Sign up for afaqs! Newsletters
Daily Thanthi readies to woo Tamil readers in Mumbai
The Tamil newspaper will debut in Mumbai on September 05
Come September 5 and Daily Thanthi, the Tamil daily published by Malar Publications, will make inroads into Mumbai.
The Mumbai launch will see the total editions of the Tamil daily going up to 15. Outside Tamil Nadu, the newspaper is already being published from Bengaluru and Pondicherry.
Talking to afaqs!, Skandraaj, chief operating officer, Malar Publications, says, “Given the fact that Mumbai is the commercial capital of the country, it makes sense to make one’s presence felt in the city. Moreover, it is a great place to ensure visibility, as it has considerable pockets of Tamil speaking populations across the city.”
The Mumbai edition of the Tamil daily will be rolled out with an initial print run of 50,000 copies. From Monday to Thursday, the daily will be sold for Rs 2; on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, it will sell for Rs 3. In other cities in the South, the daily sells for Rs 3 and Rs 4 respectively.
Commenting on the pricing strategy for the Mumbai edition, Skandraaj reasons, “The Mumbai edition will be a 12 page (with additional supplements) offering to begin with; whereas in other cities, the daily has close to 26 pages. So, the pricing is based on the value that the brand offers to the readers.”
The daily is being promoted through various outdoor platforms. Huge spaces are being utilised in the form of panel advertising on moving transport such as buses and trains. Additionally, newspapers such as DNA, Hindustan Times and The Times of India are being employed to announce the launch of the Tamil daily. Advertisements have been placed on business websites and in magazines, such as afaqs! and The Brand Reporter.
When it comes to attracting brands and advertisers, Skandraaj is confident that all the major brands will be seen in the daily. He elaborates, “Besides prominent brands across categories, there will be a good number of local advertisers, coupled with advertisements carried out by the government, in terms of tender applications and so on.”
According to Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) figures for January-June 2008, Daily Thanthi’s circulation stood around 9,69,000 copies, registering an increase of about 50,000 copies over its net paid circulation of 917,000 in ABC figures for January-December 2007. At the same time, as per the IRS 2008 Round 1, the Tamil daily registered a decline in both its average and casual readership. Its average issue readership (AIR) went down by 3.46 lakh readers; while its casual readership declined by 2.87 lakh readers. As per the last round of IRS its average issue readership stands at 75.64 lakhs and its total readership is 2.06 crore.