A study on the magazines of Times of India

PROJECT REPORT

by

AVINASH UPMANYU BHARDWAJ(4)

M.S PATEL INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

THE MAHARAJ SAYAJIRAO UNIVERSITY OF
BARODA

1
Declaration

I hereby declare that the project report entitled A Comparative Study

Between The Magazines of Times of India And Its competitors has been
submitted to TIMES OF INDIA. This report has been completed by me under
the guidance of Mr. VIJAY SHAH. I assure that the data will be used only for
the purpose of this project and will not be used commercially or for any other
purpose.The report is entirely the result of my own efforts.

2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The successful completion of this report could not have been possible
without the co-operation and support of my Faculty Guide & Company
Guide.

I forward my gratitude to respected Ms. Smita Trivedi, Faculty Guide, as

well as Mr. Vijay Shah, Company Guide. I would also like to thank our
respected Dean Dr. Jayrajsinh Jadeja and all other faculty members with
whose guidance and cooperation we could successfully complete our
summer internship project (SIP). I would even take an honor to thank Mr.
Animesh Bhatt, Response Department and Mr. Tushar Tere Editorial
Department to share their valuable knowledge.

Last but not least, I am thankful to FMS Vadodara for introducing this
project report as a critical aspect of our M.B.A. program, which exposes
us to actual business environment which helped me to gain an
experience about real market circumstances and the strategy to tackle
them.

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Table of Contents:

Sr.No Contents Page

1. Company Profile 5

- Introduction to the company

- History of the company and key milestones

- Various Departments and its functioning

- Product Profile

- Distribution pattern of TOI newspapers

- Circulation & comparison with the competitors

2. Sales Training 30

-Targets &Tasks Assigned

-Knowing about Rivals

-Strategy Used

-Personal Learning

3. Research methodology 43

4. Data Analysis and suggestions

5. Findings and Recommendation 61

6. Conclusion

4
COMPANY PROFILE:-

The Times of India Group is the largest media services conglomerate in India.
It is headed by brothers Samir and Vineet Jain.

The first edition of TOI appeared on November 3, 1838 known as "The

Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce

According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2012, the Times of India is
the most widely read English newspaper in India with a readership of
76.43 lakhs (7.643 million).

This ranks the Times of India as the top English daily in India by readership. It
is owned and published by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. which is owned by
the Sahu Jain family

The Times of India group owns the following: -

15 publishing centres

w60 sales offices

Over 12,000 employees

6 dailies including two of the largest in the country

2 lead magazines

29 niche magazines

Reaching 3500 cities and towns

33 Radio Stations

3 Television News Channels

2 Television Life Style Channel

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HISTORY

1838-1865-Under the leadership of J.E.Brenam the first publication comes out

in the name of The Bombay Journal & Commerce which later on becomes
The Times Of India, which later on becomes a daily paper and gets a national
character.

1880-1923- The Times of India then becomes a joint stock company formed
by T.J.Bennett and F.M.Coleman. The paper then becomes a opinion forming
instrument and the ownership is then passed on to Mr. Ramkrishna Dalmia.

1948-1990- The Ownership is passed to Jain family, followed by the launch of

Femina, Filmfare, The Economic Times and an Illustrated Weekly and
successfully completes its 150 years.

1991-2000- BBC rates it as the worlds top 6th magazine. It then goes global
and prints out its first color photo subsequently it enters into the music
industry and online products and launches Times Music and Indiatimes.com.
It also enters into the Retailing business with Planet M and Radio Channel the
Radio Mirchi. It also crosses a circulation of more than 2 million publications.

2001-2007-The entire Times of India goes colorful. It also launches its first
Television &News channel called the ZOOM & TIMES NOW. It also launches
Economic Times in Gujarati. It is rated as Indian Corporate Elites No.1 paper
and receives several awards at ABBY awards.

2008-2013-Launch of ET (Hindi), Pune Mirror and The Times of India

editions at Jaipur, Goa and Chennai. Acquisition of Virgin Radio (now
rebranded as Absolute Radio) in the UK. TOI Crest edition launched.Launch
of ET Now premier business channel having integrated newsroom with ET
print edition. Private Treaties re-branded as Brand Capital.The Speaking
Tree newspaper launched.ET Wealth launched.Maharashtra Times
launches Pune edition.

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 Vijay Next (premier weekly newspaper from Vijay Karnataka) launched.

Indias first HD-only premium movie channel Movies Now (HD)

launched.Sunday ET re-launched as a tabloid.Bodhivriksha (spiritual
weekend newspaper in Kannada) launched.

Launch of Indias first entertainment channel focused on romance and

comedy in HD as Romedy Now and SD as Romedy Now

Designation in the organization:

Chairman- Ms.Indu Jain.

Vice-Chairman- Mr.Sameer Jain.

Managing Directors- Mr.Vineet Jain.

CEO (RMD)- Ravi Dhariwal.

President (RMD)- Vikesh Walia

Chief Manager (RMD, Ahmedabad)- Mr.Shakti Acharya

Senior Manager(RMD, Baroda)- Mr.Vijay Shah.

Officer(RMD, Vadodara)-Mr.Pintu Dodia

Resident Editor (Ahmedabad)- Mr.Bharat Desai.

Publishers-Mr.Hitesh Budhpatti

Editorial Dept( Baroda)- Mr.Sachin Sharma, Mr.Tushar Tere,Mr.Prashant Rupera

7
Photographer (Baroda)-Mr. Bharat Pathak.

Editors (Baroda Times)-Mr.Soumitra Das.

Response : Mr. Deepak Shah, Mr.Animesh Bhatt.

Magicbricks : Mr. Karan

Various Departments:

Administration Business & Commercial

Corporate Finance Corporate Group

HRD Management Assurance Service
Modernization Legal
Response RMD(Results & Marketing Development)
Times Archives Central Project

8
 PRODUCT PROFILE

Times of India started published in 1838 by Bennett, Coleman& Co.ltd which

is owned by Sahu Jain family.

TheTimesofIndia (TOI) has the largest circulation among all English-

language newspapers in the world, across all formats (broadsheet, tabloid,
compact, Berliner and online).

In 2008, the newspaper reported that it was certified by the Audit Bureau of
Circulations (India) ranking it as the 3rd largest selling newspaper in any
language in the world.

According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2012, the Times of India is
the most widely read English newspaper in India with a readership of
76.43 lakhs (7.643 million).

The Times of India, Indias largest English daily

The Economic Times, Indias largest financial daily, and the worlds second
largest after The Wall Street Journal

Maharashtra Times, Indias largest Marathi daily and Maharashtras No.1

Newspaper

Navbharat Times, the largest Hindi Daily in Delhi and Bombay

Mumbai Mirror Indias largest circulated compact newspaper

Pune Mirror, Ahmedabad Mirror, Mumbai Mirror

Bangalore Mirror, Bangalores first morning compact daily

Vijay Kannada

Nav Gujarat Samay, Ahmedabad

E Samoy Colcutta

9
 Times Groups subsidiary companies include:

Times Infotainment Media Limited (TIML) & Entertainment Network India

Limited (ENIL) that together control:

Radio Mirchi - National network of Private FM stations.

360 Degrees - Event Management.

Times Outdoors- Outdoor Advertising & Billboard Marketing.

Mirchi Movies Limited - Movie production, Entertainment.

Times Internet Limited (TIL)

India timesportal

Times of Money - an online payments Portal specializing in remitting money to

India and to the world.

Times Global Broadcasting Limited - This was a Joint Venture with

Reuters until Reuters

Times Now - A News Channel

Zoom - A Lifestyle Channel

Times business solutions

TBSL - corporate website of TBSL.

Times Jobs - A jobs portal.

Simply Marry - A matrimonial portal. (Earlier known as TimesMatri).

Magic Bricks - A real estate portal.

Yolist - Free classifieds portal.

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 Ads2Book - Online classifieds booking system for print publications.

Magazines: -

Femina (India)

Femina is an Indian magazine, published fortnightly. It is owned by Worldwide

Media, a 50:50 joint venture between BBC Worldwide and The Times Group.
It is primarily a women's magazine and features articles on relationships,
beauty and fashion, travel, cuisine, and health and fitness. It also features
articles on celebrities and cultural facets of Indian women.

Femina was first published in July 1959. It has organized and sponsored the
Femina Miss Indiabeauty pageant since 1964. From 1994 to 1999, it also
sponsored the Femina Look of the Year contest to send an Indian contestant
to the Elite Model Look competition.

In 2009, Femina published Femina Handy Hints: The A-Z of household

solutions, a collection of useful and practical tips from Feminas long-lived and
popular column. Vimla Patil was an editor of Femina.

Current Subscription offer:

Femina (English)

Perio No. of Cover Discoun Subscription

d Issue Price t Rate
1 Yr. 27 1620.00 50% 810.00

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Femina Hindi

Femina reached out to the modern Indian, Hindi-speaking woman by

launching its Hindi edition in November 2008.The magazine speaks to the
reader in the language and style she is most comfortable with. With its stylish
look & feel and fresh content, Femina Hindi speaks to the evolved and up
market Hindi reader like no other magazine.

Current Subscription offer:

Femina (Hindi)

Perio No. of Cover Discoun Subscription

d Issue Price t Rate
1 Yr. 12 480.00 50% 240.00

12
Filmfare

Film fare is an English-language, tabloid-sized magazine about Hindi-

language cinema (which is popularly known as Bollywood). The magazine is
published by The Times Group, India's largest media services conglomerate.
Film fare is the most popular entertainment magazine in India.

Current Subscription offer:

Film fare

Perio No. of Cover Discoun Subscription

d Issue Price t Rate
1 Yr. 26 1560.00 50% 780.00

13
Top Gear

Going beyond the hype and numbers to show how a car truly feels.
Opinionated, entertaining and always on the mark, BBC Top Gear is the
magazine that puts readers in the driver's seat. The world's leading motoring
magazine, with editions covering 50 countries. BBC Top Gear is the real deal
for the true auto buff. Moreover, Top Gear readers get the "real story" behind
the world's most exciting cars in its inimitable honest, irreverent and humorous
style.

Current Subscription offer:

Top Gear

Perio No. of Cover Discoun Subscription

d Issue Price t Rate
1 Yr. 12 1800.00 50% 1020.00

14
Hello!

Live the high life, just as your favourite celebrity does, with Hello!

HELLO! Covers the world of celebrity from a completely different angle,

making it the world's most loved celebrity magazine. HELLO! Is invited into
the palaces and homes of some of the most elusive royal families, movie stars
and celebrities to get a view from the inside.

The result: intimate, never-seen-before private moments away from the glare
of the paparazzi and interviews that are as insightful and interesting as they
are exclusive.

Current Subscription offer:

Hello

Perio No. of Cover Discoun Subscription

d Issue Price t Rate
1 Yr. 12 1800.00 50% 1020.00

15
Grazia

Grazia brings you fashion as it happens!

Grazia stays tuned into women's tastes, season after season. The Grazia
credo is that fashion should be uncomplicated and fun. From catwalk fantasy
to high-street steals, from budget-busting bags to the shoe to have, Grazia is
ahead of the pack in delivering fashions best, loveliest and most wanted.
Featured trends are made easily accessible with tips on where to buy and
how to wear. Grazia doesn't dictate. Instead, it demystifies style.

Current Subscription offer:

Grazia

Perio No. of Cover Discoun Subscription

d Issue Price t Rate
1 Yr. 12 1800.00 50% 1020.00

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Femina Salon & Spa

Femina Salon & Spa will target beauty professionals across the country. It will
focus on the requirements of Indian skin tones, hair types and environment.
Each trend, step-by-step guide and technique in the magazine will come tried-
and-tested on the Indian skin, body and hair. It will leverage the parent
brands expertise in the world of fashion and beauty, including the in-house
beauty team, and its extensive network of makeup and hair experts to bring
the latest international trends and products to readers.

Current Subscription offer:

Femina Salon & Spa

Perio No. of Cover Discoun Subscription

d Issue Price t Rate
1 Yr. 10 500.00 50% 500.00

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BBC Knowledge

The first edition of BBC Knowledge, launched in the United States in August
2008, was an instant success; the magazine was voted among the Top 10
newly-launched magazines of 2008 by Library Journal, USA. It is also
available internationally in the United Kingdom, Brazil, Singapore and
Bulgaria.

The Indian edition was launched in India in November 2010. With its unique
content and style, BBC Knowledge holds the key to the mysteries of the
world.

Written by renowned academics and experts in the fields, BBC Knowledge's

wide-range of features provide riveting and up-to-date information on subjects
ranging fromtreasure hunting in the 21st century, Darwin's theory of evolution,
the atomic bombing of Japan, global warming to the rivers of the Amazon.
With material that is meant to stimulate the mind, this magazine looks to
empower a young generation of readers.

Current Subscription offer:

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BBC Knowledge

Perio No. of Cover Discoun Subscription

d Issue Price t Rate
1 Yr. 06 750.00 50% 435.00

Home TRENDS

Home TRENDS, your authoritative guide to architecture and design.

TRENDS, first published in New Zealand, are one of the most widely read
architecture and design magazines in the world today. Currently in 10
countries, India is the 11th edition of this magazine. Launched in India as the
Home TRENDS series, the magazine aims to meet the demand for a world-
class reference source on architecture and design for the both professionals
and home makers.

Current Subscription offer:

Home TRENDS

Perio No. of Cover Discoun Subscription

d Issue Price t Rate
1 Yr. 10 2500.00 50% 1350.00

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Good Homes

Turning homes into masterpieces with ingenious decor ideas and more!

Launched in 2008, Good Homes has grown into a reputed brand that reaches
not only to designers, architects but also to a growing number of home-
makers seeking inspiration to adorn their homes.

With a host of chic yet simple ideas, DIY tips and expert advice, it combines
the best of international interiors with Practical design ideas.

Current Subscription offer:

Good Homes

Perio No. of Cover Discoun Subscription

d Issue Price t Rate
1 Yr. 12 1440.00 50% 840.00

20
Lonely Planet

Tour the world with the flip of every single page.

The world's most trusted source on travel, Lonely Planet has made its way to
India. Through vivid writing and stunning color spreads from celebrated and
seasoned traveler-writers and photographers, Lonely Planet Magazine India
Inspires travelers to sample different cultures first-hand, discover new people,
and learn fascinating stories about every place.

Current Subscription offer:

Lonely Planet

Perio No. of Cover Discoun Subscription

d Issue Price t Rate
1 Yr. 12 1800.00 50% 1020.00

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22
Product Designing

EDITORS: -

After news collection ,it is sent to or delivered to collection center for

processing .Then the selected news is sent to the editorial team for further
processing and Technical editing may include the correction of :-grammatical
mistakes, misspellings, mistyping, incorrect punctuation, inconsistencies in
usages, poorly structured sentences, wrong scientific terms, wrong units and
dimensions, inconsistency in significant figures, technical ambivalence,
technical disambiguation, correction of statements conflicting with general
scientific knowledge, correction of synopsis, content, index, headings and
subheadings.

Work Flow

Reporter: The key member who works as per the Beats/Fields and brings in the
information.

Chief Editor: Also called as The Desk, edits the material bought in by the reporter
and removes the unwanted stuff from the material.

News Editor: Decides which news to be accommodated where and then it goes for
printing.

Production Department

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DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL OF TOI:

There are three ways to sell the TOI

1. Cash Sales: - Take newspaper from any non-convectional store or any

shop in cash.

2. Subscription Sales: Pay money in advance and subscribe TOI

3. Line Sales

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Distribution pattern at BCCL for Vadodra:

Ahmedabad Press

Packaging of Papers

Transportation

Reaches to Vadodara

Distribution through 4 Depos

Railway Station Sayajigunj Dandia Bazaar Baroda bookstore

Jubelibaugh

200 Hawkers 275 Hawkers 110 Hawkers 425 Hawkers

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 Hawkers Book Stalls (22)

Paid/Line boys - Final customers

Final customer

Times of India has two depots where the newspaper printed from Ahmedabad is
delivered. 1. City (jubilee Baugh) 2. Station. These depo covers the distribution of
newspaper. The hawkers collect their number of copies from this depo in the
morning and by 7:30-8:00 the newspaper are distributed to the house. The R&MD
department keep a regular watch on the copies that are sold. If fewer copies are sold
they need to find out the reason. They need to find out the reason. They build a good
relation with the hawker so that they come to know the insight about the market. We
were informed about the earning of the hawkers per day.

Circulation of business papers

Business Standard
21%

Economic Times
79%

26
Circulation of Magazines of BCCL and its competitors:

No.Of Circulation of Women's Magazine(total 1400 people)

1400

400
300
240
110 100

The circulation of the Femina is more followed by Womens Era and the New Women
and Savvy. The circulation of Grazia is a little less as it is not much recognized
among the masses as the knowledge about the magazine is very less.

27
 No.of Film Magazines
1000

300
175 140

Filmfare He llo Stardust Cine blist

The circulation of Filmfare is highest followed by Stardust its nearest competitor and
then by Hello and the Cineblist.

Circulation of interior magazines

Goodhousekeeping
36%

Goodhomes
64%

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The circulation of Good homes is more than good housekeeping as the features of
the magazine and the schemes attached with it is far better and good.

Circulation of hindi magazines

1400

600

Femina Hindi Gruhshobha

In Hindi language the circulation of Gruhshobha is more. The circulation of Hindi

Femina is less since it is very new to the market. But inspite of that as the awareness
is increasing the demand will also increase.

PRINTING PRESS

It takes the content from the editorial team and prints using high capacity
advanced press machines that deliver the product in packaged condition
Situated in Lucknow for U.P. region.
Capacity to print over 10 lac copies.
Printing starts around 1-1:30 am usually
After Printing, stacking is done before dispatching newspapers to depots
Labeling done to match stacks with destination
Usually stocks for depots situated the farthest are dispatched earliest.
Depots

The distribution centre receives the copies from the

transporter and stocks it for a short duration
Close to numbers of depots in Lucknow

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 Keep publications (newspaper + magazines) for various
companies
Serviced by salespersons who are company employees
Unorganized keep newspapers / magazines scattered on
pavements or on steps of some malls etc

AGENTS

Employed where distribution is not organized

Exclusive agents of TOI
Work on commission, themselves act as salesmen
Lucknow Market- Working with depot
Lucknow- Working with agency system

VENDORS

Like retailers. Link between depot and end consumer

Go to nearest depot everyday. Pick out publications they

want

They sell via : door-to-door beat boys/single point

newspaper stands

MDI vendor serve in areas. He collects newspapers from

Old Bus Stand Agents.

BEAT BOYS

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The delivery boys have demarcated regions/housing societies,
which they serve. Hawkers are individuals who do not have
established customers and sell at road sides, bus stands etc.
They make small quantity purchases Deliver required
publications to proper destinations.Have route-wise list of
addresses and their required newspaper/publications .3-4 beat
boys cover an area via their routes.

INFORMATION FLOW

New consumer/Existing consumer taking or terminating

subscription
Inform their Vendor( increase/decrease his order by one )
Vendor Informs the distributor
Distributor informs the company.

CHANNEL MARGIN

Margin given by TOI to channel members is around 30%

More or less uniform rate across the industry
Agents get 5-10%, salesmen on payroll get fixed salary
Vendor receives 20-25%, to cover the costs incurred due to
travel, beat boys etc. It depends on the type and language of
newspaper. (Hindi 25%; English 20%)

PROMOTION SCHEMES:-

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TRADE SCHEMES

Offered to channel members

Incentive to increase sales

Challenge for channel member: Balance reader interest

while trying to increase sales to avail benefits of the
scheme

Discounts for purchase of larger volumes by vendor

Bonus of 50 paise for each new account generation by

vendor

READER SCHEMES

Directed at final consumer/reader. Mainly to draw in new

customers
Varies depending on location & demography
Could include trials, discounts, freebies, combo offers etc

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SWOT ANLAYSIS OF THE MAGAZINE PUBLICATIONS

STRENGTHS WEAKNESS

The brand name of TOI is the
biggest strength for the
magazines.
A well developed setup for
publishing all kind of materials and
a growing customer base and
media presence.
The magazine covers a variety of
issues related to women such as
relationships, beauty, fashion,
health and fitness
Due to advent of android the most
tough competition for any kind of
print media is the average smart
Cell phone
Only women are interested in
magazines in todays times
Youtube plus Jio is a deadly combinaton
against any kind of media.

Associations and sponsorships of

leading beauty pageants have
enhanced its brand value.
High quality of paper in printing

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 OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

The brands website, since its

Threat of new entrants is
launch has tried to attract the
increasing.
increasing number of net savvy
women customers.

.
Through aggressive marketing and
promotional strategies the With the advent of the internet the

magazine can increase its scope of print media is declining.

circulation.

A number of lifestyle channels

have come up for women and
they cater to the same customer
base

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Sales Training

On the Job Training provided me the opportunity to apply my theoretical knowledge

into practical knowledge. It gives a new learning experience.

Training gives the direct exposure to execution and support function of the
department.
To know the flavors of team work, organizational culture, team dynamics,
result orientation, organizational pressures, complexities in achieving the
desired result.
It is a learning experience and ambitious of achieving the desired targets or
accomplishing the required task, through professionalism and business
acumen.

Training included :

o Understanding the basic atmosphere and culture of work at TOI Baroda

along with understanding the the different systems and the flow of work
taking place in various departments.

o The main objective is to make the interns know about the companys
business ventures, products and customers.

o Getting in touch with the market at base level.

o To motivate the students to achieve the target.

Targets and Tasks Assigned:

35
 The target assigned was to sell 50 magazines in 8 weeks and do a situational
analysis of the current magazine situation.

Strategies Applied:

To achieve the goal successfully, one needs to sketch a perfect road map or adopt a
strategy to attain the targets.

Now before starting of with the strategy it was very essential to do a market analysis.
During the analysis it was seen that prevailing recession was to be a major challenge
as people were not ready to subscribe for the magazine due to the bad market
condition. Also the readership has come down drastically as Television has become
the part of every household. So keeping these in mind it was very essential to form a
strategy which can be useful enough to attain my target.

The strategies adopted to achieve the targets are as follows:

(1) First I started with the area mapping of the city.

(2) Secondly I gathered all the information about my product and the competitors
product so that convincing will become easy.

(3) Then I started with my selling with the big target audience that is the households.
So I began with big societies and the bungalows. This helped me a lot as I was able to
cater to a large number of people.

(4) My next target audience was the Fashion Designers, Fashion Studios and
Boutiques and Fashion designing students. As my magazines were more of fashion I
got a push in my sales from these places.

36
(5) My next target audience was the Doctors, Spas, Saloons and the Automobile
Showrooms to sell one of my automobile magazines.

(6) I also did some amount of cold calling.

(7) Apart from that wherever I went I used to ask for contacts which made my job
easier. As it was easy to convince if the people if we went with the references.

(8) Apart from the above plan I also got certain leads from the company, which also
helped me to complete my target to some extent.

RIVALS/COMPETITOR

The main competitors for Times of India in India are:

The Hindu (Chennai ) -is ranked third among English dailies with a total
readership of 5,140,000.

Hindustan Times (Delhi) - is the second most read English daily and the 12th
among all newspapers with a total readership of 6,254,000.

Indian Express (Express Group)

DNA

Business Standards

37
Learnings:-

1. Understanding the real market is very difficult. Every person in the market
exhibits different kind of qualities. So every time we need to change according
to the person personality and try to understand their need and help them to
exactly know their needs.
2. Convincing on second part is very difficult as you are meeting the person for
the first time where you dont know the needs of the person and you have to
understand the subscriber within few minutes.
3. Before convincing anyone I personally need to have a complete product
knowledge as the sudden question by the subscriber may put you in a state
where you might be blank and have no clue so product knowledge becomes a
necessity.

38
 Overview of the internship

In the first week we were asked to make an excel sheet having the
price,pages,editor, articles, Target market of the magazine. The result of first task
was to have complete product knowledge.

We were asked to visit crossword and analyse the competing magazines to

know the difference between them and feed the data into the excel sheet.

In the training period we had sessions going on topics like:-

1. Difference between selling and advertisement

2. Work of an editor
3. Selling of a column in supplement
4. Working of magic bricks
5. Work of response department

Detailed explanation of the session:-

1. Difference between Selling and Advertisement

This session was carried on my Mr. Animesh Bhatt head of Response

Department. Selling is helping a person to buy and make him understand his
need so that he can buy the product according to it. Difference between
benefit, advantage and feature was taught. Basic idea to these three terms
was given by use of example. How important are this three terms while selling
because selling is not just to sale a product.4 The customer should be aware
about what is the benefit, advantage and feature he/she would be receiving
after and before the usage of the product.

39
2. We were introduced to their other product Magic bricks and the
supplementary newspaper Baroda times. Every supplement and mother
paper has a deadline about the ads information and article that needs to be
included in the newspaper. Newspaper is different from the other entire
product because they are the most perishable product.

Same is with Baroda times the front page and the second page that is the
Movie times the details are received from Mumbai and Delhi as this
supplement has Bollywood and Hollywood stars interview. They have two
pages that haveBarodatimes where the content is to be sent by the Baroda
office. These pages contain any event or happening like exhibition happening
in Baroda. In this page itself they have a small section that give details about
any art exhibition happening but this column does not contain the details like
phone number or any other details because if they include that it becomes a
paid adbut it is not a not as so they do not include such details.

There next product is magic bricks. This basically selling properly online
where they concern is to make the buyer and seller meet at one place
virtually. We were explained about the working of this website. It does not
incur any cost to them.

They just need manpower. They have a technical team looking about the
technical posting, editing and removal of data on regular basis. They focus is
to sell the space available on the page to the builder and fulfil their consumer
needs.

Different classification is made on the homepage 1. Platinum 2. Premium.

They have a search engine. The search engine is much classified helping the
buyer to provide proper detail about the house/property they are looking
about.
They are attracting customer from all over India but in recent last year they
found consumer attracting towards buying property from abroad. The website
has been hardly for 4-5 years and they have faced a positive response. 67%
income has increased because of this product. But it faces competition from
99 acres.com which deals in similar kind of product selling.

40
 They sell space according to the upcoming project in the city to attract the
buyers. They advise the seller to post on everyday basis so that they post
does not get old as the page refreshes every time the post becomes older
whereby the visibility of the post becomes less. The more on top the more the
visibility more attraction it carries as the buyer wont search for all the post for
eh if there are 160 post related to the buyer requirement than the buyer would
maximum look at 80-90 post maximum out of that 160 post where the visibility
of the previous day post become less as it moves down and the chances of
buyer not viewing it becomes very less day by day.

According to the research done by times group for magic bricks the result
states that print media will be gradually decline as more population are getting
attracted towards internet creating traffic and increasing the use of internet
and making digital media more popular over internet. This not only help them
to cover local market but also on national level it help to create traffic and
make people aware. Within a period of 3-4 years magic bricks have
considerably done a very good business.

3. We were introduced to digital optimum media. This is basically selling space

in the supplementary edition. It is editing article on the demand of the buyer
and according to the buyer need. It is said to be unethical at times but group
(Times Group) demands it. In such cases the information in the article needs
to be true the editor cannot write and print anything on the buyers demand.
The editor needs to consider FACT while editing and filling context for the
article. We were taking to visit at a client studio. He wanted an advertisement
printed related to his karaoke studio.

According to their experience they say that it is very difficult convincing the
client towards digital optimal media as there is a very slight difference
between DOM and advertisement.

DOM acts as a supplement to advertisement. Advertisement and DOM both

go hand in hand. They try making Baroda times actually news related to

41
 Baroda rather than including more news related to Mumbai,Delhi or any other
city they aim making it actually a city edition putting article related to the
events happening in the city.

My experience to the studio taught me that to deal with client tantrums at

times becomes difficult as they need may not be completely fulfilled due to
few restraints according to the rules and regulation and standards set by TOI.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

OBJECTIVES

1) To compare the two best magazines of TOI with its competitors

42
 2) To find out which magazines of TOI are not very popular and reason for
their reduced interest gathering and low sales.

3) To find out the effect of advertisements produced in magazines of TOI

4) To find out if the reasons for recurrence of customers

5) To study the customer service quality of TOI

6) To find out the fall behinds of TOI magazines.

RESEARCH DESIGN

-TYPE: Quantitative research

-METHODOLOGY: The Research Design used by us for the purpose to solve

the above mentioned objectives is-

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH DESIGN.

-INQUIRY MODE

For fulfilling our objective, we have prepared a questionnaire which is mostly

close ended and some of the questions are open ended.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

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POPULATION: Our population comprises of a households and commercial
places in Vadodara

SAMPLING FRAME: Our Sampling Frame consists of households and

commercial places in Manjalpur, Vasna, Fatehgunj and Nizampura areas in
Vadodara.

SAMPLE SIZE: 200 individuals from households and commercial places were
selected as Sample.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE: Area Sampling was used.

SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION: Primary data was collected through

questionnaire.

COLLECTION OF DATA: Primary data was collected by means of

questionnaire.

Data Analysis and Interpretations:

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Que 1: Do you read magazines? Yes / No

READERS 100
NON-READERS 200

Sales

100; 33%

200; 67%

Reader Non Reader

Out of 300 people interviewed , 200 dont read magazines while the remaining
100 people read magazines.

Que 2: Reason for not reading magazines

45
Reasons Freq
ency
Price of Magazines too 48
high
Not enough time for 5
reading
Internet is a substitute 147

Reasons for not reading magazines

160 147
140

120

100

80

60 48
40

20
5
0

Sales Freq ency

Internet being the biggest source of information is clearly the reason why
people dont read magazines as much as before.

Que 3: Age

46
OVERALL

Age group Frequency

10-19 98
20-29 150
30-39 35
40-49 17

age wise distribution of interviewees

10 to 19 years 20 to 29 years 30 to 39 years 40 to 49 years

17; 6%

35; 12%

98; 33%

150; 50%

AMONGST THE READERS

Age group Frequency

10-19 35
20-29 30
30-39 120
40-49 15

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 Age Distribution of readers

40 to 49
8% 10 to 19
18%

20 to 29
15%

30 to 39
60%

Most young people dont read magazines today but middle aged people still
do.

Que 4: preference for various external stimuli

Smart TV Reading PC Radio Other

Phone
Most 189 35 0 66 0 10
preferred
Least 10 35 189 20 26 20
preferenc
e

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Among-st readers:

Smart TV Reading PC Radio Other

Phone
Most 130 39 2 19 0 10
preferred
Least 8 28 130 5 28 1
preferenc
e

In both categories as readers and non readers , cell phone is the most
preferred form of entertainment.

Que 5: Do you prefer watching advertisements?

Media Very low low medium high

TV 289 11 0 0
Magazines 1 0 50 249
Radio 56 198 34 12
Internet Surfing 256 38 3 3
During Movies 35 90 146 29

People dont mind watching ads in magazines.All other media are preferred as
ad- less as possible.

Que 6: Have you currently subscribed to any magazine?

49
yes 78
no 222

50
 Any magazine subscriptions

yes; 78; 26%

no; 222; 74%

yes no

Que 7: If you have subscribed to any magazine , is it from TOI group?

yes 38
no 40

Femina Filmfar Hello Stardu Vogue Readers Gruh Sarita BBC

shob
e st Digest Knowle
ha
dge
12 18 1 10 2 7 20 11 7

TOI has dominated the market with few products but other products still need a
boost

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 Subcriptions
25

20
20
18

15
12
11
10
10
7 7

5
2
1
0

Que 8: Have you ever subscribed to any TOI magazine ever ?

Yes 53
No 247

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 Have you ever Subscribed a TOI magazine?
300

247
250

200

150

100

53
50

0
yes no

Que 9: Did you continue? Why not?

yes 22
no 31

Reason for discontinuation

Poor Service Poor Articles Other

21 4 6

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 Reason for discontinuation
4; 13%
6; 19%

21; 68%

poor articles poor service other

Poor service has lost TOI many customers.Content , though is quite satisfactory
for most readers.

Que 10: If the number of advertisements were to be increased , what would be

the effect on your preference for the magazine?

Increased preference 136

Decreased preference 12
No difference 52

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 Effect of Increase in Advertisements

No difference; 52; 26%

Increased preference
Decreased preference
No difference
Decreased preference; 12; 6%

Increased preference; 136; 68%

Magazine readers , counter intuitively prefer to have more advertisements

compared to other media.

Que 11: Did you know about the magazines belonged to TOI

Femina 68
Filmfare 88
Hello 21
Grazia 0
BBC TopGear 69
BBC Knowledge 23
Femina Hindi 68
Good Homes 12
Lonely Planet 35

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 Knowledge about TOI brand association
350

300

250

200 212
232 231 232
279 277 265
150 288 288

100

50

68 88 21 12 69 23 68 12 35
0

Most people dont have the idea that the magazines are a product from BCCI

Que 12:Knowing that a particular magazine is from TOI group , will make you
buy it more or less?

Yes 223
No 77

DOES TOI BRAND NAME ASSCOCIATION IMPROVES BUYING DECISION

77

223

Yes No

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 As TOI Brand name has a positive image, association should be propagated
better to take advantage of established Brand Name

Que 13: Did you know about the on going 50 % discount for all TOI
magazines?Does the offer affect your buying decision?

yes 54
no 246

Did you know about the discount offer?

54

246

yes no

Que 14 :Does the offer affect your buying decision?

yes 35

no 265

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 Effect of Discount on Buying Decision
35; 12%

265; 88%

yes no

Aggressive promotions are required for potential customers to know about

know about the products.

Que 15 : If the magazines were made available on a digital platform at very

nominal prizes , would you consider subscribing them?(to non readers and
people who never subscribed to toi or stopped the subscription )

yes 68

no 184

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Will introduction of digital magazines affect your buying decision

68; 27%

184; 73%

yes no

Thus digital editions for TOI magazines should be started as soon as possible.

FINDINGS

1.There is a dominance of products from TOI in Baroda Market , but there is

scope for much more increase in capture of market share.
2.The brand name TOI is associated with trustworthiness and quality.But the use
of brand name hasnt been done properly.

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3.Magazine market is slowly being reduced by Online
4.Advertisements in magazines dont bother readers , in fact readers prefer the
advertisements in print media.
5.People are not willing to spend money on print media anymore.
6.Discount Schemes and subscription schemes affect buying behaviour in a
positive way. But there is not enough awareness about prevailing offers.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1.Improvement in services and distribution channel is

required.Most customers do not renew subscriptions for un
timely delivery of products. A better distribution channel is
must.
2.A referral scheme should be implemented as word of mouth
sales can not be ignored.
3.Increasing the number of advertisements and reducing the price of product as
much as possible
4.Introduction of Digital editions is must.
5.New business model in which revenue should be based on advertisements
rather than product pricing as people are not willing to pay for information
anymore.
6.Change in content is not required but change is promotion policy is
must.People must know that the magazines belong to TOI and there are
various schemes going on for new subscribers.

CONCLUSION:

Magazines , though at one point of time were extremely popular but in

todays day and age with tremendously fast internet data available so
inexpensively and
Easily , people are willing to spend lesser and lesser for sources of
information and entertainment.TV and World Wide Web has incresead the
absolute thresh hold so much that magazines sometime fail to serve as apt
stimulus for generation X.That being mentioned , Magazines and print
media can never be fully replaced and will keep on surviving for atleast a
few more decades.And India being a third world country organisations
like BCCI can still thrive with their print media products provided proper
service and cheaper prices are embraced which is possible only if revenue
generation is based and focused on advertisements rather than the price of
products.

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 References
:
1. World Wide Media. BBC Good Homes. [ONLINE]
https://www.facebook.com/goodhomesmagazineindia/info.

2. Ali S., . A Study of Consumer Behaviour & Loyalty In Print

Media Challenges & strategic prescriptions with Special
reference to English, Hindi, Marathi News Paper readers-
Mumbai. ABHINAV. 1 (4), pp.64-70

3. ArcGate . Indian Magazine Market Overview. [ONLINE]

Available at: http://arcgate.com/blog/2010/09/29/indian-
magazine-market-overview/.

4. World Wide Media . About Grazia. [ONLINE] Available at:

Available at: http://grazia.co.in/about-us.

5. World Wide Media (). About Lonely Planet. [ONLINE]

Available at:
https://www.facebook.com/LonelyPlanetMagazineIndia/info.

6. Times Group . About Hometrends. [ONLINE] Available at:

http://www.timesgroup.com/brands/publishing/magazines/home
-trends-english.html

. 7. Times Group . About BBC Knowledge. [ONLINE] Available at:

http://www.timesgroup.com/brands/publishing/magazines/bbc-
knowledgeenglish.html

. 8. Ernest & Young . Indian magazine segment: Navigating new

growth avenues. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.ey.com/IN/en/Industries/Media---
Entertainment/Indian-magazine-segment.

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 9. Vital Business Media . Go East, young journalist: India
publishing market is hot. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.emediavitals.com/content/go-east-youngjournalist-
india-publishing-market-hot.

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