War of words

MEDIA: Newspaper groups in UP look towards tabloids to expand their market.

The UP tabloid market is sizzling. After launching an afternoon Hindi tabloid DLA from Agra, Ajay Agarwal, the former partner of Amar Ujala newspaper group, has launched an English language morning tabloid DLA am for the city.

Priced at one rupee, the English daily is being pushed through the traditional morning newspaper distribution channel. The company claims a print run of 40,000 copies for DLA am.

According to Agarwal, managing partner, DLA group of newspapers: "There is no concept of an English tabloid at the regional level. Our attempt is to expand the tabloid market."

Jagran Prakashan Limited that owns Dainik Jagran is also launching its morning tabloid I-Next in Agra to be followed by editions in Meerut and Dehradun.

Currently, I-Next has editions in Kanpur and Lucknow with an approximate print run of 50,000 copies in each of the cities. "We are looking at another western UP town and will announce it soon," says Jagran's CEO Sanjay Gupta.

It is not difficult to see why tabloids are addressing the UP market. Of the people who can speak and read Hindi in the socio-economic categories A and B in the state, 30 per cent still do not subscribe to any newspaper or magazine. Besides, UP's total print media advertising revenue is close to Rs 650 crore and growing at 20 per cent a year.

DLA's Agarwal claims that the 24-page, all colour, English tabloid will tap the 30,000 English newspaper reading households in Agra. An additional 4,500 copies have been ordered by the city's top schools and colleges. To drive DLA am numbers, the company is also banking on the one million tourists who visit Agra every year.

Meanwhile, DLA has claimed the number one slot "" both in circulation and readership "" in Agra city, ahead of Dainik Jagran and Amar Ujala. The claim is based on a survey conducted by research agency AC Nielsen, which states that DLA has a readership of 3.9 lakh.

While Amar Ujala could not be contacted for its response, Jagran's Gupta says that "a study commissioned by the company could make any claims. We will wait for the findings of the independent readership surveys "" the Indian Readership Survey and the National Readership Survey to arrive at a conclusion." Besides, DLA is not even a newspaper, it is a tabloid, he adds.

However, Agarwal is confident that the results of the independent surveys will be no different. "We are now expanding our reach to touch Delhi and the NCR region. We will also launch in Ghaziabad and Meerut," he says. Currently, DLA is available in districts such as Mathura, Hathras, Eta, Etawah and Mainpuri in UP.

With expansion of the tabloids on the cards, will UP experience tabloid wars? "Unlikely," says Sanjay Gupta, "since I-Next is a morning tabloid while DLA is in the afternoon slot." Adds Agarwal: "Not unless I-Next changes its strategy and enters the afternoon slot."