Marylou Andrew talks to four Indian media professionals about what – in their opinion – newspapers need to do to survive in a changing media world.
According to the 2010 report of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the Indian print media witnessed a 10% growth in 2010 and is expected to grow at a similar pace over the next five years. This is contrary to the situation in Pakistan and in the rest of the world where print’s share of ad spend is being eroded by TV and other media.
Realising that India’s experience in the print space can help Pakistan, the All Pakistan Newspaper’s Society (APNS) organised a two-day workshop with Indian media and marketing professionals called ‘Media in 2010 for the Consumer of 2020’. The workshop sought to answer a key question: how do we increase print advertising revenues when audiences (and advertisers) are increasingly turning to TV and other media. During the course of the workshop, Aurora caught up with four of the speakers to discuss their point of view on the topic. Following are excerpts from the conversations.
The Client’s View
Amit Tiwari, GM & Country Head Media, PhilipsIndia
As an advertiser, what are your expectations from newspapers?
As advertisers, we are as dependent on print as they are on us. However, I don’t want the newspaper to sell me space; I want them to tell me what to expect next. They need to devise different solutions. They need to go to advertisers and say that if you have a challenge in sales in one market, we will partner with you and put all our efforts into it. If I place an ad in a newspaper I have the same expectation of it as an employer would have of an employee. I am not doing it for face value or charity; this is a serious business.
Why aren’t newspapers doing this?
Newspaper owners suffer from short term thinking. If you are not a visionary then you are done. TV and the internet are not killing newspapers; newspapers are digging their own graves because they are not innovative. When you talk to newspapers about innovation, all they can think of is giving you the front page or making a sleeve on the back page; yet no one is interested in this. It is not about change, it is about innovation.
The Digital View
Anurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, Exchange4Media.com
Why is going digital important for newspapers?
The future is digital. We have to rethink our perception that we are in the magazine business or the newspaper business – we are fundamentally in the media business. Another thing newspapers have to understand is that they are not the content experts; people are the experts and they will tell one another – i.e. P2P. The third aspect is that while editorial is still important, newspapers are an advertising medium that sell products and brands. Take the example of The New York Times (NYT); yes, it has a unique editorial perspective, but it is run by a strong commerce engine and the content may be promoting the commerce. Five years down the line, will there be any difference between Amazon.com and the NYT? Maybe not. However, the most important consideration is that people should be able to choose how they get their information; video, audio, podcast, text, etc.
Yet many newspapers view their website as a digital version of the print newspaper.
This is the problem. You have to look at digital as a primary business; the moment it is second fiddle, it will not work.
How do you make it your primary business if you don’t think there is enough money in it?
That is a very real concern and I understand why people feel that way. However, newspapers have to keep at it in order to be prepared for the future. It is better to do it now when you have a brand that is making money and you are able to raise the capital for it. Most media companies have understood this. You may think that you have something which is doing well today so why bother to spend on something else, but the fact is that you have to prepare for the future.
The two great problems in popularising digital in Pakistan are the lack of internet penetration and low literacy.
The same applies to India. However, I do not see these as problems, rather as opportunities to reach out to a larger market. The point is that you are building for the future. People often ask which media will survive, traditional or digital. My answer is that this is not an either/or situation, the media of the future is a hybrid between the two; it’s mashable.
The Newspaper’s View
Jwalant Swaroop, Director Advertising, Lokmat Media
Do newspapers have to change their mindset in how they perceive advertising?
Clients’ marketing techniques are evolving and media owners have to keep pace with this. We have to act as if we too are the custodians of the brand and we also have to think of ourselves as custodians of the client’s money. If advertising is an investment, then ensuring a return on it is the media owner’s job.
What is preventing newspapers from putting themselves on an equal footing with clients? The fact that they do not think of themselves as an integral part of the marketing [function], and because they are not doing any surveys. Research is important and sets directions.
Why do you think activation is important for newspapers?
Today’s audiences need multiple engagement during different day parts. We cannot produce three newspapers in a day, so once you read the morning paper and the engagement is over, you then move on to other media: internet, TV, radio, etc. Therefore, I need to provide a holistic media option, I need to cater to audience needs during different day parts, and activation is another media that can help me to do that. All publications, whether they are regional or national, need to do activation, albeit on a different scale. Newspapers need to entertain their audiences by taking them outside the newspaper reading experience to a more entertaining platform and then create properties to entertain.
The TV Channel’s View
Avinash Pandey, VP & Head of Revenue, MCS (Star News)
What can newspapers learn from TV channels about sales and marketing?
They can learn from each other. Let me give you a great example from India. When Hutch was changing to Vodafone, we pointed out that they had a problem; while Hutch was clearly positioned in people’s minds, Vodafone was not.
In response to this, all 30 channels on the Star Network ran only Vodafone ads for an entire day. A year later, The Times of India did something similar with Volkswagen (VW); one day they printed only VW ads. Another example is when Tata launched a new violet coloured car. The next day the entire front page of the Hindustan Times was violet and in tandem, our screen was also violet. Both newspapers and TV channels can undertake advertising-driven innovations without compromising content.
In Pakistan many advertisers, particularly FMCGs, prefer TV to newspapers as an advertising medium. Can this be overcome?
In India FMCGs will not advertise even on news channels. However, brands like Dell or Compaq will not go to TV, they go to print totally. Although the number of advertisers on TV is huge and we gain 200 new advertisers every year, print has some very committed advertisers and this should be viewed as an opportunity.
First published in the May-June 2011 issue of Aurora.
According to the 2010 report of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the Indian print media witnessed a 10% growth in 2010 and is expected to grow at a similar pace over the next five years. This is contrary to the situation in Pakistan and in the rest of the world where print’s share of ad spend is being eroded by TV and other media.
Realising that India’s experience in the print space can help Pakistan, the All Pakistan Newspaper’s Society (APNS) organised a two-day workshop with Indian media and marketing professionals called ‘Media in 2010 for the Consumer of 2020’. The workshop sought to answer a key question: how do we increase print advertising revenues when audiences (and advertisers) are increasingly turning to TV and other media. During the course of the workshop, Aurora caught up with four of the speakers to discuss their point of view on the topic. Following are excerpts from the conversations.
The Client’s View
Amit Tiwari, GM & Country Head Media, Philips
As advertisers, we are as dependent on print as they are on us. However, I don’t want the newspaper to sell me space; I want them to tell me what to expect next. They need to devise different solutions. They need to go to advertisers and say that if you have a challenge in sales in one market, we will partner with you and put all our efforts into it. If I place an ad in a newspaper I have the same expectation of it as an employer would have of an employee. I am not doing it for face value or charity; this is a serious business.
Why aren’t newspapers doing this?
Newspaper owners suffer from short term thinking. If you are not a visionary then you are done. TV and the internet are not killing newspapers; newspapers are digging their own graves because they are not innovative. When you talk to newspapers about innovation, all they can think of is giving you the front page or making a sleeve on the back page; yet no one is interested in this. It is not about change, it is about innovation.
The Digital View
Anurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, Exchange4Media.com
The future is digital. We have to rethink our perception that we are in the magazine business or the newspaper business – we are fundamentally in the media business. Another thing newspapers have to understand is that they are not the content experts; people are the experts and they will tell one another – i.e. P2P. The third aspect is that while editorial is still important, newspapers are an advertising medium that sell products and brands. Take the example of The New York Times (NYT); yes, it has a unique editorial perspective, but it is run by a strong commerce engine and the content may be promoting the commerce. Five years down the line, will there be any difference between Amazon.com and the NYT? Maybe not. However, the most important consideration is that people should be able to choose how they get their information; video, audio, podcast, text, etc.
Yet many newspapers view their website as a digital version of the print newspaper.
This is the problem. You have to look at digital as a primary business; the moment it is second fiddle, it will not work.
How do you make it your primary business if you don’t think there is enough money in it?
That is a very real concern and I understand why people feel that way. However, newspapers have to keep at it in order to be prepared for the future. It is better to do it now when you have a brand that is making money and you are able to raise the capital for it. Most media companies have understood this. You may think that you have something which is doing well today so why bother to spend on something else, but the fact is that you have to prepare for the future.
The two great problems in popularising digital in Pakistan are the lack of internet penetration and low literacy.
The same applies to India. However, I do not see these as problems, rather as opportunities to reach out to a larger market. The point is that you are building for the future. People often ask which media will survive, traditional or digital. My answer is that this is not an either/or situation, the media of the future is a hybrid between the two; it’s mashable.
The Newspaper’s View
Jwalant Swaroop, Director Advertising, Lokmat Media
Clients’ marketing techniques are evolving and media owners have to keep pace with this. We have to act as if we too are the custodians of the brand and we also have to think of ourselves as custodians of the client’s money. If advertising is an investment, then ensuring a return on it is the media owner’s job.
What is preventing newspapers from putting themselves on an equal footing with clients? The fact that they do not think of themselves as an integral part of the marketing [function], and because they are not doing any surveys. Research is important and sets directions.
Why do you think activation is important for newspapers?
Today’s audiences need multiple engagement during different day parts. We cannot produce three newspapers in a day, so once you read the morning paper and the engagement is over, you then move on to other media: internet, TV, radio, etc. Therefore, I need to provide a holistic media option, I need to cater to audience needs during different day parts, and activation is another media that can help me to do that. All publications, whether they are regional or national, need to do activation, albeit on a different scale. Newspapers need to entertain their audiences by taking them outside the newspaper reading experience to a more entertaining platform and then create properties to entertain.
The TV Channel’s View
Avinash Pandey, VP & Head of Revenue, MCS (Star News)
They can learn from each other. Let me give you a great example from India. When Hutch was changing to Vodafone, we pointed out that they had a problem; while Hutch was clearly positioned in people’s minds, Vodafone was not.
In response to this, all 30 channels on the Star Network ran only Vodafone ads for an entire day. A year later, The Times of India did something similar with Volkswagen (VW); one day they printed only VW ads. Another example is when Tata launched a new violet coloured car. The next day the entire front page of the Hindustan Times was violet and in tandem, our screen was also violet. Both newspapers and TV channels can undertake advertising-driven innovations without compromising content.
In Pakistan many advertisers, particularly FMCGs, prefer TV to newspapers as an advertising medium. Can this be overcome?
In India FMCGs will not advertise even on news channels. However, brands like Dell or Compaq will not go to TV, they go to print totally. Although the number of advertisers on TV is huge and we gain 200 new advertisers every year, print has some very committed advertisers and this should be viewed as an opportunity.
First published in the May-June 2011 issue of Aurora.
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