What drives newspaper sales? Is it content? Is it pricing? Is it strategy? No one knows. However, there is unanimity among Indian newspapers that there are 12 key factors that can influence sales. The key lies in working out the right mix.
1. Printing quality
The Indian reader today is spoilt for choice. He wants the best produced product to be delivered to him. The top media houses that have installed state-of-the-art printing machines are able to fulfill this aspiration. The smaller newspapers lag behind, and lose readers who find their printed product inferior.
2. Newsprint quality
Newsprint plays an important role in sales. Newspapers that use Nepa or government-produced newsprint find that readers are not happy with their product. They constantly complain that they are being given a substandard product, and often switch to newspapers that are printed on imported newsprint. This is why newspapers that are unable to afford imported newsprint print the cover page on imported newsprint and the inside pages on Nepa or government newsprint. This helps them save costs, and somehow compete with bigger brands. But this strategy can prove counterproductive in the long run.
3. Cover price
Newspaper sales are dependent upon cover price. This was first established by Mr Rupert Murdoch when he cut the cover price of London Times. The sales of London Times soared. In India, The Times of India was the first to introduce invitation pricing. This had a salutary impact, and the Times was able to increase sales in several markets. The same strategy was adopted by other newspapers, with similar results. What this proves is that newspaper is a price sensitive product. A lower price can improve circulation.
4. Content
Content is definitely a key driving factor. A newspaper that is unable to meet the news needs of readers will surely be dumped. However, there is no one formula that can define content needs. Some readers want more local coverage; others want more international news; some demand more business pages and greater coverage of stock markets while there are others who want the newspaper to pay more attention to education, health or environment issues. The number of pages is limited, and the editors are helpless. Newspaper managements now insist that editors should listen to the feedback given by circulation staff, and make suitable changes.
5. Editorial policy
The stand that the newspaper takes on key national or local issues also influences buyer decisions. Readers expect newspapers to take on the government, to expose injustice, and be their eyes and ears. Newspapers are branded pro or anti-establishment based on their coverage. These perceptions too go a long way in deciding newspaper sales.
6. Advertisements
The editors may believe that the newspapers sell because of their efforts in getting and publishing news reports. However, advertisements are a critical factor. They provide valuable commercial information — information that is needed by readers to make purchase decisions. Before the Internet era, classified ads were considered the best indicator of a newspaper’s circulation. They showed the reach of the newspaper. This is why newspapers that do not have the confidence of advertisers are unlikely to have high sales.
7. Hawker commission
The last mile in newspaper sales is owned by hawkers. Without them, newspapers will not reach the homes of readers. This is also realized by hawkers, who form unions to demand high commissions and gifts. Newspapers form a cartel to avoid being blackmailed by hawkers. But unless a newspaper has hawkers on its side it cannot sell.
8. Number of pages
Today, in India, readers prefer newspapers that are fat. They don’t want 12-page newspapers as was the story in the past; instead they expect their newspapers to be 50 pages and above. This gives them two advantages: one, they get more content; and two, they can sell the paper as raddi (waste) and cover their investment. Smaller newspapers therefore find that they cannot compete with the bigger brands.
9. Timely delivery
Readers want their newspapers before they wake up. This means that the hawker should drop the newspaper before 6 a.m. Newspapers that are even slightly late are changed by readers. This puts great pressure on newspaper managements who have to transport newspapers long distances to reach customer homes.
10. Competition
You have to be the best to survive in the market. Otherwise, your rivals will crush you. New newspapers or small newspapers find it very difficult to compete with newspapers which have been around for a long time, and have deep pockets.
11. Loyalty factor
Readers don’t change their newspapers easily. Most have grown up reading a single newspaper. They are very comfortable with the newspaper fonts, layout, writing style, news coverage etc. Even when they start working in another city, they prefer to buy their childhood newspaper. This makes it very difficult for new newspapers to break into an existing market or wean away the loyal readers of rival papers.
12. Promotional drives
Newspapers now try to break into rival markets by offering freebies to new readers. These can be discounts or large gifts. Such policies can get new readers but it is not easy to retain them over a long period. However, such policies can bring in some new readers.
Leave a Reply