growth is driven by tier 2 and 3 cities in India whether it is Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Kannada, Hindi or Gujarati, they all are doing good.

“This is where the growth story of Bharat is and this is where the print industry needs to invest in making the medium relevant and valuable for clients. Innovation is another area where print can make a big impact on readers,” Joshi added.

A few months back Shashidhar Sinha, CEO, Mediabrands India and former MRUCI chairman announced that the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) will be revived after a gap due to COVID-19.

The absence of the IRS since 2019 has caused significant challenges in determining the reach and effectiveness of newspapers in India.

Joshi welcomed this move saying, “The reach and effectiveness of newspapers can be gauged even today using methods like pre and post-publication impact on various parameters. However, the IRS provides a comprehensive insight into reader behaviour which is very useful for advertisers, agencies and publishers themselves. This IRS revival will help build back and further strengthen the credibility of the newspapers as a medium post-COVID.”

On being asked how advertisers and newspapers can collaborate to make print more exciting for readers and more effective for advertisers, Joshi said that innovation is the need of the hour. As a medium, newspapers offer huge potential to create meaningful engagement with the target audience.

“Offering great content with innovative visual and sensory experiences, print media can continue to captivate readers, engage niche audiences, and offer a unique and tangible experience. Newspapers have multiple innovative options including integration of digital options like QR codes, Augmented Reality and can be used to drive digital objectives for enhancing the digital communication of advertisers,” he added.

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