MEDIA MONOPOLY DEMOLISHED IN MP

Madhya Pradesh, the only state where monopoly existed in the Hindi belt of newspaper market has witnessed a sea change. The leader’s 50 years old monopoly has been finally demolished. Based on the latest issued figures by Indian Readership Survey Interim report for July- Dec 08, the recently launched newspaper; Patrika, which comes from Rajasthan Patrika Group has 5 lakh 75 thousand readers in Bhopal and Indore, this puts it neck to neck with the leading daily, in just six months.

Patrika enjoys a big lead over the rest of the players in Bhopal and Indore; in fact its readership is more than the numbers of both the 3rd and 4th major player in the state put together.

 Elated National Head Marketing, Dr. Arvind Kalia states, “It is truly a great moment for Patrika team. When we entered MP a year ago, we came with a commitment that we shall always maintain a high level of quality. I thank the readers and advertisers of MP who have shown their faith in the newspaper.”

Though the interim report is anyways not comparable with the full report, the indicators are very strong. The interim survey findings of Patrika are based on the readership of Bhopal on a major basis, as the Indore edition of Patrika was launched during the later part of the survey period. This signals the strong reach of Patrika in Bhopal and good results are expected in the full report.

NEWSPAPERs        |      BHOPAL       |         INDORE      |      TOTAL 

  Dainik Bhaskar    |       317         |         443         |     760    

  Dainik Jagran     |        88         |          NA         |      88     

  Nai Dunia + Nav Dunia |   166        |           186       |       35     

  Dainik nai dunia     |    32        |            NA        |       32     

  Nav Bharat           |    14        |            5         |      19     

  Raj Express         |     92       |             91       |       183    

        ::   Figures of other players for reference.( IRS R1 09 AIR, IRS interim)          

It is interesting to compare what Bhaskar has achieved 50 in years, with what Patrika has achieved in just 6 months putting the leader in a defending position in Bhopal and Indore. Dainik Bhaskar is already witnessing a continuous decline in its readership of Bhopal and Indore editions, since IRS R2 07. From 20.85 lacs readers in R2 07, the readership has declined by 21% to 16.45 lacs, whilst the ad rates were always sky-high, because of which the CPT for the advertisers rocketed from Re.0.60 in R2 07 to Rs. 1.07 in R1 09 an increase of 78%!
 

The story of DB Star launch in MP seems contrary to that of Mumbai Mirror. Dainik Bhaskar adopted a similar strategy to defend its market share when Patrika’s launch in MP, but as per the interim IRS results, the readership of DB Star is 1.61 lacs, which is miniscule. Though Mumbai Mirror, which comes from TOI, is a hit, DB Star could not make it. Does it indicate towards a poor product?

Dr. Kalia says, “Bhopal and Indore together contribute to 74% of the total ad spends on the state of MP. Patrika is already on the way to capture the major share from advertisers in many sectors. To name a few, for the month of May 09 - Patrika has a 100% ad share of educational clients such as Resonance, FIT JEE, Asia Pacific, IT Bench, Gupta tutorials and many others in Indore. In Bhopal also, Patrika has ad share of more than 50% in segments like real estate, lifestyle, automobile and education. 

Dr. Kalia adds, “The advertisers are getting a good response by choosing Patrika as their media vehicle.

Patrika has connected well with its readers in a short span of time. This can be authenticated with its mammoth response in various social initiatives.

Amritam Jalam – a campaign to de-silt the famous “Badi Jheel : Over 1lakh 30 thousand people volunteered

Vote for Vote Campaign- to encourage voters to exercise their right to vote for 15th Parliamentary Elections: 2.25 lac people became part of the campaign.

Mega trade fair (Bhopal) in which Patrika generated humongous response of more than 9 lakh footfalls in just 20 days of its entry in Madhya Pradesh.

The strength of Patrika lies in its credible journalism and establishing an unbreakable connect with readers. With virtuous journalistic approach and a good response base Patrika is becoming the preferred choice for advertisers in MP. The confidence is reflected by Patrika’s open invitation to industry gurus to visit Madhya Pradesh and gaze the scenario for themselves.