War of words

In Madhya Pradesh's capital Bhopal and key financial centre Indore, Christmas has come early. A newspaper war to grab reader loyalty has resulted in a shower of gifts and a slashing of monthly paper bills, and this is even before the imminent launch of at least three new Hindi dailies.

Dainik Jagran has announced its plans to kick-start operations in Indore; Hindustan has revealed its intention to launch editions across Madhya Pradesh; and Rajasthan Patrika is putting the final touches on its strategies and tie-ups for entering MP.

All three will be hoping to bite into a sizeable portion of Dainik Bhaskar's circulation. Dainik Bhaskar is the clear market leader, but Madhya Pradesh has three main registered Hindi newspapers"" Dainik Jagran, Nai Duniya and Nava Bharat "" besides the evening paper Agniwan.

None of these papers, however, covers the entire state like Dainik Bhaskar, and no one is a leader even in any city.

Dainik Bhaskar had edged out Nai Duniya and Nava Bharat when it entered MP in the 1980s with a strong pulse on the readership.

Says Girish Agarwal, director, marketing, Dainik Bhaskar: "Though the perception is that we are a market-driven organisation, we're highly content driven. We value our leadership position in MP and have been constantly working on it instead of becoming complacent with our success."

Why has the Rs 80 crore MP market caught the fancy of so many media groups? Binoy Roy Choudhary, business head, media and marketing, Hindustan Times Group, feels it could be because MP is "one of the most potentially lucrative markets" in the country.

The company has commissioned surveys to gauge the need gaps of the local market for the past several months there, he adds. The MP foray falls in line with the decision of the group to expand its Hindi segment. "We realised MP is esentially a Hindi market which is growing very rapidly," concedes Choudhary.

The desire to tap an exciting market is probably what drove Arun Sehlot, a real-estate businessman, into launching the Hindi daily Raj Express from Bhopal in March 2005. Today Sehlot claims a circulation of 1 lakh copies in Bhopal alone, and 1.70 lakh including its upcountry editions.

Unfortunately, his claims cannot be corroborated as Raj Express is not mapped by the National Readership Survey. But media observers point out that in Bhopal, it has snowballed into a turf fight between Raj Express and Dainik Bhaskar. "There's a difference of just 2,000-5,000 copies between us," claims Sehlot.

While that claim still needs to be proven, the apparent success of Raj Express has demonstrated to the other combatants that Dainik Bhaskar is certainly not invincible in Bhopal. Raj Express is now poised to launch its Indore edition from February 1, 2006 to cover smaller cities like Ujjain, Ratlam, Mansaur and Nimach.

Rajasthan Patrika is gearing up for its MP edition anytime now. Says its senior circulation manager B R Singh, "While Chattisgarh is a weak market, MP certainly has a huge potential. We will be looking at both the new and old state including Jabalpur, Raipur, apart from Bhopal and Gwalior."

According to the industry grapevine, the Patrika is looking at a tariff and printing tie-up with Nai Duniya, once the state's most respected newspaper. Patrika officials are reported to have inspected the printing facilites some time back, though Singh maintains nothing has been finalised yet.

Even as Rajasthan Patrika explores the possibility of using the infrastructure of Nai Duniya, Hindustan has the advantage of the existing infrastructure of Hindustan Times.

"We're in the process of augmenting our resources further," admits Choudhary. Hindustan will initially focus on the high revenue markets of Bhopal, Indore and Gwalior.

Clearly, the entry of new national players is expected to alter the dynamics of the market, say media experts. "Dainik Bhaskar is known to enter new markets armed with intense research and strategy and challenge existing leaders. This time round, other national players seem to be gearing to challenge Dainik Bhaskar on its own turf," points out a media expert.

But Agarwal appears unfazed by the spurt of interest in MP. "Dainik Bhaskar has actually shown the way in tapping new markets," he says with a smug grin. Whether the new players expand that market further or eat into it, we'll know by the headlines.

Read the headlines

It's getting crowded there, with more newspapers than readers, according to some. But even so, the Hindi newspaper war is gearing up for its biggest fight ever in Madhya Pradesh with new contenders hoping to unseat the existing market leaders.

• Dainik Bhaskar: The clear market leader in the state ever since it edged out Nava Bharat and Nai Duniya and took over the top slot in 1992. Readership: 53,53,000
• Dainik Jagran: Will use Indore as an entry point and leverage the strength of its existing brand equity to establish reader goodwill. Readership: 7,83,000
• Hindustan : The Hindi daily from Hindustan Times will use the group's existing infrastructure to launch editions across the state.
• Rajasthan Patrika : Should be launching any time soon. Word is out that it could be tying up to print at Nai Duniya, with whom it might share advertising tariff.
• Nai Duniya : Reportedly doing well in Indore, how will it fend off the increasing competition? Readership: 3,23,000
• Nava Bharat : An existing player, is it threatened by the money power of the biggies? Readership: 2,057,000
• Agniwan: MP's only eveninger and, therefore, a niche player.
• Raj Express: Launched from Bhopal in March, is claiming a run-in with Dainik Bhaskar for No. 1 slot. Print order: Self-claimed 1.7 lakh copies overall, of which 1 lakh are allegedly sold in Bhopal.