The Indian print media continues to defy world trends. While newspapers across the world are struggling to survive, Indian print media is scaling new revenue peaks.
The FICCI-KPMG report on Indian Media and Entertainment Industry for 2015 once again paints a rosy picture for the print industry. The report states that the industry revenues have climbed from INR 243 billion to INR 263 billion.
If this is not enough reason for print magnates to smile then they should look at the forecast. The industry is projected to grow at 8.0% CAGR (Combined Aggregate Growth Rate), and is forecast to touch INR 387 billion in 2019.
The report gives five reasons why print media will continue to forge ahead in 2015.
Reason 1
Expanding e-commerce market: E-commerce has finally taken off in India. E-com giants Amazon.com, Snapdeal, Flipkart.com and many more are buying print space in yards. Their objective is to get as many paying customers to their websites as possible.
Reason 2
Tier II and III cities have arrived: Indian retail has moved out of the big metros and is now focussing on Tier II and Tier III cities, where disposable incomes are booming and people’s aspirations are on the ascendant. Increasing literacy and greater print penetration is making companies turn to print to carry their message to the new customers.
Reason 3
Launch of new products: The economy is changing gears, and new products are hitting the market. The car industry itself is set to unleash 25 new models this year. The beneficiary of this economic upturn: print media.
Reason 4
Promotion of government initiatives: Aggressive campaigns like Make in India, Swacch Bharat etc are putting rupees in the pockets of print media. The government advertising rates may not be high but the high decibel campaigns are welcome news.
Reason 5
Mega sporting events: The recently concluded Cricket World Cup 2015 has added to the bottomline of several print media houses. The upcoming IPL 8 should improve revenues even more.
I totally disagree with the assumptions given about Indian print media as one cannot go by survey findings. Hardly there is any mechanism to check it’s authenticity and reliability. Survey reports are just ‘guessing’ work. It cannot be taken in true sense. The piquant situation print media faces is very well known following the mushrooming of television channels. At a time, when there are downsizing of staff and taking up cost cutting measures, the projection by survey report is a damp squib. It’s just to hoodwink the reading public and advertisers.