Tapping young readers

Next, its daily for the youth in the Delhi market on May 3.

The newspaper is yet to generate advertising though HT's vice president (marketing) Anand Bhardwaj is unfazed. "We have not marketed the paper to advertisers yet," he says.

Though media products are usually launched with advertising support, Bhardwaj says HT Next wanted to go to the advertisers with respectable numbers. Currently, the paper prints 30,000 copies of HT Next.

The paper for the youth is an all-colour product, for "those in-between" years, is targeted at the 13-22 year age group. The idea for a youth product has been brewing in the company for over six months. It stemmed from the logic that over 50 per cent of India's population is below 30 years.

Also a tracking study showed that youngsters do not read newspapers. They only pick up the city supplements.

HT Next, however, offers non-political news for youth, covers college campuses, science and the universe, and devotes three pages to sports news. It has also created an edit page.

The content is based on group discussions among 15 and 16 year olds and they did not want politics. "We treat our target audience as adults and not as frivolous guys who want to gossip," says Bhardwaj.

He insists that the absence of advertising is not reflected in newspaper sales. "The product has been well-received and sales are improving," he adds, without divulging the actual number of copies sold.

He claims that the initial hiccups have been overcome. "There were problems with vendors initially, but things are now on course," says Bhardwaj.

So was the exercise to launch HT Next aimed at improving HT's brand recall during readership surveys or intended to take on Times of India's Speednews which has since been withdrawn? "Neither," states Bhardwaj.

For starters, there is nothing common between Speednews and HT Next. "Speednews was an edited version of TOI, while Next is a completely new product. Speednews was not meeting any unmet demand," says Bhardwaj. TOI executives were not available for comment.

HT Next's strategy is to both gain an entry into households which do not read HT> as well as create a bond with the younger readers so that they graduate to HT.

Bhardwaj insists that the real action for HT Next will begin when schools reopen in July. "We plan to aggressively market ourselves then though I cannot reveal my strategies," he says.

The endeavour is to stabilise the product and then approach the advertisers.

He expects product categories such as soft drinks, apparel, and fast food to reach their target audience through HT Next. Bhardwaj's promotion strategy for HT Next includes mass media, outdoor campaigns and FM channels.