The Future of the Indian Print Media Industry in the Digital age

Nachiket Tekawade

Abstract:
This paper deals with the print media industry in India and the challenges it fails from falling readership and
emergence of news on the digital platform. The researcher intends to predict the future of the Print Media
industry by taking into account the socio-political, cultural and economic aspects that govern the industry.
Introduction:
On 31st December 2012, American magazine Newsweek ceased its Print edition to go completely online. The
challenging economics of print and publishing was stated to be the reason by then Editor-in-chief Tina Brown.
To quote her: “Exiting print is an extremely difficult moment for all of us who love the romance of print and the
unique weekly camaraderie of those hectic hours before the close on Friday night. But as we head for the 80th
anniversary of Newsweek next year we must sustain the journalism that gives the magazine its purpose—and
embrace the all-digital future.”
As the internet grew over the last two decades, It has emerged as a powerful platform for news. The decline of
the print has become a global phenomenon. But in India, with 110 million copies sold every day, is the second
largest market for newspapers, second only to China and many researchers say that this market is not that
vulnerable to the internet as many of its counterparts across the world. Out of the top 100 dailies according to
circulation, 19 are from India. While newspaper circulation declined by 9.2% in USA, it has increased by a
phenomenal 16% in India over 2000-2010 Pew research(2010). The advertising revenues have gone down by
25% in the American print media industry while they have increased 13% in India. And this is when the
newspaper reach is only around 38% of Indian population. With growing literacy, the newspaper circulation is
slated to grow by 8.7 percent between 2012 and 2017. As the middle class in India grows, the circulation of the
vernacular language press is going up. (Kumar 2010)
But there are a lot of issues facing the print. The limitations in the literacy levels across the country and
furthermore the unawareness about the Indian society among its members, over dependence on advertising,
compromising content and most importantly falling time spent. The literacy in India is stuck at a shocking 60%
and that is when measurement of literacy in India is the capability to sign. This puts to question the actual
number of people who are capable of and take interest in reading newspapers. According to Indian readership
survey done along with Hansa research, While circulation of print increased from 232 million to 351 million
between 2000 and 2012, the time spent has decreased from 32 minutes to 28 minutes. Kohli –Khandekar(2013)
Indian newspapers were born out of more political needs rather than commercial one. During the freedom
struggle the newspapers acted as the main medium to carry the message of freedom. This was carried forward
after independence and has given rise to the large number of national dailies like The Hindu, The Indian
Express, The Times of India or Dainik Jagran, Navbharat times in Hindi, or Malayala Manorama in Malayalam,
etc. The number of newspapers have grown from around 4000 in 1941 to more than 62000 in 2011. But with the
rise of local newspapers in vernacular language that satisfy the need of the local consumers with local news,
entertainment and gossip, the national dailies circulation has been hit, the English ones being the worst hit.
Because of the rise of the internet and internet literacy among the youth, the English media consumption is
slowly becoming the monopoly of the Digital media. The boradbrand penetration as of 2008 was 7.3% which is
quite low but is increasing at a steady rate and is predicted to grow up to 13% by 2018 not taking into
consideration any fast-tracked internet growth plans from the government side. (PricewaterhouseCoopers 2014)
About 80% of a newspaper’s revenue comes from advertising rest from circulation. This over dependence on ad
revenue was brought about from a need to make the print a profitable business but will also be the reason for its
fall. The amount of money spent on advertising in Print has increased from 79200 million in 2005 to over
150000 million in 2012. As Advertises eat into content space, the newspapers have lost their call, The Times of
India being the perfect example. But a lot of advertisements are also showing a shift towards the internet
platform the most disturbing trend to be those of the “classifieds”, one of the traditional partners in the Print
advertising growth.
While Print reaches over 350 million readers, Digital reaches just over 200 million. But the growth is
unstoppable. With growing literacy and growth of the internet to India’s rural parts, more people are taking to
the internet. The advertising on Digital platform is not a problem. The revenue increases without affecting the
content space, which is to say, unlimited. The growth of video platform on Internet and the ability to encrypt it
with the written work, is giving the consumer a multimedia experience. The growth of social media is also one
more factor that is pushing news consumers online. The growth of devices and apps that make news
consumption a hassle free and continuous process has to be also considered.
The widespread digital divide in India is right now the only hope that the print can rely on. As internet has
become a domestic phenomenon, the print has seen a decrease in its value.
The researcher aims to consider all these factors while exploring the various possible roads that the Print
industry might take in a few years. The problems that will be looked into are given below.

Objectives:
1) To find out whether Indian Print Media is at threat from the internet
2) To understand the readership patterns of the print consumers and the effect of the internet on them.
3) To understand the extent of internet media consumption in India
4) To do quantitative comparison of Print news consumption against that of Digital News consumption
5) To do qualitative analysis of Print Media consumption against that of Digital news consumption
6) To qualitatively understand the future of the print media industry in the scenario of digital growth.

Literature review:
In her work Indian Media business (4th edition), Vanita Kohli-Khandekar, a media researcher points out data
released by Indian readership survey (IRS) and Hansa research. The daily time spent reading newspapers has
decreased from 35 minutes in 2005 to 28 minutes in 2012 while the daily time spent on internet media
consumption has increased from 60 minutes in 2005 to 79 minutes in 2012.Vanita Kohli-Khandekar (2013). In
the same book, she points out the gap between newspaper reach and time spent on it and comparing it to other
media. She has explained the literacy and education statistics and their effect on print media consumption.
While she talks about legal and commercial aspects of the print industry, Kohli-Khandekar also looks into the
rising power of the vernacular press and the hold that it has over India’s increasing middle-class consumers.
(Kohli-Khandekar, 2013)

N Ram points out that while in United States newspaper circulation has fallen down by 17 percent between
2006 and 2010 it has increased by around 16 percent in the Asia Pacific region. He believes that India and
China are regarded as the leaders in the global print media industry. This brings into another aspect of the
research which deals with the uniqueness of the Indian print media industry. N Ram (2011)
Registrar of Newspapers in India (RNI) released data which is available on the internet shows that on 31st march
2006 there were 62,483 registered newspapers in India. (RNI 2006)
Readership surveys done by Indian readership Survey in partnership with Neilsen for the year 2014 will be used
in the research. They point out readership statistics of leading Indian print media outlets in English, Hindi,
Malayalam and other languages. It surveyed around 2672 lakh households consisting 63.6 % literate population.
It found out Dainik Jagran as the most read newspaper in vernacular language and Times of India as the most
read in English. But as another study convinces, Dainik Jagran and a few other dailies like Dainik Bhaskar,
Patrika and Hindustan can no longer be considered a regional newspaper as they have a high reach around the
Hindi heartland. (Indian readership Survey 2014)
Readership survey 2013) done alone with Hansa research is reviewed much in Kohli-Khandekar’s book Indian
Media business and has statistics on time spent on Print and digital mediums as well as advertising revenues.
C.P.Chandrasekhar(2013) in his work “Business of news in the age of internet” studies the global scenario of
the fast disappearing Print Media Industry. Inputs will be taken from this study. . Chadrasekhar believes that the
growth of online news will continue across the world and will hit the Indian newspaper industry sooner or later.
(2013)
Robin Jeffrey in Indian language newspapers and why they grow traces the growth of Indian newspapers and
the socio-political and economic aspects that influence their importance and readership. Jeffrey (1993)
In another article “Oriya…Identifying with newspapers” Jeffrey decodes the relationship between the newspaper
and the democratic machinery (Jeffrey 1997)
Arun Mehta and Akhtar Shahid in their article “Promoting Internet in South Asia” deal with the various social
issues that are an obstruction in the growth of Internet consumption in South Asia like Illiteracy, Gender Bias,
Cost- ineffectiveness, language, etc. (Akhtar, Mehta 1999)
The Pew research Project for excellence in Journalism (2010) in their study The state of the news media comes
out with some interesting data about the media industry. It says that while the circulation of newspapers have
declined by 9.2% in USA and 4.3% in Europe it is growing by around 16.4% in South America, 16.1% in Asia
and 14.2% in Africa. In India, the circulation has just decreased by 0.8% in 2008-09 but predicted an increase
by around 5.7% in the next 5 years. There is an average increase in consumption, resources and competition in
the Indian Print Media industry. The paper also says that the advertising revenues have decreased by aroun 25%
in USA but have increased by around 13% in India. Between 2000-10.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers(2014) in Global enterntainment Media – India summary says that Internet advertising
revenue increased from $113 million to $341 million from 2009 to 2013. It stated an increase in broadband
penetration from 7.7% in 2013 to a predicted 11.3% in 2018. It said that there was a shortage of premium
content in local language newspapers but it still appealed to their fixed audience. With a 7.5% increase in
circulation it said that Print in India was more resilient. It says that Newspaper ads are the second largest
medium of advertising after Television.
Afaqs reporter (2014) in a report called Print Special say that more than 90% of print readers in India prefer
Newspapers in vernacular langauges. It talks about the growth of the vernacular print media industry and how it
is helping the print media in India sustain. It also gives a detailed analysis of circulation of carious newspapers
in English, Hindi and vernacular languages.
Sanjay Kumar(2013) in Performance and Challenges of Newspapers in India: A Case Study on English versus
Vernacular Dailies in India gives a detaied analysis of the challenges faced by the newspaper business in India
and gives comparative case studies of English and Vernacular newspapers
Enrst and Young LLP (2016) 8 Key trends in digital content consumption says that The Indian digital media
segment is set for disruption with growth expected to reach INR 200 billion (INR 20000 crores) by 2020 with
digital ad spend expected to grow at 23-28%. India has a large and growing population – young internet using
consumers with rising earnings potential and disposable income. This demographic has historically been and
will continue to be, an early adopter of new technology and new models of media consumption. The
demographics convey a rise in demand for digital content.
The users and gratification theory deals with how one consumes media and the satisfaction that is received from
it. It is important to understand the behviour of news consumers and their preferences. (Elihu Katz, Winter
1973-1974)
The appetizers theory deals with the effect that one medium has on another. It explores how one medium and
the business associated with it is responsible for its effects on other mediums. This will be important to
carefully analyse the effect of internet on Print industry.

Review Summary:
Basically all review is related to the growth of Internet in India, the increase in digital news consumption, the
situation of the Print Media industry and statistical data. An additional focus is put on research of vernacular
dailies. This is done because of their importance when we talk about the Print Media industry. As stated in the
review, 90% of print consumers read in vernacular langauges. Which is why, understanding and acknowledging
their growth is a primary step towards doing research on Indian newspapers. Understanding the growth of
internet in India is also vital because that will affect how many news consumers will turn to the internet. Factors
like literacy and awareness also affect the news consumption and have been covered sufficiently by the
reviewed literature.

Theoritical framework
The theories that I intend to use in my research include the uses and gratification theory and appetizers theory.
Uses and Gratification theory is used to see why and how people consume a given media. (Elihu Katz, Winter
1973-1974). I intend to explore the media usage patterns of print and digital using this theory. The appetizer
theory looks at the effect one media has on another. I intend to use this theory to see the effect of print on digital
media.
Methodology:

Quantitative analysis will be done by conducting surveys among groups that use Print, digital or both as a form
of media consumption. Questions will be designed to understand the behavior of news consumers and their
preferences and how internet is penetrating and affecting their news consumption habits Content analysis of
newspaper content and understanding of their targeted audience has also been included.

Qualitative analysis will be conducted by going through research analysis and results of earlier done surveys like
Indian Readership survey, data of Registrar of Newspapers in India, etc. The research will also depend on case
studies of different newspapers in India both in English and vernacular languages. The research will also depend
on certain reports of Afaqs , PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Neilsen that have been mentioned in the bibliography
and literature review.

Research Problem:
The primary question that I want to answer in my research paper is as follows
1) Will Print industry continue to grow and sustain inspite of the unstoppable digital growth?
Apart from this I will attempt at answering the following questions:
1) Is the digital divide helping the Print Media industry in India survive?
2) If the print media industry survives, will the Indian newspaper be able to carry forward its national reach
and political nature?
3) Is the vernacular press free from the threats of the internet?
4) Can the over dependence on ad revenue be tackled?
5) Will growing literacy and internet literacy affect print readership?

Research and Data analysis:

When the internet became a platform for various businesses following its introduction and growth in the
country, The Indian media could not affort to keep out of this internet market. Websites of Indian newspapers
were formed following the internet penetrating most urban upper class and middle class households. Tehelka
was perhaps one of the first media company which started out on the internet before they came out with a print
version. Many in the media were apprehensive of the growth of the internet media, but few could stop it. Their
fears were also not unfounded. By the time, the internet media was popular in India, it had already started eating
on the business of the print in the west where because of better internet facilities, internet literacy and social
prosperity, the internet became a more popular medium to consume news. This caused a huge loss to the
traditional media in those countries.
According to Pew Research (2010) , The newspaper circulation has gone down by 9.2% in the period of 2008-
09. But Sanjay Kumar (2013) claims that Internet is yet to cause any decline in the print circulation in India. He
states the low internet penetration, lack of internet literacy and resources and the reading habits of Indians. The
Hansa research claims that Print circulation has increased from 232 million readers in 2000 to 352 million
readers in 2012.
But another aspect of the research by Hansa also shows that while circulation has gone up, the time spent on
reading print has gone down. It shows that time spent has gone down from 65 minutes in 2000 to 79 minutes in
2012. It also shows that the internet users in India have gone up from 3 million in 2000 to 42 million in 2012. It
is still a positive news because inspite of expanding internet growth, the print circulation has still managed to
maintain an upward trajectory. But while the internet media consumers have increased by 144 % from 2008 to
2012, Newspaper users have increased only by 10%.
Another important factor is the growing number of news apps and News Websites. But Sanjay Kumar (2010)
doesn’t seem very worried about it. He says that apps have still not been able to contribute any significant
income to the media houses. Also Afaqs reporter(2016) claims that only 1 in 10 Indians has visited a news
website in 2015.
What sets the Indian newspaper apart and insulates it from the world-wide trend of decline?
There are two factors. First, the internet penetration in India is too low. Internet has still reached only 34% of
India’s populace (Intenetlivestats). Moreover, the broadband penetration is just around 13%. Another factor is
that the newspapers in India are delivered at home. This is an old tradition of newspapers that is missing in the
west, where most of the circulation happens off news-stands. The abundance of labour is a huge factor that
plays its part. The third and most important factor is that of vernacular languages. The internet in India still
remains pre-dominantly English. People still prefer newspapers for content in vernacular languages. According
to Indian readership survey, 90% of people in India still read news in vernacular langauges. If the internet
affects the print, it hits the print harder, as The English newspapers growth in India has slowed down to 3.5%
annually while the vernacular medium is high at 10% annually. This is basically because the English news
consumers live generally in the cities. But inspite of the vernacular medium of having such a wide reach,
English newspapers have the highest amount of revenue. Considering the fact that 80% of revenue comes from
advertising Kohli (2013) , this shows that advertising companies have failed to acknowledge or underestimated
the importance of the vernacular medium. Also because advertisers automatically value someone as a
prospective customer based on whether they read an English newspaper. The Print Media still remains the 2nd
most preferred method for advertising after Print. But the internet is till catching up. The advertising revenue
spent on internet in India has increased from US$ 113 Million in 2009 to $341 million in 2013. So it is upto the
vernacular dailies to keep up with the English newspapers if the print media has to survive. This gap also causes
a gap directly between the advertising rates of English and vernacular newspapers. This gap will only decrease
with the increase in purchase power across the population that consumes vernacular media. This population
usually stays in the small towns and villages of India. In USA, the local newspapers take up around 80% of
Print ads. But these newspapers have also failed to survive against the rising internet platform. This also causes
the vernacular newspapers to rely more on circulation prices. The cost of times of India along with its
supplements comes upto around INR 5 while that of Sakaal a Marathi daily comes upto around INR 8.

India has around 60000 newspapers in 22 languages and the numbers are growing also in circulation. It is
indeed questionable how Indian Print Media is doing so well while its counterparts are on a verge of complete
failure. The answer can be found in the fact that India is called a developing or rising economy, The print
industry in India is completely different from most markets in world. There are several factors that set us apart.
First is literacy. Around 60% of India is literate .This is a shocking number. And this is when literacy is just
determined by an ability to sign one’s name. But for the print media, this is a good news. Because even with
such a low literacy level and even lower education level, the increase in print circulation numbers fails to cease.
With increasing literacy levels, the print circulation is slated to grow further, only if the internet doesn’t hit first.
Another factor Moreover Sanjay Kumar(2013) states that while the newspaper reach in Urban India is 85%, the
reach in rural areas is just 33%. This low number is again an opportunity for the newspapers. But again, should
they choose to reach them before the internet does.

Case studies:
The Hindi factor:

It will be not fair to include Hindi in the list of vernacular languages. News in this language is not consumed at a very
regional level. There are Hindi readers distributed throughout the country, especially in the northern belt of Punjab,
Rajasthan, Delhi, UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chattisgarh. But it is also to be noted that
the Hindi newspapers haven’t failed to acknowledge this strength. Most of them have braved their way out of their
home turfs to expand to other states whether Hindi newspapers have a strong market and have developed a Pan India
presence thus increasing their growth. In 1995, the Dainik Bhaskar newspaper decided to move out of its home turf of
Madhya Pradesh to look for markets elsewhere. Today it has 36 editions and sub editions across India. It was also one of
the shareholders in founding of the English newspaper DNA in Mumbai which proved to be a strong competitor to the
established Times of India. However it later sold its share to its partner Zee Media. The Dainik Jagran has also expanded
its reach and has around 37 editions around the country. Acquisitions are also another method by which newspapers are
stabilizing their business. Jagran Prakashan bought the failing Nai Duniya newspaper in Madhya Pradesh recently . The
Dainik Bhaskar group also acquired the Saurashtra Samachar newspaper. This pan India presence is helping the
newspapers strengthening their business and increase readership. The Hindi newspaper circulation is set to grow at
around 11% annually. Kumar(2010)

The Southern factor:

The overall print industry in South India is estimated to be `6,265 crore in 2012 of which the regional print industry is
estimated to be `2,970 crore. Kerala contributes 37 per cent while Andra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu contribute 26 per cent
and 23 per cent respectively to the total regional print market in South India . (Afaqs Reporter2016). This increasing
strength of the southern press has not much studied upon by either the vernacular press or the English and Hindi press.
Out of the total population who read the vernacular press, 17% come from Tamil Nadu- (Kumar 2010). Tamil
newspapers are also gaining a pan India presence through opening circulations in Metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore
which have a huge south Indian population. This could be a significant market for Print Media businesses if they choose
to count on it. But compared to Northern Hindi press and other vernacular press, the southern press has decided to
move online. The Malayalam Manorama group which also publishes the English magazine “the Week” has decided to
move online by signing a contract with Yahoo to set up a news portal.

The Bengali Market:

The Bengali Market is a peculiar one. It remains the only market where the English doesn’t hold command over the
language dailies. Reading a newspaper is a matter of pride for every Bengali and is a part of the social life of Bengalis.
Also the readers of Bengali newspapers show signs of high literacy and awareness (Afaqs reporter 2016).

Content relevance with case studies:

Content relevance is an important factor to look at when we talk about Print Media. All these 60000 newspapers in 22
languages cater to some audience. Getting the audience into the habit of reading is a newspaper’s first responsibility,
and to do that, one cannot overlook the content relevance factor. The content of the newspaper and how it develops
followership defines the future of a newspaper in the certain region. One of the most important reasons why
newspapers are losing followership and more importantl Time spent is because the content fails to interest the
audience. The newspaper cannot be arrogant and choose what it wants to write about. If it does, it should accept that
the readership is limited. The Indian Express comes third/fourth in respective surveys when it comes to circulation. But
the people at Express know, according to Shubhajit Sengupta a journalist with CNN News 18, what their target audience
is -“Whoever matters in Delhi, reads the newspaper” he says.

Some are trying to balance the both. When The Hindu, a leading national daily opened office in Mumbai, they decided to
open an entertainment section: something which was not common in the newspaper. Malini Parthasarthy then Editor-
in-chief in her Op-ed on the first page of the first issue, justified her actions saying that Mumbai being the entertainment
capital of the country, People there are directly involved with the entertainment industry and not fulfilling their
information needs won’t be fair.

The DNA In its most recent changeover both in the management and the look of the newspaper decided to reduce the
City column to just 2 pages. They are one of the first ones to realize that nobody living in cities looks to newspapers for
daily news, especially in English ones. DNA has now become a youth centric newspaper with columns on Entertainment,
Faith, Youth pages, Sports, etc. and the focus is on writing magazine-like features.

Also supplements have also been started by many newspapers that target specific audiences from school going kids,
college students to retired personnel. Jagran Prakashan especially started the City Plus edition to target the youth in the
houses which consume the Dainik Jagran. The Times of India’s Mumbai Mirror has established itself as a competition to
its parent newspaper. HT café and Bombay Times are other such supplements that are brought in to fill the gap in the
newspapers.

The Political Newspaper:

One of the most important factor that is often forgotten or overlooked while we talk about the “news business” is that
the newspaper is actually more than a business. The Press often referred to as the 4th pillar of democracy has been
known as the guardian of democracy. These values, you may agree or not, still exist within the newsrooms and the trust
in newspapers still exists within it’s consumer. We can see certain examples. In Kerala, the newspaper habit was
entrenched in Individuals since the 1960s a time of political turmoil in the country. According to Robin Geoffrey(),
Newspapers like Malyala Manorama established a strong loyal following among Kerala’s youth that can be seen even
today. It first gained fame for it’s excellent coverage of the Naxalite attacks on police stations in Kerala, after which
Manorama became a trend among the highly politically active citizenry of the state.

Similarly, when NT Rama Rao stood for elections in Andhra Pradesh, one politically supportive paper Eenadu became
quite famous among Telugu readers. The circulation rose to 1,98,000 copies.

Indian Express gained huge fame as an honest newspaper after it’s silent protest against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
during the emergency.

Similarly during Narendra Modi’s campaign in 2014, citizens had become extra conscious about political affairs. Young
students especially most of whom had grown up in the Congress era wanted to know what Modi’s election could mean
to them. A habit of reading about politics was developed among many. This could be seen by the amount of activity on
social media pages of News Media outlets, etc.
So it is true that Newspapers also have a political and social role to play and it also influences the news consumption
habits of individuals.

Statistics of newspapers in India:

Newspaper Language Circulation

Dainik Jagran Hindi 16631000
Hindustan Hindi 14746000
Dainik Bhaskar Hindi 13830000
Malayali Manorama Malyalam 8803000
Daily Thanti Tamil 8283000
Rajasthan Patrika Hindi 7905000
Amar Ujala Hindi 7808000
The Times of India English 7590000
Matrubhumi Malayalam 6020000
Lokmat Marathi 5887000

The table shows the low standing of English newspapers compared to vernacular newspapers in terms of circulation still
Times of India has more revenue from advertising compared to any other newspaper

Survey analysis

I also went ahead with a survey to find out my own data that would help me arrive to a better conclusion about the
topic. Respondents came from Varying age groups and different demographics. Questions asked were related to news
consumption habits of individuals. They helped me form an opinion about what news consumers expect. The analysis is
here as follows. :

1)

Out of the total respondents , around 40.3% of them consumed news on a daily basis. Another 16% said that they read
news more than once in a day. The rest of the respondents either read news frequently or rarely but not daily

2)
Around 65% of respondents said that they consumed news on internet using PCs, Tablets, Smartphones while only 14.3
said that they read newspapers. Other 20.6% claimed to use television news.

3)

57.1 % of the respondents are subscribed to one or more newspaper. While 42.9% are not.

4)
This figure shows the preferences of content of the respondents who responded to the survey. Politics and National
affairs finds the largest numbers.

5)

Around 85.7% of respondents claimed to being habituated to reading news on the internet, while only 14.3% said they
never did so.

6)
Around 76.2% of respondents use their smartphones to access news on the internet while 22.2% use a personal computer
or laptop.

7)

Around 87% of respondents say that they look for more than one source of news while reading with around
33.33% going through more than 3.

8)
Around 34% of respondents said they are subscribed to one or more online news website/magazine

9)

Around 39 % respondents go through e-papers regularly.

10)
Around 60.3% of respondents are subscribed to one or more News-apps on their smart phone.

11)

63.5% respondents thought News updates are more convenient in comparison to full length articles and save more
time.

12)
All 100% correspondents were active on some or the other social media channel with 87.3% using Facebook
itself.

13)

65.1% of respondents followed one or more media organizations on the social media through their facebook pages
or twitter profiles.

14)
Around 30% of respondents participate in online discussions on news platforms or their social media platforms.

15)

Around 82% respondents said that they or someone in their household consumes news in a vernacular language.

Data Analysis:

As we see in Graph 1 above, maximum number of respondents check for news daily and sometimes more than
once daily. So there is a depiction of interest in following news. This interest could also mean that the respondents
would turn to online medium to stay with current affairs throughout the day and reading the newspaper once in a
day would not suffice their needs. This is further proven by data in graph 5 where we see that maximum number
of correspondents say they use internet to access news. In graph 2, it is further seen that maximum number of
correspondents also use internet as the only medium to consume news. But we see in graph 3 that more than 52%
of correspondents are subscribed to one or more newspaper. This shows that while correspondents show interest
in reading a newspaper, the internet has been preferred as the ideal medium. Further in graph 6 we see that 76.2
% of correspondents use their smartphones to access news. This shows that smart phones are the most preferred
method of consuming news as they are easy to carry and provide on-the-go news. Further respondents have shown
affinity toward online news when we see that 34% of correspondents are subscribed to one or more news websites
and 39% of them also going through e-papers. Reading e-papers signifies an affinity for the traditional organized
news pattern that is provided by newspapers. 60.3% of respondents also say that they show interest in news-apps.
This further depicts that respondents are more interested in keeping updated with the latest happenings. It also
opposes the fact that News-apps are not popular in India. 63.5% respondents declare in graph 11 that news-apps
save time and that is the reason for them using them. The survey also shows that correspondents are highly active
on social media, and it is becoming another source for them to access news. This survey has been done among
students mostly staying on educational campuses where they do not have enough access to Television media and
also print. Some of the respondents are from the cities but still live in very developed urban areas like Mumbai,
Pune and Delhi. The respondents are also educated with minimum qualification that being of 12th pass. They do
not represent the whole country but show that at least in urban areas, Print is no longer the most viable choice and
that Internet there has become a future. The survey though shows in graph 15 that 82.5% of respondents or
someone in their household was a consumer of news in Vernacular news. As the vernacular news hasn’t
successfully reached the online medium this proves that newspaper circulation in vernacular medium even in
cities is there to stay. Also maximum number of respondents said that they were interested in Political news and
National affairs, which is an interesting fact and shows that citizens still show active interest in political and social
issues.

Scope for Further research:

The research surveys done are limited to those people living in the urban areas. The preferences of the people
living in small towns and villages could add more information about the future of the print Industry

The research does not focus much on the new online content websites that have come up like Scroll, Catch News,
Wire, Scoop Whoop, India Times, etc which have a lot of following. These are new media outlets and also have
interesting content that is focused at the youth and also educates them on lot of social and political issues.

The research does not focus on the opportunities that the internet medium offers but focuses more on the
challenges the print faces due to the online medium.

The research does not research into a lot of vital regional markets like North east, Punjab, Kashmir, etc.
Conclusion:

Internet has certainly established itself as a platform for news consumption in India. Though the research shows
many reasons that may depict that the Indian print media is not that vulnerable to internet as many of its
counterparts in the west, today or tomorrow it will have to take up the challenge. I come to the conclusion that it
is in the better of the Indian print medium to start working on its strengths and tackle the Internet threat before
it’s too late.

The opportunities that are seen as of now are as follows.

1) The vernacular print industry: It is still a strong market owing to India’s large and growing middle class
population. It will be a long time before online content in vernacular language becomes popular.
2) The growing literacy levels: The literacy levels in India are still in the growing stage. Before the new real
literate population chooses its media, the newspaper has to start working on it’s strategy to counter the
internet.
3) The rural population: The newspapers are still to reach the rural population whose financial and social
conditions are yet to improve. The reach of newspapers in these regions is just 34%. The Indian newspaper
has to look at this as an opportunity and not as a failure.
4) The newspaper industry is growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 9% (Kumar 2010)
5) The growing middle class population is showing increasing advertising expenditure on regional
newspapers.

The newspapers are hence to work on strategies to keep firm controls on markets where they are strong, especially
the regional ones. This can be done by improving content relevance of newspapers. The demographics of the
regions have to be studied, and new interesting content that can draw audience has to be planned and executed.
The newspapers also have to work on convincing the advertisers on their reach. English newspaper is the most
preferred medium of advertising because of the pre-conception that they reach a population with high purchasing
power. This conception has to be changed. If it is true, then the regional newspapers should work on reaching a
population of the advertiser’s choice but that without affecting its integral journalistic values. The over
dependence on advertising thus also has to decrease. It is important for the newspapers to reach the new young
audiences sooner than the internet does. It has to design strategies to “catch them young”. Certain examples like
DNA’s new weekly youth-written editorial page can be studied.

Eventually the internet is destined to hit the print market as more and more eyeballs turn online. To tackle this
only two things can be done. The newspapers either have to start on online editions that will keep up the revenue.
Another thing that can be done is that to establish the identity of the newspaper more than just that of a news
medium. The newspaper has to be interactive. It has to focus on social development and public activity. It can
work on content that helps shape public opinion. Encouragement of citizen journalism model is another method.

Bibliography:

Kohli Khandekar, Vanita(2013). Indian Media Business (4th edition).

Ram,N(2011). The changing roles of News Media in contemporary India.

Registrar of Newspapers in India(2006). Analysis of registered newspapers.

Neilsen (2014) Indian readership survey.

Chandrasekhar, C.P. (2013). Business of News in the age of the Internet.

Jeffrey,Robin (1993). Indian language newspapers and why they grow

Jeffrey, Robin (1997) Oriya- Identifying with Newspapers.

Rao,Madanmohan(1998). Online content in South Asia.

Mehta,Arun (1999). Promoting internet in South Asia.

Rao,Madanmohan (1999). Struggling with Digital Divide.

Sanjay Kumar(2013). Performance and Challenges of Newspapers in India: A Case Study on English versus Vernacular
Dailies.

Enrst and Young LLP (2016). 8 Key trends in digital content consumption.

The Pew research Project for excellence in Journalism (2010). The state of the news media.

Afaqs reporter (2014). Print Special.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers (2014). Global enterntainment Media – India summary.

Internetlivestats.com(2016). Internet users by country.

Appendix: Survey Questions:

1) Age group:

1) Below 18
2) 18-25
3) 25-60
4) Above 60

2) How much do you follow current affairs:

1) Multiple times daily

2) Daily
3) Frequently but not daily
4) Rarely

3) What medium do you use to follow news

1) Print
2) Television
3) Internet

4) Are you subscribed to any newspaper/magazine

1) Yes
2) No

5) Do you read news on the internet

1) Yes
2) No

6) What device do you use to access internet

1) Personal Computer
2) Tablet/Smartphone
7) How many different sources of news do you refer to:

1) 1
2) 2
3) 3
4) More than 3

8) Are you subscribed to any online magazines/newspapers

1) Yes
2) No

9) Do you refer to any e-paper daily?

1) Yes
2) No

10) Are you subscribed to any news-app on your smart phone/tablet

1) Yes
2) No

11) Compare News-updates to reading newspapers in detail

1) News updates are more convenient and save time

2) Newspapers give news in detailed analysis,hence I prefer newspapers

12) Are you active on any of these social media channels

1) Facebook
2) Twitter
3) Others

13) Do you follow social media pages of any newspaper/magazines

1) Yes
2) No

14) How much does social media help you in keeping updated with news
 1) Very updated: getting news updates every hour
2) Helps me know news at least 4 times a day
3) Once or twice a day
4) I rarely use social media to access news

15) Do you or anyone in your household reads news in a vernacular medium

1) Yes
2) No

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