Print media in India is flourishing. If we take the past 2 years of incidents into account, Indian newspaper industry has seen tremendous growth. I am not talking about the revenue of the industry but the choices available to the consumer. In the past 2 years I have seen at least 3 newspapers expanding in India. That does not necessarily mean that the quality of the content has increased.
Mint which is coming from Hindustan Times has started its operations in key metros. The paper is published in collaboration with Wall Street Journal. DNA has expanded their services in Bangalore. Times went to Chennai which is The Hindu’s bastion. Another regional newspaper(which I know of) Sakshi was launched in Andhra Pradesh. New York Times picked a 5% stake in Deccan Chronicle. All these events are showing the print media industry a rosy picture. But is it really that rosy?
Mint started in Mumbai and Delhi. They started a little later in Bangalore. I was really pissed that they did not start it sooner. Ever since Mint started its services in Bangalore I am a regular subscriber. This is in addition to subscribing to their rss feeds since their inception. Mint is one of its kind newspaper and is a cut above the rest like Economic Times and Business Standard. Its focus is impeccable.
But, now I am re-thinking about the subscription. Reason is not the price. It only costs 2 rupees per day and the monthly bill comes to 50 odd rupees. The reason is the clutter it is creating. I can very well read the paper online. Archiving is a problem for the print version. Why do I need this subscription?
One more story is that of DNA. DNA started their operations only last December in Bangalore. It managed to grab the attention by careful advertising. DNA has used billboards and radio stations to put the bang in Bangalore. It had an offer where you pay for the full year subscription. Since I am a news geek I fell for it. Now I have DNA coming in daily and I can’t stop it. I am even thinking about gifting the coupons to someone so that I can be clutter free. I can read DNA online.
When I was re-thinking about my subscription I came across this post from Seth Godin’s blog. This has reinforced my conviction. I am thoroughly convinced that I don’t need newspapers. My RSS feeds will work just fine.
This of course would apply for the tech savvy. Others are getting their dose of daily news from TV. It is round the clock so you can’t miss a thing. Then they are other channels like SMS alerts and mobiles. Between web, TV and mobile we have covered most of the things. Or so I think.
What are the things you get from newspapers which you cannot get from any of the other channels? Would you switch from newsprint to online media forever?
*Image source : laffy4k via flickr