Link to video trailer can be found here.

Introduction

Indian news media has seen exponential growth since the 1980s. Buckling the global trends, print media in India has continued to grow. The percentage of growth of total registered publications in 2017-18 was 2.98 per cent (RNI 2018)[i].  Despite a negative revenue growth of 3 per cent at INR 296 billion (2018)[ii], print media continued to retain the second-largest share of the Indian media sector. Despite growth declining by 5 per cent in advertising revenues, print circulation revenues increased by 2 per cent to INR 90 billion with price escalations in some newspaper markets.

The Indian newspaper industry also improved its low business profitability ratio and benefited from the reduction of newsprint prices. Newspaper businesses also profited with their digital platforms in 2019 as over 300 million Indian news consumers accessed news and information through online portals. Most national newspapers have well-structured digital news portals to accommodate shifting news consumption patterns, with two companies crossing INR 1 billion in digital revenues in 2019.

Standard civic textbook learning suggests that this expansion and transformation of the print media in India can only lead to greater democratic participation. However, the relationship between free media and democracy is now recognized widely as one that is not so straightforward. In India, newspapers played a key role in the anti-colonial movement and shaping a public discourse that privileged the concerns of the poor and disposed. This persisted in the early decades after India’s independence in 1947 (Chaudhuri 2017).[iii]

The 1990s saw significant shifts with a model of development that saw the greater integration of the Indian economy into global capitalism. The role of a welfare state saw a retreat. And ideas of neoliberalism- entrepreneurialism, growth, derision of state subsidies slowly became mainstream. The Indian media became a key conveyor of these new ideas. Sunnyside journalism was being advocated, and the media industry was being reimagined as just another profit-maximizing industry (Chaudhuri 2017).

This is the story that this essay looks at. As consumers and readers, we saw the glossy new publications, the smart advertising, Page 3 and the rise of celebrity culture. Media was refashioned as a site of entertainment rather than that investigation and questioning. What we knew less of us was the story that was taking place backstage. What was the new business model that redefined media?

The Beginnings

Phase 1 – Early 1990s

Until the 1990s, Indian news media was predominantly driven by newspaper subscriptions. The modern concept of consumer subscription services has its origins in the media institution of newspaper delivery. During the bygone times of predominance of print newspapers in providing reliable information on current events, media houses created a business model that reduced their dependence on newspaper boys selling dailies on street corners. Following the new business model of news outreach, media houses began delivering their papers to the offices of local businesses, and later, private homes. In doing so, subscriptions (deferred payments – monthly) became a major source of revenue, surpassing advertisement sales. It also grew thanks to a larger circulation to committed subscribers and some advertisements.

During the 1960s to late 1990s (1963 to 1997), the Indian newspaper industry witnessed exponential growth. The number of dailies registered with the RNI increased by nearly three and a half times; simultaneously, newspaper circulation witnessed a fourfold increase in aggregate circulation. The newspaper industry saw a multi-fold growth in subscription revenue in the phase beginning from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s as the number of dailies grew at a rate of about 9 per cent  (Table 1).

The new economic policies of the Indian state from the 1990s ushered in major changes that had important bearings on the Indian newspaper industry. The rise of multiple media houses, increased sharing of advertisement revenue among them, digitization of media channels in the mid-1990s lead to wider range of consumer and advertiser choices. This created pressure on the annual revenue targets of national newspapers’.

Further internet had penetrated most of the Indian metropolitan cities by the end of the 1990s. National news media houses had started their independent internet journalism (news websites) in early 2000. However, internet journalism was in its nascent stage and had a limited consumer base.

Table 1: Number, Circulation, and Average Circulation of Dailies: 1963-65 to 1995-97

(Three Year Moving Average)

Source: RNI

Indian media was in a desperate look for a large scale commercial breakthrough in newspaper publishing. It was the same imperatives that drove media houses to introduce new products (supplements, closure of non-profit products like the Illustrated weekly of India), product makeovers (new layout, colourful printing, full-page advertisement printing, change in masthead etc.), and provisions for value-added services for subscribers (advanced subscription payment with an assured gift to consumers, lowering prices of newspaper etc.).

These changes were introduced keeping in mind future society, market and technological changes and corresponding reflection of the same in their work environment adaptation. The subscription-based revenue model did increase with the changes mentioned above. But couldn’t achieve the publishers’ annual revenue targets. These were the early beginnings of a new business model being ushered in. Media business models are usually based on 10-15 years of future projections and not current market trends.  In the late 1990s, the national newspaper publishers had predicted neoliberal economic policies on Indian society in the forthcoming decades. They had started restructuring their organizational structure, work environment and more importantly, the newsroom paving the way for developing and application of a new revenue conducive business models.

The New Norm – Commercialization of Newsroom

Phase 2 – Early 2000

A business model can be defined as the:

sum of all interrelated architectural, co-operational and financial arrangements designed and developed by an organization presently and in the future, as well as all core products and/ or services the organization offers or will offer, based on these arrangements that are needed to achieve its strategic goals and objectives. [iv]

While identifying and formulating a new business model, publishers had realized the importance of editorial and advertising sections of their newspapers for their businesses. They, therefore, wanted to integrate both for better coordination among the two and securing more revenues and risking the least loss.

Earlier, the editorial department (newsroom) and advertising (sales and marketing) sections used to operate independently. However, from this point in time, both departments were merged. ‘Brand Manager’ positions were created, and the Editor was asked to coordinate with the former. The Times of India of Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL) was the first in the Indian newspaper industry to introduce this position in the organization. Brand management is an outcome of neo-liberal market economies which focuses on creating and managing brand image based on the consumer relationship with the product. The introduction of the Brand Manager led to a dilution of newspaper editorial as the brand. Earlier editors were the face of any newspaper. From early 2000, newspapers were transformed as a consumer product and not a medium of information to people. The focus became content generation, market penetration and advertising – key elements to the new business models.

The targeted advertisement was identified as a new way of advertisement. Targeted advertising is a form of advertising that focuses on specific traits, interests, and preferences. Advertisers discover this information by tracking consumer activity on the internet and other market research tools.

Editors took a backseat. The brand manager now controlled the restructured of the newsroom. Business owners recognized the Editorial Management System (EMS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) as the most important technologies to suit their business. Therefore news media houses transformed themselves into the newspaper as an innovative ‘consumer product’.

These initial innovation in business models and the creation of brand managers still fell short of new business targets.  The buzz was now on high Return-on-Investment (ROI) revenue prospects. This was possible with new technologies that sought greater market penetration and maximum potential consumers. The newspaper ownerships geared to exploit network (Business to Business [B2B] & Business to Consumers [B2C]) relations and expedite their capability to respond to and anticipate changes.

Thus began a new phase in the business model, a story that will be followed in the next essay.

[i] Office of Registrar of Newspapers for India, http://rni.nic.in/all_page/press_india.aspx, accessed on 29^th March 2021.

[ii] Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, http://www.ficci.in/ficci-in-news-page.asp?nid=20985, accessed on 29^th march 2021.

[iii] Chaudhuri, Maitrayee. (2017). Refashioning India: Gender, Media and a Transformed Public Discourse. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan.

[iv] Al-Debei,M.M., El-Haddadeh, R., & Avison, D. (2008). “Defining the business model in the new world of digital  business,” in Proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS). pp.1-11, https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/301364463.pdf.

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Devanjan Khuntia is an Assistant Professor in Sociology, School of Humanities and Social Science, G D Goenka University.