Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

Aspiring Growth

This case has been written by Seema Gupta, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. The author is grateful to the management team at Dainik Bhaskar Group for their support in writing the case. This case has been written solely as a basis for classroom discussion. It is not intended to serve as an endorsement, source of primary data or an illustration of either effective or ineffective management. 2012 Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

Not for reproduction, distribution or commercial use. Reproduction of any content in any format requires prior approval from IIM Bangalore.

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

Preface

ainik Bhaskar Group with its ambitious growth plans exemplifies gutsy business strategy and marketing. It changed the contours of the marketplace by entering into markets with strong and entrenched incumbents. This task was even more arduous considering the nature of the category as it is difficult to change the habit of newspaper readers. Newspaper touches the life of every consumer and hence the case would drive strong emotional connect and animated discussion in the classroom. The focus of the company on tier II and tier III towns makes it an apt material for case study as such towns would be the drivers of future growth of Indian economy.

SEEMA GUPTA Assistant Professor, Marketing Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB)

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

Aspiring Growth

On May 8, 2012; Pawan Agarwal, Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group (DBG) and winner of the Asia-Pacific entrepreneur of the year (2010) award,1 called for a meeting of the executive team to choose a market for further expansion of the group, after its stupendous success in Maharashtra. DBG was Indias largest newspaper group having 19.2 million readers (Exhibit 1). In 2011, it had revenues of ` 12 billion (1$ = ` 55, June 2012) and net profit of ` 2.5 billion (Exhibit 2). The groups ability to simultaneously consolidate in existing markets and expand in new markets resulted in its consistent growth in revenues and profitability.2 Besides newspaper, DB group also owned radio channel MY FM, which operated 17 stations across 7 states. The group also had a strong digital presence with four portals dainikbhaskar.com (Hindi), divyabhaskar.com (Gujarati), divyamarathi.com (Marathi) and dailybhaskar.com (English). The Hindi news portal dainikbhaskar.com itself attracted more than 10 million unique users and 245 million page views per month.3 The group also had four magazines Aha Zindagi (positivity in life), Bal Bhaskar (in Hindi for kids), Young Bhaskar (in English for kids) and Lakshya (for career grooming). The group published newspapers in four languages Hindi (Dainik Bhaskar and Business Bhaskar), English (DNA), Gujarati (Divya Bhaskar) and Marathi (Divya Marathi) in 65 editions across 13 states (Exhibit 3). Its newspaper had different supplements City Bhaskar (city-based activities and a youth-centric coverage), Madhurima (for women), Rasrang (for literary) and Navrang (for entertainment). With its unrelenting focus on tier II markets (cities with population between 1 and 4 million); the group had acquired dominant No. 1 position in markets such as Madhya Pradesh (MP), Chandigarh, Haryana and Chhattisgarh (Exhibit 4). Its nonmetro urban focus ensured that the group was the market leader in major cities such as Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Amritsar while being a formidable challenger in the respective states Rajasthan, Gujarat and Punjab (Exhibits 5, 6 and 7).
1 2

The award was given by Enterprise Asia, a leading private organisation for entrepreneurship development in Asia. DB Group was listed in Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange in 2010. Despite the recessionary trends, the IPO (initial public offering) was oversubscribed 39 times. 3 Source: Google Analytics Data.

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

Girish Agarwaal, Director, DBG and winner of the Ernst &Young Entrepreneur award4 said: We are the only group which is No. 1 in multiple markets and which has publications in multiple languages. Most other newspapers depend heavily on a single market and a single language whereas land and language does not make a difference to us! The unparalleled success in Maharashtra in 2011 where it not only overtook the entrenched player Lokmat on the very first day of its launch in Aurangabad, but also gained a lead of 25% over its arch rival within a short span of six months,5 further emboldened the group to pursue its vision of being the largest and the most admired media brand in the country enabling socio-economic change. The group firmly believed that tier II and tier III cities (population less than 4 million) were the catalysts for growth in India. Per capita income was growing faster in tier II and tier III cities resulting in higher consumption growth in these markets (Exhibits 8 and 9). This in turn would lead to growth in advertising in these markets. Since Indian language media dominated these markets (Hindi papers comprised 40% of the market, English 15% and regional 45%), the players with dominant readership would stand to gain the most from the resultant advertising growth. To tap into the growth potential, DBG shortlisted various markets for possible entry. Peter Suresh, Head Strategy, DB Group presented to the executive team comparative data on the potential, population size, literacy, readership and SEC6 for different states (Exhibits 10, 11, 12 and 13). Apart from readership and competition analysis, the choice of the market would be influenced by the socio-political-cultural milieu of the states. Pawan Agarwal wondered which market to enter.

HISTORY
The first edition of DBG was launched in Bhopal in 1958. It then entered the cities of Gwalior, Ujjain and Jhansi. In 1983, it entered Indore, the business center of Madhya Pradesh (MP) with a strong incumbent Nai Dunia. On the back of fair reporting and quality printing, it soon became the No. 1 newspaper in Indore and subsequently in the whole of MP in 1995. This success in a market dominated by an incumbent enhanced the groups confidence to expand outside MP. It explored options in the Hindi belt comprising Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. UP and Bihar suffered from low levels of literacy and per capita income, Punjab was reeling under the threat of terrorism and Delhi was dominated by English newspapers. In 1996, the DB group zeroed in on Rajasthan as it was culturally similar to MP and being a vast geographical territory offered scope for expansion. Moreover, Jaipur had high readership of Hindi dailies among SEC AB and high per capita income indicating potential to attract advertisers. It was dominated by a single player Rajasthan Patrika (RP), which had 80% market share.7 Readership had not grown much in the past, indicating untapped potential and a need gap which DBG could potentially fill. Jaipur was even more challenging than Indore as unlike Nai Dunia which was strong only in Indore, RP was the market leader in the entire state. Traditional approach for launch of a newspaper was to produce a good paper and wait for readers to subscribe. However, DBG took a leaf out of the automobile industrys book where pre-booking was a practice and
4 5

Girish Agarwaal won the award in 2006 in IT, Communication & Entertainment category. As per IMRB Survey Report (Aurangabad) initiated by DBG. 6 Socioeconomic classification was a tool for segmenting households in India. Originally developed by Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB), it was standardised and adopted by the Market Research Society of India to categorise consumer behaviour. The urban SEC classified households into 5 groups A, B, C, D, and E on the basis of Education and Occupation. SEC A had the highest purchasing power. The rural SEC classified households into 4 groups R1, R2, R3 and R4 on the basis of education and type of house (mud, brick and mix). SEC R1 had the highest purchasing power. 7 Out of 5.16 lakh people that read any Hindi newspaper in Rajasthan, 4.41 lakh people read RP (IRS 95).

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

pre-marketed the paper and got confirmed paid-up circulation. DBG conceptualised a twin-contact programme. In the first phase, it conducted research to identify readers expectations of a newspaper supplements, price, number of advertisements and content preference and their attitudes towards existing newspapers. In the second phase, it shared the results of the survey with the potential readers and booked subscriptions (see Exhibit 14 for the launch process). Jaipur and the surrounding areas had 3.5 lakh (1 lakh = 0.1 million) households and DBG targeted 50% of them (1.7 lakh) for the survey. Teaser hoardings were put across the city to arouse curiosity. A team of 275 surveyors were recruited from colleges and trained for the survey. Sanjeev Kotnala, VP & National Head Brand Communications said: The team started the day with the morning anthem humko man ki shakti dena (a popular song in Hindi meaning O God give us the strength) led by Pawan Agrawal himself. The team at times did not survey all the households in a locality in one go. It created a mystique around the contact programme. People wondered why DB representative had talked to his neighbour but not him. This opened the doors for DBG. For getting a pulse of the market place, promoters wore surveyor DB T-shirts and went in the field. They ate in neighbourhood places and engaged in conversation with consumers. To keep the spirits of the team high, we would bring a celebrity and declare a party on Friday evening. We also created possibilities of absorbing some of the surveyors in the company. In the first phase of the survey, DBG asked potential readers if they could come back to share findings of the survey. In the second phase, DBG shared the findings consumers wanted quality content at reasonable price. It assured them of meeting the expectations and offered an introductory price of ` 1.5 against ` 2.25 of RP. The response was overwhelming. On the first day, DBG had a circulation of 1.72 lakh copies against 1.48 lakh copies of RP in Jaipur. Over the years, DBG expanded its operations in the whole state with Dainik Bhaskar. After Rajasthan, DBG targeted Haryana and Chandigarh as they lacked the presence of a strong Hindi paper. Although Chandigarh was considered an English newspaper market (Tribune, an English paper was the market leader), DBGs research showed that people would be more comfortable with Hindi language newspaper and they patronised English newspaper only because of absence of a good Hindi newspaper. So when DB was launched, instead of using literary Hindi, DBG used colloquial Hindi. For instance, it used university instead of vishwa vidyalaya (a Hindi translation) and judge instead of ucch nyayadheesh (a Hindi translation). Once again, the groups newspaper Dainik Bhaskar became No. 1 from the day of the launch. DBG then explored the remaining markets. Wanting to break the language barrier, it selected Gujarat which was also prosperous and had high literacy. However, the state had low readership and readers perceived the quality of existing dailies Gujarat Samachar and Sandesh as only moderate. DBG replicated its highly successful twin-contact model for launching Divya Bhaskar in Ahmedabad in 2003. A survey of 12 lakh households8 revealed preference for non-sensationalist, better quality paper with fewer ads and lower price. On the first day, DBG sold 4.8 lakh copies becoming the leader from Day 1. The entrenched incumbents reacted strongly they dropped prices to match those of Divya Bhaskar; ran promotions (attractive gifts, lucky draws and contests); increased supplements and upgraded print quality. With its focus on quality content, DBG was however able to hold on to its readers. It then expanded into other cities and bought Saurashtra Samachar for making inroads into Saurashtra region in Gujarat. After the success in Gujarat, DBG entered Punjab in 2006 and Jharkhand in 2010. DBG designed the launch campaigns depending upon the need and relevance in the market. The launch communication in Punjab focussed on getting Punjab its rightful due Punjab did not have good airports, its film industry was dying and sportsmen were not getting recognition. DBG spoke on behalf of Punjab with a Punjabi attitude, instilling pride among
8

Out of 12 lakhs, 8 lakhs were in Ahmedabad and 4 lakhs in surrounding areas.

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

residents. In Jharkhand, DBG took up the cause of the common man it raised the issues of underdeveloped infrastructure. Although DBGs launch strategy was highly successful across markets, it knew that while marketing could fetch initial subscriptions at the time of launch, renewal of subscriptions could come only from good editorial content.

EDITORIAL
DBG believed in unbiased, credible and courageous journalism. It was non-aligned be it a religious group or community or political party or client. It did not patronise any particular religion, rather covered activities of different religions and communities. Other papers had a section on spirituality based on the belief that it would transcend all religions. However, DBG believed that such reporting comes from the lowest common denominator! It muted the religion factor! Similarly, it gave expression to many communities and castes and therefore created a plural identity. Owing to its non-alignment with politicians, it was not surprising that one day it would criticise a politician for an inappropriate action and the next day applaud him for a good decision. Yatish Rajawat, Group Managing Editor said: As any other media, we too at times face pressure from various segments regarding the news coverage. Under such situations, we are guided by our philosophy that our first commitment is to our readers. But, we always offer to carry alongside their point of view. Such is our commitment to the readers that if we believe that our own event may not be of relevance to our readers, we would not give it coverage. DB groups journalism was credible because it told both sides of the story. For instance, when the nation was all gaga over the anticorruption movement led by Anna Hazare,9 DBG too covered it on the front page. However, DBG also considered the point of view of Annas critics and covered the critique in its editorial page. It followed courageous journalism despite the common occurrence of threats to underplay arrest or scam or crime news. For instance, news about Chinkara deer (black buck) poaching by Bollywood celebrity Saif Ali Khan and Salman Khan was broken by it as it was relevant to the Bishnoi community living in the area.10 Similarly, in the murder case of Bhanwari Devi in Rajasthan in which prominent politicians were accused, DBG pursued the case and kept it alive until the government was forced to take action. Rajawat said: With time, such elements have realised that our paper will not succumb to any threats or pressure and hence the pressure on the editorial has also decreased. DBG followed local and hyper-local journalism which focussed on local news from the city. It further divided cities into sectors and reported events specifically on that sector. For instance, in Jaipur, M.G. Road and Mansarovar were distinct sectors. Rajawat said: Our front page is on national affairs, but our pages after that up to eight are on the city. We are classified as a city newspaper. If you look at Los Angeles Times or Ohio Times, they have deep sections on the city. Most newspapers were founded as city newspapers. New York Times was a New York newspaper and Washington Post was a Washington paper. But over time, this genesis was lost, so the connect with the readers was lost. Some papers thought that celebrities will touch everyones lives and so embraced
9

10

Anna Hazare was one of Indias well-acclaimed social activists. Black Buck was listed as an endangered species. Bishnoi was a community of Rajasthan that protected the wild life and environment with a missionary zeal. Their history was peppered with stories about martyrs who died fighting to save the environment.

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

celebrity journalism which is based on personalities rather than issues. Other papers follow French journalism in which they take one issue and expand it across the paper. For instance, if they take corruption, then it will be there on the front page as well as on inside pages. They will go heavy on one subject and editorial resources will be focussed on delivering the best on the subject of the day. It makes sure that you read at least one story. But slowly newspapers are realising that people connect with what is happening in their neighbourhood and so have started following the local model that we have been following since last 54 years. While TV and internet became national and international, newspaper reinvented itself by becoming local. Because of our hyper-local model, we have one of the largest journalist forces in the world! To enable localisation, DBG had large number of editions and sub-editions. It launched a different edition for cities beyond 300 kilometres. However, it did not mean that DBG would not have a separate edition for less distant cities. For example, it had separate editions for Ujjain and Indore which were only 50 kilometres apart. The composition of the newspaper across 65 editions and 191 sub-editions or district editions was completely different. Unlike English newspapers, DBG did not standardise its product at all. An editor had the option of selecting the news from the central desk where all news of national, regional and international importance were available across genre at a click and the local desk which had local and hyper-local news. The editor chose the news keeping in mind the local impact, interest, cultural, social, political sensitivity and distance from the epicentre of the news. For instance, shifting of Nano plant to Gujarat was national news and so was carried across all editions. However, it was big news in Gujarat and Delhi editions. Whereas, the Gujarat edition carried additional stories about economic growth of the state, Delhi edition carried the story from the perspective of political victory of Narendra Modi.11 The story also had impact value in Jharkhand due to its socio-economic proximity with West Bengal. The story also got prominence in the state capitals and business hubs such as Bhopal and Indore in MP. DBG also tapped into the socio-cultural-political differences of states. For instance, a reader in Gujarat was more interested in news that directly affected his business, whereas a reader in Haryana was interested in news that affected his community. Maoist activity was very important for readers in Chhattisgarh, but for the other states it was just another happening. However, if a policeman from Rajasthan cadre was abducted, then the interest in Rajasthan would become high. Sports coverage also varied across states depending upon the popularity of particular sport in the region apart from cricket, states differed in their preferences for sports Jharkhand was interested in archery and hockey, Rajasthan in polo and shooting, Punjab in hockey and Haryana in boxing. Editors had the pulse of the market and used their judgement for deciding the size and tonality of the news. DBG leveraged the editorial to act as a catalyst for socio-economic change.12 For instance, its editorial campaign for developing Indian cities under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM) led to recommendations which were adopted by the Planning Commission. Its relentless save water campaign across markets for 8 years led to implementation of water harvesting schemes. Its editorial initiative for the project livable cities under Ministry of Urban Development led to institutions voluntarily surrendering land for city development projects. DBG believed in innovation. It constantly surprised readers with innovations such as first fragrance (Gulal) newspaper on the festival of Holi and the first 3-dimensional newspaper, which won its Star News brand excellence award for innovative marketing practices. It invented its own fonts Bhaskar fonts which were more fine-tuned for greater legibility in newspaper printing. To provide new experiences to readers, DBG
11 12

Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the state of Gujarat. It won CMO Asia award for best corporate social responsibility practice.

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changed its layout often. On every Sunday, DBG had the editorial take over the complete first page! It reduced the size of the newspaper by 1.5 inches to make it easier for the readers to handle the paper while also saving the newsprint. Competition quickly followed as DBG had made it acceptable to readers. Rajawat said: When you know that others will copy you, you have to constantly innovate. For encouraging people to innovate, we not only enjoy their success but also allow them to fail. DB not only innovated structurally, but also treated the stories differently. It tried to evoke the feeling of did you read Bhaskar today? among readers. For example, when other newspapers simply reported the news of Yuvraj Singh having cancer, it had a box explaining what cancer is, difference between malignant and nonmalignant tumour and a photo of frontal body showing where his tumour existed. In some newspapers, reporters went to the event site and wrote the report after coming back to the office, losing emotional connect with the event and the story. In DBG, reporters carried a laptop and filed their report from the site itself. This not only ensured good quality reporting but the page formation also happened much earlier in the day (see Exhibit 15 for the process of making the newspaper). To ensure that latest news got reported in its newspapers, DBG invested in technology like CTP (Computer to plate) and in the bigger centres installed high speed KBA machines from Germany which printed 80,000 copies per hour enabling it to take news until late in the night.13 For instance, DBG was the only newspaper to carry the story of Shahrukh Khan engaging in a fight after midnight in the stadium during one of the Indian Premier League matches in 2012. DBG not only focussed on speed, but also on high quality of printing which enabled it to win the newspaper printer of the year award by Print Week, a reputed magazine that catered to the needs of the printing industry, for three consecutive years. However, good quality printing and editorial content was not enough. DBG had to consistently ensure timely delivery of the paper. Vinay Maheshwari, V.P. Sales and Market Development said: This is a fastest moving consumer good with a shelf life of 30 minutes. If it gets delayed by half an hour, it is of no value.

DISTRIBUTION
DBG set up a strong distribution channel of distributors, vendors and hawkers to ensure timely delivery of the paper. In bigger and strategically important markets such as Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh, it supplied directly to vendors as it had the infrastructure and in smaller markets, it supplied to distributors who in turn supplied to vendors who hired hawkers. Typically, distributors were paid 5% commission and vendors 30%. Vendors in turn hired hawkers at ` 7001000 per month.14 Commissions of the channel were protected even if the newspaper sold at a lower price, it had to pay 80 paise (1 ` = 100 paise) per copy to the channel.15 If the paper had more pages, the hawkers would often ask for more money. They were paid extra for inserting leaflets and sometimes levied service charge for delivery in bigger cities. They were also incentivised by publishers for acquiring new readers. DBG created a bond with the hawkers, as hawkers were the last mile of connectivity. DBG recognised them it issued identity cards (which protected them from police questioning in the early morning hours), arranged for group insurance and scholarships for their children and printed a newsletter totally dedicated to this hawker agent community. Maheshwari said:

13

DBG as a policy overinvested in capacity. To utilise the idle machinery during day time, it took printing contracts for magazines and supplements of other publication groups. 14 ABC mandated that only those copies where the commission was 40% or less were considered as sold copies. 15 For instance, in Delhi, DBG had 70 centres.

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

We dont incentivise them much as even if they dont recommend our product, it is fine. Whereas traditional publishers use circulation to drive readership (distribute more copies, people would read sooner or later), we use readership to drive circulation (if your content is good, then people would want to read and circulation would automatically go up).

ADVERTISING AND SALES

Although DBG succeeded in securing high circulation and readership in new markets, it faced the challenge of earning commensurate advertising revenues. For instance, immediately after the launch, although its readership in Ahmedabad was higher than Gujarat Samachar, it earned only 75% of Gujarat Samachars advertising revenues. Advertisers initially wondered if DB groups readership was the result of marketing blitzkrieg at the time of launch which would dwindle. They questioned as to why readers would subscribe to two newspapers of the same genre or change their reading habits. They preferred to play safe and advertise in established newspapers. However, because of Divya Bhaskars ability to expand newspaper reader base and get sole readers (who read only Divya Bhaskar), it gained confidence of the advertisers (Exhibit 16). DBG obtained 83% of its revenues from advertising and 17% from subscription.16 Maheshwari said: A single newspaper costs about ` 5-7 to print. The reader pays ` 3. Hence, on every paper, there is a loss of ` 2- 4 which is to be compensated by the advertiser. This is a business where the more I sell, the more I lose money! Moreover, the price of newspaper has not increased significantly in the last 10 years, whereas the cost of newsprint has increased dramatically. DBG got 60% of its revenues from local advertisers (typically distributors, retailers and local service providers) and 40% from corporate advertisers. Whereas, local advertisers bought space frequently and in volumes and advertised in 12 cities, corporates advertised in urban markets and in multiple states. Most corporate advertisers routed their buying through media agencies that aggregated space requirements across clients. DBG had a sales team that made presentations to the media agencies suggesting ways of using print media in general and DB newspapers in particular in their communication. Since most media planners were metro-based and read English papers most did not know Marathi and Gujarati DBG faced the challenge of making them experience the product. It gave them copies of the paper so that they could get a feel of the layout and print quality. Space selling in media was very competitive and intensely negotiated. Whereas, some publishers organised their sales team agency-wise or client-wise, DBG organised its sales team according to product category. It offered attractive rates to acquire not only new clients but also new categories which had not been advertising in any print media. The advertising expenditures were skewed towards metros posing a challenge for DBG as it was focussed on non-metro tier II cities. Although the tier II and tier III cities accounted for 60% of urban consumption, they garnered only 45% of urban advertising expenditure. Advertising rates too were higher in metros. However, the volume of advertising in non-metro cities was increasing in recent years as a result of faster growth of household income in non-metros. This was partly due to several government programmes such as JNNURM which aimed at modernising urban cities and creating special economic zones and the upward revisions in the pay scales of government employees by the two pay commissions which changed the economic status of many working class families. DBG first marketed the city to the advertisers demonstrating the potential to increase sales. Once advertisers were convinced about the potential of the city, DBG being the market leader was an automatic choice. It drew parallels it compared top 6 metros with 8 states and demonstrated to advertisers
Indian newspaper model is Advertising dependent with more than 75-80% of revenue coming from advertising. But globally, some papers are subscription driven, where the revenue ratio are reversed.
16

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how it provided higher reach at lesser cost. To attract advertisers, DBG focussed on urban markets and SEC AB the socio-economic classes having higher purchasing power. For instance, in Rajasthan, DB had only 44% of its readers from rural markets, whereas RP had 53% of its readers from rural markets. Maheshwari said: We dont have to just sell more; we also have to sell right. We identify the major cities and localities with higher household income and focus our efforts there. For instance, to build my readership in SEC A in Jaipur, I target localities such as Malviya Nagar which have a large percent of households belonging to SEC A. Further, the English newspapers commanded premium over Hindi and other language papers in advertising rates. However, in the last few years, the difference in the rates was decreasing. Among non-English papers, DBG commanded premium ad rates due to its high reach and brand image (Exhibit 17). To build its image, DBG conceptualised brand building programmes and activities. It signed M. S. Dhoni as its brand ambassador as he embodied the spirit of DBG as well as its readers.17 A campaign Be Persistent. Change the World (Zidd Karo Duniya Badlo in Hindi) featuring Dhoni and reflecting the spirit of Bhaskar and its readers was aired on television and print media. Apart from mass media campaign, DBG conducted many on-ground activities for building its brand and strengthening relationship with readers. These activities rested on two pillars engagement and corporate social responsibility (CSR). For instance, DBG organised a competition Junior editor, recognised by Guinness world record as the worlds largest manual newspaper competition, in which students manually prepared their own newspaper produced news, drew caricatures, created advertisements to compete for the awards for best advertisement, best editorial and best layout. Select entries were put up in exhibitions across states and the event was widely covered in the newspaper. To encourage the readers to experience the whole newspaper, in another contest, two visuals of coins real and fake were sprinkled throughout the newspaper and readers had to count the number of real coins and send it by SMS. Its CSR campaigns challenged traditional practices and brought positive change. For instance, in Maharashtra on Ganesh Utsav, it collected offerings (flowers and sweets) from temples and households and buried them in soil as against the traditional practice of disposing them in water bodies thus saving the environment. Its campaign dry Holi encouraged people to play with natural colours abeer gulal and shun synthetic colours thus minimising the use of water. As part of its save bird campaign, it distributed pots to households and encouraged them to keep water and grains in them to feed the birds in peak summers when many of them die due to scarcity of water (Exhibit 18).

LAUNCH IN MAHARASHTRA
The quest for growth led DBG to launch its newspaper in Maharashtra in 2011. The choice was guided by two criteria. Firstly, the high GDP growth rate of 14.5% and high per capita income of ` 80,000 per annum, indicating potential to attract advertisers. Secondly, the huge gap between people who could read Marathi (88%) and those who read any Marathi daily (44%), indicating the potential to attract new readers. Nishit Jain, Business Head, Maharashtra said:

17

M.S. Dhoni was a popular and well acclaimed cricketer and captain of the Indian cricket team.

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On one hand, the state attracted high advertising spends of ` 8 billion per year which was growing at the rate of 20% per annum and on the other hand, the total circulation of Marathi newspapers was just 3 million against the much larger number of literates making it attractive to enter the market. Maharashtra was actually two states in one 1) Mumbai, Pune and 2) rest-of-Maharashtra (ROM). The market potential of ROM was even higher than that of the entire state of Andhra Pradesh. In line with its strategy of being a non-metro tier II cities player, DBG decided to focus on ROM with a particular focus on Marathwada and Desh socio-cultural regions (Exhibit 19) which were culturally rich and economically prosperous. Aurangabad was chosen for launch in Maharashtra even though Nasik had higher population because of the greater potential of Aurangabad to attract advertising revenues. Since 88% people spoke Marathi and Marathi newspapers accounted for 83% market share, Marathi was the natural choice of language for DBG. Lokmat, the fifth largest Indian daily, was the market leader with 53% circulation share followed by Sakal with 30% share. DBG followed its proven twin-contact strategy for launch. DBG surveyed 1.4 lakh households reaching out to 75% of the total households in Aurangabad. Survey revealed the readers dissatisfaction with biased news and unanimous preference for an unbiased paper. Readers considered existing newspapers to be politically biased both Lokmat as well as Sakal had political lineage wherein the founders held prominent positions in national and state politics.18 It was perceived that Lokmat was aligned to Congress party and Sakal to National Congress Party. Kumar Ketkar, Chief Editor, Divya Marathi said: Marathwada has a rich political history. It was formerly ruled by Nizam. Aurangabad had a newspaper Marathwada which was anti-Nizam and a movement by itself. It had a strong cultural and emotional connect with people of Aurangabad. Then Lokmat came and it slowly expanded into other regions of Marathwada and became a dominant player. Readers had to opt for Lokmat as there was no other paper Sakal came much later. But, the attitude towards it was hostile. When Divya Marathi was launched, people felt liberated. A paper without political affiliation was a welcome relief! DBG aggressively targeted four segments mass, corporate, SEC A (English newspaper households) and high visibility areas (airports, railway stations, bus stands, hospitals, malls, restaurants, shopping centres, etc.). Although DBGs readers spanned across age groups, income and SEC, a typical reader of DBG was 30 years old who started his day with either morning walk or regular exercises. He was self-employed individual or working in a private/government office, had a wife and two kids and lived in a joint family in a self-owned two-bedroom flat. He was proud to be associated with DB, read it for 30-40 minutes and left for work by 9:3010:00 a.m. on his vehicle. He was traditional and festivals/religions were an important part of his life. He visited temple, relatives and went out for movies with his family. The annual subscription of Divya Marathi (Aurangabad) was sold for ` 1,095 (cover price of ` 3) against ` 1,278 of Lokmat. DBG gave a pre-launch offer of ` 799 for annual subscription out of which ` 199 had to be paid at the time of booking and ` 45 had to be paid to the vendor every month. It also distributed coupons worth

Lokmats Chairman Vijay Darda was the Member of Parliament from Rajya Sabha since 1998 and his brother Rajendra Darda was the minister for education in the Maharashtra State government.

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Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

` 500 to the consumers which they could use for giving classified ad anytime within a year.19

The launch was a resounding success with Divya Marathi becoming No. 1 on the first day itself.20 Moreover in the next six months after the launch of Divya Marathi, the average circulation of Lokmat declined from 73,158 copies to 59,548 copies and that of Sakal from 55,972 copies to 40,370 copies.21 (Exhibit 20). Divya Marathi also earned attractive advertising revenues. With capital expenditure of ` 130 million and one-time operating expenses of ` 55 million, DBG projected to break even in 4 years. The successful launch of Divya Marathi in Aurangabad was followed by launches in other cities Nasik, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar and Solapur. Not only did DBG successfully enter new markets, it also warded off threat from competition in its home turf. For instance, when RP entered Bhopal, DBG introduced a lower priced variant without any supplements Jan Jagruti, also called Green Bhaskar. Its flagship brand Red Bhaskar had all the supplements free and was priced higher (the two variants had green and red lines, respectively under the mastheads). Patrika (Rajasthan Patrika was branded as Patrika in markets other than Rajasthan) on its entry had to fight Green Bhaskar. Later, Green Bhaskar was phased out. Another threat was posed by Dainik Jagran (DJ) when it entered Indore. However, due to loyalty of readers towards Dainik Bhaskar, DJ could not make much headway and eventually closed operations. The fierce competitiveness of the DB group stemmed from its vision of being the dominant player in each of the markets it operated in. Pawan Agarwal said: We want to not only maintain our readership, but also widen our lead over competition. Our goals are very clear if we are in a 4-player market, we have to be ahead of our nearest rival by 25%; in a 3-player market by 30% and in a 2-player market by 40%. We also have the responsibility to grow the market as the penetration levels of print media are very low. Although 71% of Indias population is literate, only 20.1% read newspapers daily, leaving a huge potential for readership growth in future. We can do this by consolidating our existing markets as well as by expanding into new territories.

Which is the next market that Dainik Bhaskar Group should enter?

The subscription offer varies from market to market. In Maharashtra, the classified advertisement coupons were a success. However, these have not been used in any other launches by DBG. 20 According to the IMRB Survey (Aurangabad) initiated by DBCL Divya Marathi had the highest number of readers: 3.42 lakh and hence was the leader. 21 As per Audit Bureau of circulation (ABC) Lokmat had an average circulation of 73,158 copies in Aurangabad city during January-June 2011 but after the launch of Divya Marathi on 29th May, 2011, the average circulation for Lokmat for the period July-December 2011 dropped to 59,548 copies. Similarly, the average circulation of Sakal dropped from 55,972 copies in January-June 2011 to 40,370 copies during July-December 2011.

19

10

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth EXHIBIT 1: THE TOP NEWSPAPER GROUPS
DAINIK BHASKAR GROUP Publication AIR Dainik Bhaskar 14876 Divya Bhaskar 3627 Saurashtra Samachar 255 Business Bhaskar 68 DNA 47 DB STAR 272 Dainik Prabhat Kiran 63 Total 19208 DAINIK JAGRAN GROUP Publication AIR Dainik Jagran 16458 I Next 655 Midday (Eng) 380 Midday (Guj) 147 Inquilab 145 Total 17785 TOI GROUP Publication AIR The Times of India 7467 The Economic Times (Eng) 812 Maharashtra Times 1217 Navbharat Times 2581 Vijay Karnataka 3487 Mumbai Mirror 760 Ahmedabad Mirror 53 Bangalore Mirror 169 Total 16546 HT MEDIA GROUP Publication AIR Hindustan 12033 Hindustan Times 3733 Mint 253 Total 16019 MALAYALA MANORAMA GROUP Publication AIR Malayala Manorama 9912 Total 9912

DNA is the English newspaper, DB Star is a tabloid and Prabhat Kiran is the afternoon newspaper in MP. Average Issue Readership (AIR) is the number of people who have read the publication within its publication interval. For instance, for a daily, AIR is the number of people who have read the newspaper yesterday. Indian Readership Survey (IRS) is the largest continuous study of the world with a sample size of more than 250,000 households across India. It collects readership information of print media, viewing habits of television and channels, listening habits of radio and usage of internet. It also collects information on consumption of over 100 product categories. It is conducted by Market Research Users Council (MRUC), a not-for-profit industry body and Hansa Research, a private market research company.

Source: IRS 2011 Q3 Figures in 000s

11

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

EXHIBIT 2: CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Particulars (In Million `) Total Revenue Advertising Revenue Circulation Revenue Total Expenditure Newsprint Other Operating Expenditure - Personnel Expenses - Advertisement and Publicity - Distribution Expenses - Business Promotion - Survey Expenses EBITDA EBITDA Margin Net Profit Net Worth Cash & Bank Balance Gross Debt Net Block (Fixed) Return on Capital Employed Return on Net Worth 2008-09 9,610 7,256 2,009 (8,137) (4,075) (4,062) 1,311 207 262 147 70 1,473 15.3% 476 2,360 452 5,412 6,471 15% 20% 2009-10 10,630 8,025 2,118 (7,200) (3,279) (3,922) 1,318 130 228 123 120 3,429 32.3% 1,828 6,361 1,926 2,966 6,475 32.7% 28.7% 2010-11 12,652 10,016 2,144 (8,621) (3,838) (4,783) 1,846 125 213 150 188 4,031 31.9% 2,585 8,179 1,731 2,082 7,358 35.1% 31.6%

Source: Company Annual Report (Selling, General & Administrative Expenses were ` 1,204 mn, ` 1,167 mn and ` 1,458 mn for years 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11, respectively).

12

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

EXHIBIT 3: STRATEGIC FOOTPRINT IN INDIA

Source: Company mpany *DBG has minor presence p in Delhi

13

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth EXHIBIT 4: DAINIK BHASKAR GROUP COVERAGE MAP

Jammu - 2010
DB(1)

Himachal Pradesh - 2008 Jammu

DB(1)

Himachal Pradesh Punjab - 2006 Punjab DB(4) & BB(2) Chandigarh

Delhi - 2007
DB(1) & BB(1)

Chandigarh-2000
DB(1)

Uttarakhand - 2008
DB(1)

Uttarakhand Haryana Delhi Haryana - 2000

DB(3) & BB(1)

DB(12), DNA(1), BB(1) & DB Star(1)

Rajasthan - 1996

Gujarat - 2003
DvB(6) & DNA(1)

DB(5), DNA(1), BB(2), DB Star(3) & Prabhat Kiran(1)

Madhya Pradesh - 1958

Jharkhand 2010
DB(3)

Chhattisgarh 1988
DB(4), BB(1) & DB Star(1)

Maharashtra - 2004
DvB(1) & DvM(5)

DB DvB DvM BB -

Dainik Bhaskar Divya Bhaskar Divya Marathi Business Bhaskar

Source: Company ( ) Indicates number of editions Divya Bhaskar was launched in Mumbai in 2004 and Divya Marathi in Maharashtra in 2011.

14

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth EXHIBIT 5: READERSHIP TRENDS IN DAINIK BHASKAR MARKETS
RAJASTHAN 1995 R2 POPULATION CRH AHD RP DB POPULATION CRH AHD PK DB POPULATION CRH AHD PK DB POPULATION CRG AGD GS DvB SNDH POPULATION CRH AHD DB NB ND NvD RE PAT POPULATION CRH AHD DB NB 32061 3976 3359 12508 1650 1243 15426 1893 1877 1999 R2 35647 7593 4919 4848 13979 1859 1342 17145 1337 1337 34161 8335 4338 4851 2000 R2 36415 9468 6482 6810 2002 R2 38746 10616 5966 7284 2003 R2 40094 21050 9512 5865 6354 2005 R2 41886 24005 10176 6038 6696 2007 R2 44478 24268 10268 7353 5745 18837 12976 3529 868 1669 21033 12069 2516 1132 265 43098 29492 10503 4421 3295 3591 47862 25428 4794 3314 739 467 488 16378 9292 1984 1095 790 2009 R2 46883 26646 10230 6363 5693 20012 14110 3526 850 1498 22007 12909 2780 1111 893 45239 32454 10334 4603 3359 3234 50223 29213 4770 3025 456 790 139 547 463 17019 10414 2261 1115 819 2010 Q4 48132 29855 11103 7026 6379 20626 13978 2869 1069 1571 22509 13223 2579 1070 849 46345 33022 10068 4365 3507 3303 51443 30639 6092 3534 200 1209 291 574 1080 17349 11007 2339 1016 771 2011 Q3 48642 30502 10951 6796 6434 20922 15817 3583 959 1432 22770 13462 2346 955 814 47190 34648 10575 4450 3591 3206 52373 32253 6447 3881 144 1213 361 508 1430 17599 11644 2356 1067 745

CHANDIGARH & HARYANA 14286 15377 16103 17333 2414 1629 17398 1531 1531 34724 8542 4688 4722 3579 1283 1909 10862 3829 1168 1847 11581 4597 1436 2227 19745 11777 2796 1604 100 40486 25533 10825 5444 3991 3944

PUNJAB 18378 9941 1979 1147

37 GUJARAT 36731 38054 8374 4334 4738 25024 9446 4914 2215 4204

MADHYA PRADESH 42994 45159 24196 5362 3541 1828 709 24768 5206 3547 1745 789 -

CHHATTISGARH 14942 15640 7818 2251 1240 1235 8703 2599 1675 1301

Source: IRS Figures in 000s Readership is Average Issue Readership; CRH Can Read Hindi, AHD Any Hindi Daily, RP Rajasthan Patrika, DB Dainik Bhaskar, PK Punjab Kesari, CRG Can Read Gujarati, AGD Any Gujarati Daily, GS Gujarat Samachar, DvB Divya Bhaskar, NB Nav Bharat, SNDH Sandesh, ND Nai Dunia, NvD Nav Duniya, RE Raj Express, PAT Patrika. Till 2009 figures refer to R2 (Round 2) as IRS was half yearly. In 2010, IRS adopted Quarterly reporting and the data refers to Q4. For 2011, Q3 was the latest data available at the time of case development.

15

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

EXHIBIT 6: IRS TRENDS IN SELECT DAINIK BHASKAR URBAN MARKETS

RAJASTHAN 1999 R2 2000 R2 2001 R2 2003 R2 2005 R2 2006 R2 2007 R2 2008 R2 2009 R2 2010 Q4 2011 Q3 POPULATION CRH AHD DB RP POPULATION CRH AHD DB RP POPULATION CRG AGD GS DvB SNDH SS POPULATION CRG AGD GS DvB SNDH POPULATION CRH AHD DB DJ PK 8709 4407 3187 2787 1486 911 744 493 12675 5514 3004 3029 101 2978 1278 843 730 5286 1173 1173 8925 4516 3356 2785 1537 973 812 550 12959 5598 3292 2773 168 3042 1448 1037 843 5404 1129 1129 9190 4806 3529 2876 1601 1074 898 543 13306 5535 3233 2741 173 3120 1482 1092 755 5550 1204 44 183 1010 9824 7148 4682 3172 2785 1833 1466 1206 863 698 14820 11658 6311 3382 1742 2636 126 3556 2963 2016 1105 1011 699 6415 4596 1648 37 733 928 10580 7961 4807 3373 2616 JAIPUR 1999 1558 1222 938 606 16246 12583 7048 3526 2756 2381 94 3869 3165 2050 1056 1099 566 PUNJAB 7066 5280 1948 100 930 1057 7383 5504 1915 84 893 1003 7725 5700 1985 237 952 862 7974 6045 2157 602 814 843 8231 6241 2269 787 839 840 8494 6406 2012 701 669 804 8695 6547 1926 687 586 766 2085 1680 1313 763 833 16971 13648 7362 3270 2697 2433 185 4034 3402 2012 845 1046 534 2205 1740 1331 872 827 17782 14037 6918 2944 2448 2210 147 4210 3513 1925 785 957 454 2305 1844 1435 954 711 18393 14766 7006 3075 2656 2189 160 4339 3572 1890 803 983 460 2409 1971 1423 903 659 19024 15302 6782 3071 2479 1954 125 4472 3645 1867 822 931 441 2518 2062 1438 1023 703 19672 15699 6907 3119 2631 1997 146 4606 3819 2017 870 1058 503 2602 2187 1543 1050 746 20169 16399 7401 3253 2714 2020 156 4708 4018 2156 873 1129 489 11004 8171 5149 3056 3221 11490 8552 5097 3037 3416 11854 8896 5327 3207 3052 12230 9380 5241 3186 3018 12616 9950 5549 3481 3253 12911 10335 5658 3580 3180

GUJARAT

AHMEDABAD

Source: IRS Figures in 000's Readership is Average Issue Readership CRH Can Read Hindi, AHD Any Hindi Daily, RP Rajasthan Patrika, DB Dainik Bhaskar, PK Punjab Kesari, CRG Can Read Gujarati, AGD Any Gujarati Daily, GS Gujarat Samachar, DvB Divya Bhaskar, DJ Dainik Jagran, SNDH Sandesh. Till 2009 figures refer to R2 (Round 2) as IRS was half yearly. In 2010, IRS adopted Quarterly reporting and the data refers to Q4. For 2011, Q3 was the latest data available at the time of case development.

16

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth EXHIBIT 7: READERSHIP (AIR) OF TOP 20 PUBLICATIONS
PUBLICATION Dainik Jagran Dainik Bhaskar Hindustan Malayala Manorama Amar Ujala The Times of India Daily Thanthi Lokmat Rajasthan Patrika Mathrubhumi Eenadu Ananda Bazar Patrika Dinakaran Sakshi Gujarat Samachar Daily Sakal Hindustan Times Divya Bhaskar Vijay Karnataka Prajavani Source: IRS 2011 Q3 Figures in 000s URBAN+RURAL 16458 14876 12033 9912 8836 7467 7447 7438 6918 6630 6101 6098 5253 5219 5186 4273 3733 3627 3487 3366 PUBLICATION Dainik Bhaskar Dainik Jagran The Times of India Hindustan Daily Thanthi Amar Ujala Lokmat Gujarat Samachar Ananda Bazar Patrika Hindustan Times Rajasthan Patrika Dinakaran Eenadu Malayala Manorama Divya Bhaskar Sakshi Navbharat Times Daily Sakal Punjab Kesari Mathrubhumi URBAN 9649 8748 7278 5870 4452 4400 4121 3989 3820 3670 3285 3165 2988 2962 2750 2595 2549 2402 2251 2070

EXHIBIT 8: GROWTH RATES OF SEC AB

POPULATION SEGMENT Metro SEC A SEC B Tier II + III Towns Metro Tier II + III Towns Tier I/Metro: Population > 4 Mn; Tier II: 1 Mn < Population <4 Mn; Tier III: Population < 1 Mn. Socio-economic classification was a tool for segmenting households in India. Originally developed by IMRB, it was standardised and adopted by the Market Research Society of India to categorise consumer behaviour. The urban SEC classified households in to 5 groups A, B, C, D, and E on the basis of education and occupation. SEC A had the highest purchasing power. The rural SEC classified households into 4 groups R1, R2, R3 and R4 on the basis of education and type of house (mud, brick and mix). SEC R1 had the highest purchasing power. Source: IRS 2011 Q3. TOWN CLASSIFICATION CAGR (20062011) 10 24 14 18

EXHIBIT 9: CONSUMPTION GROWTH

GROWTH 2008 VS 2011 Consumer Durables Ownership IT & Communication Products Ownership Automobile Ownership FMCG Product Purchases Source: IRS 2011 Q3 Figures in % METROS 46 20 27 10 TIER II 104 66 61 17 TIER III 96 44 58 15

17

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

EXHIBIT 10: MARKET POTENTIAL VALUES (MPV) OF STATES

MPV % TO INDIA 3138 13.5 1409 6.1 1140 4.9 West 376 1.6 62 0.3 2861 12.3 1073 4.6 901 3.9 774 3.3 North 634 2.7 183 0.8 164 0.7 59 0.3 1851 8.0 1747 7.5 1392 6.0 South 1010 4.4 33 0.1 1907 8.2 1019 4.4 577 2.5 East 467 2.0 377 1.6 45 0.2 All India 23,199 100.0 Market potential value (MPV) was a measure of aggregate potential of the market by R K Swamy BBDO which helped marketers to prioritise markets. It combined various indicators of prosperity across two groups ability to buy and willingness to buy through indices such as per capita income, house ownership, consumption of FMCG products, ownership of durables and media reach to indicate market potential. Source: R K Swamy BBDO guide to market planning, 2008 ZONE STATES Maharashtra Gujarat Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh Goa Uttar Pradesh Rajasthan Delhi Punjab Haryana Uttaranchal Himachal Pradesh Chandigarh Tamil Nadu Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Pondicherry West Bengal Bihar Orissa Assam Jharkhand Meghalaya

18

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth EXHIBIT 11: READERSHIP TRENDS IN SELECT MARKETS
Urban + Rural ANDHRA PRADESH Population Can Read Telugu Any Dailies AIR Any Telugu Daily AIR 08 R2 64712 39043 10656 9859 09 R2 65907 40335 12286 11696 10 Q3 66807 41468 12230 11749 11 Q3 68026 42806 12330 11718 Urban 08 R2 09 R2 19092 19578 13599 14290 5339 6181 4575 5647 10 Q3 11 Q3 19945 20444 14709 15213 5944 6052 5490 5495 SEC AB 08 R2 09 R2 4455 4366 4031 3927 2575 2750 2138 2450 10 Q3 11 Q3 4577 5121 4135 4597 2703 2926 2454 2575

Urban + Rural BIHAR Population Can Read Hindi Any Dailies AIR Any Hindi Daily AIR 08 R2 64443 32424 6077 5979 09 R2 66091 33381 5887 5847 10 Q3 67346 35302 6136 6074 11 Q3 69060 38640 6693 6546

Urban 08 R2 09 R2 7660 7907 5445 5613 2009 1950 1943 1910 10 Q3 11 Q3 8097 8356 5839 6200 2114 2351 2077 2266

SEC AB 08 R2 09 R2 2061 1997 1975 1917 1138 1068 1080 1034 10 Q3 11 Q3 2253 2553 2150 2444 1174 1383 1144 1314

Urban + Rural KARNATAKA Population Can Read Kannada Any Dailies AIR Any Kannada Daily AIR 08 R2 45964 29410 8381 7497 09 R2 46934 31165 8380 7349 10 Q3 47668 32015 9787 8718 11 Q3 48665 32596 9808 8538

Urban 08 R2 09 R2 16887 17369 12108 13179 5077 5017 4297 4189 10 Q3 11 Q3 17735 18234 13415 13640 5711 5779 4781 4645

SEC AB 08 R2 09 R2 4070 4577 3555 4104 2340 2451 1879 1990 10 Q3 11 Q3 4972 4991 4402 4315 2745 2746 2237 2059

Urban + Rural KERALA Population Can Read Malayalam Any Dailies AIR Any Malayalam Daily AIR 08 R2 27706 26233 15550 15442 09 R2 28048 26660 17311 17091 10 Q3 28304 27015 18499 18429 11 Q3 28521 27724 18819 18703

Urban 08 R2 09 R2 7277 7365 7026 7145 4730 5207 4687 5121 10 Q3 11 Q3 7431 7520 7258 7370 5482 5439 5443 5389

SEC AB 08 R2 09 R2 1457 1757 1442 1742 1292 1516 1266 1459 10 Q3 11 Q3 1829 1944 1808 1936 1617 1715 1596 1675

Urban + Rural TAMIL NADU Population Can Read Tamil Any Dailies AIR Any Tamil Daily AIR 08 R2 56980 44580 13554 12752 09 R2 57755 45332 13779 12955 10 Q3 58247 46225 13086 12241 11 Q3 59008 47394 13183 12322

Urban 08 R2 09 R2 26866 27433 22942 23454 8550 8861 7791 8087 10 Q3 11 Q3 27786 28343 23959 24573 8490 8558 7701 7744

SEC AB 08 R2 09 R2 5413 5829 5160 5575 3104 3387 2529 2777 10 Q3 11 Q3 6107 6064 5831 5832 3398 3267 2796 2694

Urban + Rural UTTAR PRADESH Population Can Read Hindi Any Dailies AIR Any Hindi Daily AIR 08 R2 130285 76062 16141 15857 09 R2 133397 78518 16313 16028

Urban 10 Q3 11 Q3 32630 33665 23702 24907 9154 9461 8875 9176

SEC AB 08 R2 09 R2 7992 8199 7668 7815 4826 5075 4596 4829 10 Q3 11 Q3 8481 9095 8102 8715 5198 5403 4938 5145

10 Q3 11 Q3 08 R2 09 R2 135766 137890 30884 31873 82137 85444 22273 22949 17221 18144 8532 8848 16916 17859 8258 8585

Urban + Rural WEST BENGAL Population Can Read Bengali Any Dailies - AIR Any Bengali Daily - AIR 08 R2 68285 46699 11163 10161 09 R2 69694 49122 11113 10006 10 Q3 70760 50104 11205 10092 11 Q3 72205 52641 10905 9718

Urban 08 R2 09 R2 20903 21343 15291 15793 6264 6212 5306 5231 10 Q3 11 Q3 21676 22126 16229 16587 6651 6569 5595 5455

SEC AB 08 R2 09 R2 5814 5933 5240 5273 3626 3561 3041 2918 10 Q3 11 Q3 6076 6129 5428 5520 3854 3834 3174 3211

Source: IRS Figures in 000s The 2008 and 2009 figures refer to Round 2 as IRS was half yearly.

19

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

EXHIBIT 12: SOCIO-ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION (PROFILE) OF STATES

STATES Andhra Pradesh Assam Bihar Chandigarh Chhattisgarh Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Uttarakhand Uttar Pradesh West Bengal A 2.64 1.63 1.52 22.73 1.87 23.25 4.38 4.00 4.29 1.75 8.87 3.16 3.63 1.84 2.90 4.87 2.10 4.27 2.73 3.62 4.17 2.60 3.40 B 4.88 2.70 2.18 19.66 3.41 21.36 11.97 7.03 6.67 3.25 20.74 4.53 6.63 4.98 4.67 8.06 2.93 7.99 4.92 6.65 6.19 3.99 5.09 C 6.32 3.26 2.23 21.25 4.65 19.63 12.36 8.72 6.81 2.77 34.05 5.59 9.05 7.28 5.21 11.43 3.48 8.65 5.10 10.98 5.73 4.22 5.07 D 6.54 3.94 2.45 15.34 5.44 17.31 11.03 10.46 6.58 1.72 19.66 5.50 8.00 6.88 6.87 11.14 4.50 7.76 5.83 13.33 5.76 5.07 7.24 E 9.67 4.05 3.72 21.02 8.93 18.45 12.05 12.53 9.92 2.09 16.67 6.99 10.17 5.40 9.91 11.52 4.55 9.52 7.97 13.45 7.50 8.53 9.84 R1 3.03 2.22 4.53 2.05 4.07 1.48 3.46 6.58 2.30 2.40 8.74 1.24 2.70 3.35 2.12 3.62 2.90 7.13 4.44 2.42 R2 9.44 7.42 14.65 3.73 15.26 6.64 16.79 32.67 6.34 10.19 23.90 4.95 10.97 5.39 16.49 9.11 9.18 20.54 12.02 4.92 R3 22.10 42.01 28.15 38.67 24.18 27.11 28.15 36.70 30.93 25.33 39.93 30.31 24.41 33.59 22.18 28.52 22.17 27.21 26.67 35.52 R4 35.37 32.76 40.57 31.25 4.77 22.03 17.34 12.46 34.68 24.62 1.06 33.94 14.90 40.11 21.02 32.20 17.72 15.76 32.45 26.50

Source: IRS 2011 Q3 Figures in % Data for Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura not available.

20

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth EXHIBIT 13: READERSHIP (AIR) TREND OF TOP DAILIES
ANDHRA PRADESH Publication Eenadu Sakshi Andhra Jyoti Vartha Andhra Bhoomi Deccan Chronicle Hindu Times of India Urban+Rural 6008 5159 2222 356 223 731 308 142 BIHAR Hindustan Dainik Jagran Prabhat Khabar Aj Times of India Hindustan Times 4897 2861 587 303 152 80 UTTAR PRADESH Dainik Jagran Amar Ujala Hindustan Aj Rashtriya Sahara I Next DLA Times of India Hindustan Times 8981 7021 3884 690 662 457 262 558 280 WEST BENGAL Ananda Bazar Patrika Bartaman Sangbad Pratidin Gansakti Aajkaal Uttar Banga Sambad Telegraph Times of India Sanmarg 6015 2881 905 776 663 508 1056 617 472 3744 1512 419 340 349 256 1023 593 460 2382 816 222 163 202 102 875 489 190 4470 3453 1946 258 276 403 217 511 276 2734 1960 1167 108 169 204 123 476 241 Daily Thanthi Dinakaran Dinamalar Dinamani Malai Malar Hindu Deccan Chronicle 1612 1071 229 120 124 63 948 622 135 66 114 55 Malayala Manorama Mathrubhumi Deshabhimani Madhyamam Kerala Kaumudi The Hindu Urban 2914 2545 831 165 99 697 288 142 SEC AB 1532 1096 389 84 44 459 208 120 KERALA 9828 6608 2201 998 665 326 TAMIL NADU 7262 5097 2615 485 451 1097 258 4319 3045 1694 324 325 1023 233 1316 935 781 162 108 737 128 2881 2049 619 231 171 212 973 633 121 67 66 153 Publication Vijay Karnataka Prajavani Kannada Prabha Samyukta Karnataka Udayavani Times of India Deccan Herald KARNATAKA Urban+Rural Urban 3484 3363 1326 1084 923 634 394 1992 1791 599 463 465 629 337 SEC AB 981 794 265 185 144 438 240

Source: IRS 2011 Q3 Figures in 000s

21

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth EXHIBIT 14: LAUNCH PROCESS AT DBG

Source: Company

22

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth EXHIBIT : NE SPAPER MAKING PROCESS AT DBG

Source: Company

23

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

EXHIBIT 16: INCREMENTAL REACH

Markets Gross Reach Top 2 publications in the state (AIR) DB 3,881 DB 1,067 DB 6,434 DB 814 DB 1,271 DB 161 DB 2,246 DvB 3,846 DB 613 PAT 1,430 HB 933 RP 6,796 PK 955 PK 936 TT 98 PK 1,914 GS 4,450 H'tan 1,744 294 2,522 59 199 30 262 507 173 1,706 10,708 1,710 2,008 229 3897 7,771 2183 773 3,915 755 1,072 131 1,983 3,321 439 83 58 79 115 134 104 75 25 56.79 58.41 86.12 74.67 79.23 47.31 Duplication DB vs Competition Incremental Sole Net Reach Incremental reach reach of DBG Readership of top 2 of DBG indexed on across language publications over competition competition and periodicity in the state (in %) (in %) 4,882 3,452 241 64.49

MADHYA PRADESH CHHATTISGARH RAJASTHAN PUNJAB HARYANA CHANDIGARH CPH GUJARAT JHARKHAND

430

Source: IRS 2011 Q3 AIR Figures in 000s AIR is for both urban and rural DB Dainik Bhaskar, PAT Patrika, HB Hari Bhoomi, RP Rajasthan Patrika, PK Punjab Kesari, TT The Tribune, DvB Divya Bhaskar (DvB in Gujarat includes Saurashtra Samachar), GS Gujarat Samachar, Htan Hindustan.

24

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

EXHIBIT 17: COMPARATIVE ADVERTISING RATES

PUBLICATION The Times of India Hindustan Times The Times of India Dainik Bhaskar Eenadu Dainik Jagran Gujarat Samachar Malayala Manorama EDITION Mum+Del+Ban Mum+Del All editions All editions Andhra Pradesh All editions Gujarat Kerala READERSHIP (000s) 3,942 2,680 7,467 13,042 6,008 16,458 4,450 9,828 BW CARD RATE (` / SQ CM) 7,595 4,900 11,160 8,692 2,590 6,930 922.5 1,400 COST PER THOUSAND (`) 1.93 1.83 1.49 0.67 0.43 0.42 0.21 0.14 CPT INDEX 100.00% 94.90% 77.57% 34.59% 22.37% 21.85% 10.76% 7.39%

Source: IRS 2011 Q3 Readership: AIR

TG: SEC AB READERS

PUBLICATION The Times of India Hindustan Times The Times of India Dainik Bhaskar Eenadu Dainik Jagran Gujarat Samachar Malayala Manorama EDITION Mum+Del+Ban Mum+Del All editions All editions Andhra Pradesh All editions Gujarat Kerala READERSHIP (000s) 3,159 2,243 5,917 4,228 1,532 5,109 1,711 973 BW CARD RATE (` / SQ CM) 7,595 4,900 11,160 8,692 2,590 6,930 922.5 1,400 COST PER THOUSAND (`) 2.40 2.18 1.89 2.06 1.69 1.36 0.54 1.44 CPT INDEX 100.00% 90.86% 78.45% 85.51% 70.32% 56.42% 22.43% 59.85%

Source: IRS 2011 Q3 Readership: AIR

25

Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

EXHIBIT 17 (CONITINUED): COMPARATIVE ADVERTISING RATES

TOWN PUBLICATION The Times of India Mumbai Maharashtra Times Hindustan Times Delhi Times of India Ananda Bazar Patrika Kolkata The Telegraph Daily Thanthi Chennai The Hindu Deccan Chronicle Hyderabad Eenadu Vijay Karnataka Bangalore The Times of India Divya Bhaskar Ahmedabad Gujarat Samachar Divya Bhaskar Surat Gujarat Samachar Dainik Bhaskar Jaipur Rajasthan Patrika Dainik Bhaskar Indore Patrika Dainik Bhaskar Bhopal Patrika Dainik Bhaskar Chandigarh The Tribune English 100 850 Hindi Hindi 283 161 1200 659 Hindi Hindi 249 373 1500 1051 Hindi Hindi 746 438 2750 1392 Gujarati Hindi 470 1050 217.5 2431 Gujarati Gujarati 873 576 540 250 English Gujarati 519 1129 2610 613 Telugu Kannada 930 754 1495 825 English English 548 506 2680 3015 English Tamil 934 1267 1670 1210 English Bengali 1888 2656 3195 3340 Marathi English 947 1929 1510 3400 LANGUAGE English READERS (000s) 1535 COLOUR RATES 3925

Source: IRS 2011 Q4 Readership AIR Rates: Mediaware, April 2012. Dainik Bhaskar All Editions excluding Jabalpur, Satna, Nagpur and Chhindwara.

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Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

Source: Company

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Dainik Bhaskar Group: Aspiring Growth

EXHIBIT

: MAHARASHTRA

Source: Company

EXHIBIT HIBIT IT
P Divya Marathi arat Lok Lokmat Daily Sakal Sa Punya Nagari T 342 273 65 25

: READERSHIP IN AURANGABAD
SEC A 28 15 4 1 B 58 38 8 1 C 122 78 14 4 DE 134 140 39 18

Source: IMRB Survey (Initiated by DBG) Figures in 000s AIR.

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