Deccan Chronicle launched it's Bangalore edition on the 26th of May, a day after the
election results were out.One more newspaper in an already crowded market.
I don't what the big bosses at Deccan Chronicle are thinking.
The Deccan Chronicle ads are very crude and tasteless.
Of all products, Should a newspaper use such ads ?
Also as opposed to the usual low price entry strategy that they followed in Chennai,
Deccan Chronicle is available free of cost in Bangalore.
I am not sure if this makes sense.Since it is free and is distributed along with other papers It will give DC a good reach.Most of the people will not bother to read the paper.People will give a cursory glance in the first few days out of curiosity but if the content is not good enough , they will keep it aside to be sold for 5/kg or whatever the going rate is, at a later date.
The content in DC is very very bad to say the least.TOI's Bangalore edition(Not that it is different in other cities) caters to folks who just want to spend 5 minutes , go through the headlines and look at a few pictures.TOI does the job pretty well.
Lots of news on parties, a supplement that contains nothing but pics of actresses and beautiful women.Whenever a survey/Research report/whatever on sexual habits/preferences/anything remotely connected to sex gets published anywhere in the world TOI picks it up and gives a lot of space to the details of the findings.
There are many other articles on sundry topics that have absolutely no value that get published everyday.In such a scenario , Can DC be successful ?
IMHO, the chances are very remote.
Today's DC contained a review of Shobaa De's Superstar "India From Incredible to Unstoppable".The reviewer called Shobaa De daring, courageous among other things.I have never seen/read such praise for a Shobaa De work.Considering that a lot of people have already trashed the book, I fail to understand the motivation behind the review.
Bangalore has a good crowd and I believe there is scope for a serious newspaper in Bangalore.Good newsworthy articles and meticulous analysis sans "The Hindu's" biases will definitely attract enough readers.It is disheartening that no newspaper is ready to invest and try it out atleast on an experimental basis.
Free newspapers don't command the same respect as the other elements of the mainstream media and rightly so.There is no way we can arrive at a reasonable readership figure.No way to account for the value gained out of advertising in such a paper.Will advertisers pay high prices for ads in DC Bangalore ? Will it get the same price as the Hyberabad edition ?Deccan Chronicle followed a low price strategy in Chennai and is still losing money there.Will Bangalore edition also go the same way ?
Or will it be wiped out , much like the Deccan Chargers.
1 comment:
Aah! This is a nice topic `to ponder upon. Hindu has been ruling the roost for its GOOD journalism. But I remember, when I used to be in my 4th-5th standard, my thatha used to torture me by IMPOSING me to read Hindu, but Hindu too has lost its charm along the way. The way it used to cover developmental issues is diluted with the oncoming of sensationalism.
Coming to DC; Deccan Chronicle has neatly strategised its BRAND POSITIONING> Its an advertising concept, where the advertisor chooses an exclusive target of niche audience. DC has planned to hit the youth, with its peppy language and easy to grasp headlines.
If you carefully analyse the paper (only jobless journalists like me notice:D); the cover page stories are crisp and summarises the isssues f the day with a 30-second glance. ANd that is precisely hwat the youth want.
DC is spending HUGE revenues for its advertising capaigns on billboards, radio spots and what not.
I hope they get an adequate return-on-investment!
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