Chennai : The Hindu, the Chennai-headquartered Newspaper, which is also a leading and most popular newspaper in South India, is launching its Mumbai edition. Sachin Kalbag, currently editor of Mumbai tabloid MidDay, was hired as the resident editor for Mumbai edition.
The Hindu Mumbai edition will compete for readers of English dailies with The Times of India, Hindustan Times, DNA, The Indian Express, Asian Age, Mumbai Mirror and Mid Day, apart from smaller papers such as the Free Press Daily and The Afternoon Despatch and Courier.
Mumbai is India’s largest advertising market. It is also a thoroughly competitive and saturated newspaper market. The Times of India, The Economic Times and Mumbai Mirror, accounts for a large chunk of market share.
The Hindu Businessline already has an edition in Mumbai and they are adding some senior editorial staff and a desk. During August 2013, the Hindu School edition was launched in Mumbai as part of its efforts to reach out to more than 2500 schools all over India.
Malini Parthasarathy , Chief Editor of The Hindu said, “Yes, we are launching a Mumbai edition end of November. It will be a national edition, with a similar structure as the Delhi edition. It will have much more lifestyle and entertainment content targeted at the younger readers, but we are not trying to be a hyper-local newspaper in Mumbai.”
“It’s a decision led by the needs of our readers as well as advertisers. We already have a bureau there and a small readership. I think in a few years it can be a very significant edition, rivalling Delhi,” she added.
Kalbag, who has been the editor of MidDay since 2011, will move next month and a search for a replacement has begun at the Dainik Jagran Group-owned daily.
Print advertising in India is a Rs16,875 crore industry, accounting for 34.5% of the total advertising market (Rs48,976 crore), according to GroupM estimates. Digital advertising is still less than 10% of the pie, although it is expected to grow rapidly with the proliferation of mobile devices and Internet usage.
“In India print is still the cash cow. Internet is growing but it is nowhere near what it has got to in Western economies. But we are very serious about the internet. We are starting a blog with external contributors. We are also moving towards an integrated newsroom,” Parthasarathy said.
