The second oldest Malayalam newspaper in circulation, Malayala Manorama, was first published as a weekly on 22 March 1888. Founded by Kandathil Varghese Mappillai, the weekly became a bi-weekly in 1901, a tri-weekly in 1918, and a daily on 2 July 1928.
After a period when it stopped publishing the newspaper because of charges imposed by the Travancore State in 1938, Malayala Manorma restarted in 1947 under KC Mammen Mappillai.
As the daily was not published when India attained independence, it was unable to announce on 16 August 1947 that India had attained freedom.
Malayala Manorama’s online subsidiary, Manoramaonline, was launched in 1995. Manorama News was launched in 2006. Malayala Manorama Group’s other subsidiaries include general entertainment channel Mazhavil Manorama, FM network Radio Mango, Vanitha, Balarama and The Week.
In 2018, Malayala Manorama launched a campaign titled ‘New Kerala Street’ featuring actor Dulquer Salman with the tagline ‘Puthiya Vayana, Puthiya Keralam’ (New Reading, New Kerala).
The group ventured into the OTT sector with the launch of ManoramaMAX in 2019. In a lateral expansion of sorts, it has managed to create a strong online matrimony brand, M4Marry.com.
The Manorama group is a media entity that is not resting on its laurels, but betting on the future.
(Headline and article amended at 21.00 hrs on 18 August 2022 to reflect that Malayala Manorama was not in publication when India attained independence and resumed shortly thereafter.)
