Readers do not quite care how many copies their favourite newspaper sells. Non-government advertisers have a fair idea, enough to make a decision which publication would get them their money’s worth of reach.
However, precise and accurate information leads to some adjustment of ad placements in leading dailies where every additional copy sold means reaching more prospective consumers.
Yet, Delhi’s two most circulated and read newspapers – The Times of India and Hindustan Times – spend much of their resources and energy to prove their numero uno position in the National Capital Region. A couple of weeks ago, the two newspapers, giants in their own rights, resorted to a – literally – childish war over their respective circulation figures. Call it tantrums.
The Slugfest
The I-am-the-largest wrangle between the two newspapers is over two decades old and it has only got uglier. It started with an ugly price war. The first round took place in 1994, with the ToI slashing its cover price from Rs 2.30 to Rs 1.50 per copy. The second round occurred in 1999, when HT cut its price further to a ridiculously low Re 1.
Both cuts were aimed at getting more readers in a bid to corner the lion’s share of advertising as well as ratchetting up advertising rates. The readers loved lower bills, but the cut in the cover price took toll of bottomlines, particularly at HT. Advertisers grumbled over the sharp increase in the cost of space in the two papers. They had little option but to pay up.
The latest round of the slugfest between the two papers, fought out through advertisement and emailers aimed at advertisers, started after the Indian Readership Survey results for 2014 were published in March. TOI disputed HT’s numbers, saying they contradicted audited numbers of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. IRS 2014 put HT ahead in Delhi.
Watch The Times of India video here:
Numbers’ Game
ToI contended that HT’s numbers include 2.5 lakh copies of HT 2 Minutes, a strip down version of the flagship brand with fewer pages, fewer advertisements and no supplements, sold at a lower price (Rs 1.25 against the regular Rs 4.50). HT countered with claims that TOI’s numbers were inflated with 1.9 lakh Newspaper in Education (NiE) copies, a strip down version of the paper circulated in schools.
The ToI claims that if NiE copies were excluded from ToI numbers and likewise HT 2 Minutes numbers are removed from HT’s circulation, it would be way ahead in the NCR.
Claims and counter-claims flew thick and fast on how advertisers were being shortcharged vis-à-vis the other. ToI even put out adverts illustrating that HT 2 Minutes carried far fewer advertisements than HT, and yet advertisers were paying for the inflated circulation number. As the war turned vicious, HT increased the page count of HT 2 Minutes to carry all advertisements. The increase in page count, even as revenues remain unchanged, is bound to hurt HT’s bottomline.
Watch the video in support of Hindustan Times here:
The two dailies are tirelessly recording and comparing advertisements they get every day, not just in numbers but also in terms of column-centimetres and comparing those with their competitors. The information is collated even before the newspapers are delivered to readers and reports shared regularly with advertisers. The entire exercise geared at getting more advertisements into the newspapers – as much as 60%, and sometimes more space – is sold to advertisers.
Perhaps the two ageing titans should look at scrappy new challengers in the digital space, instead of getting locked in geriatric combat.