Sambad increases its focus on children

Eastern Media, the publishers of Sambad daily in Odisha, has launched a supplement especially for the youngsters titled Pilanka Sambad. Earlier, in August, 2011, the group had introduced a daily English tabloid titled Yuva Sambad from Bhubaneshwar, Puri and Cuttack.

Pilanka Sambad is a bilingual weekly supplement (Odiya and English) which is distributed along with the main edition of Sambad every Monday in Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack. In the next few months, the daily plans to increase the presence of Pilanka Sambad across its other centres.

The supplement is targeted at kids up to the seventh standard, while Yuva Sambad is targeted at students from eighth standard to college going youngsters. For Yuva Sambad, the next destination is Rourkela, Sambalpur, Balasore and Baharampur. The Englsih tabloid has a print run of 1.5 lakh copies.

Pilanka Sambad carries a mix of jokes, riddles, paintings, puzzles, fairy tales and trivia. The new product is aimed at students who are fluent in Odiya but are interested in English as well. Apart from the two, Sambad has also introduced a daily page titled Sambad Plus, wherein all the articles are contributed by the children.

Talking about the renewed focus of Sambad on children, Monica Nayyar Patnaik, joint managing director, Sambad, says, "It is for the first time here in Odisha that such a thing has been done by any media house. Through the three additions, we wanted to capture them young."

To increase the involvement of the kids in Yuva Sambad, the group has introduced a five days a week (Monday to Friday) crossword puzzle, where everyday a student wins gifts worth Rs 500 (mostly books). Eastern Media holds an event every month in one of the schools across Bhubaneshwar, Cuttack and Puri, where it felicitates the 24 winners of the month with prizes.