Mint adds Chennai edition

After the Kolkata edition, Mint, the business paper, is reinforcing its presence down south with the launch of its Chennai edition on Monday

Mint, the business daily from HT Media, will strengthen its southern presence with the launch of its Chennai edition on Monday (July 13). The other southern edition is from Bengaluru, which was launched in November 2007.

"With the Chennai launch, Mint will become a national daily. On our website, livemint.com, we've been getting a large number of hits from Chennai. That was just an indication for the demand of the physical paper there," says Vivek Khanna, business head, Mint.

The Chennai edition will bear a cover price of Rs 3.50 and will have an initial print run of 10,000 copies. Khanna says that the daily intends to consolidate the number for the next three months before looking to increase the print run. It will also be HT Media's first publication presence in Chennai. Mint is also published from New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Chandigarh and Kolkata. The Kolkata edition was launched in May this year.

Incidentally, there are plans to increase the cover prices of the other editions of Mint, which currently ranges between Rs 2- Rs 3.50, to a standard Rs 3.50 across markets.

"The Chennai edition will also give an opportunity to national advertisers who want to target Chennai. Also, going by Delhi and Bengaluru, where a lot of real estate developers are targeting the SEC A & B, we hope to see a similar response in Chennai, too," says Khanna.

Mint will compete with The Economic Times, Business Standard and The Hindu Business Line in Chennai. Currently, The Economic Times is the leading business daily in Chennai, with an average circulation of 34,981 (ABC, July-Dec, 2008), followed by The Hindu Business Line and Business Standard, with average circulations of 16,875 and 6,202 respectively.

Delving on the distribution plan, Khanna says that the daily is targeting a mix of 50:50 subscription and cash sales. The business daily has also tied up with companies that cater to SEC A & B consumers to put up kiosks, which will have Mint as reading material, in their offices. Also, it will be available at airports, five-star hotels and libraries in business schools.

Mint will use a mix of print and OOH for its communication. It is also is offering a coffee-table book, The Best of Lounge, which has articles from Mint's weekly supplement Lounge, along with a subscription of three months.

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