A STUDY OF DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

ADOPTED BY

“THE TIMES OF INDIA”

TO ITS EXISTING CUSTOMER
SUBJECT: MARKETING MANAGEMENT
 A PROJECT REPORT

ON

THE TIMES OF INDIA

Submitted by

REHAN VORA ( B31920070 )

In MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Of

POST – GRADUATION DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT

(Second Year)

VIDYALANKAR SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, WADALA

AIMA UNIVERSITY

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 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Certified that this project report “A STUDY OF DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL ADOPTED BY

‘THE TIMES OF INDIA’ TO ITS EXISTING CUSTOMER” is the bonafide work of
NAME OF THE CANDIDATE(S) is below:

NAME ROLL NO. SIGNATURE

REHAN VORA B31920070 ___________

Who carried out the project work under my supervision.

________
_________________
SIGNATURE
(Prof Mr. Jay Bhatt, Assistant Professor)

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Through this acknowledgement, we express our sincere gratitude towards all those
people who have helped us in the preparation of this project, which has been learning
experience.

We would like to thanks the Co-ordinator, the faculty, the librarian and the
administrative staff of Department of Vidyalankar School Of Business, for their
support.

Finally, We express our sincere thanks to Proff. JAY BHATT , who guided
Us through out the project and gave us Valuable suggestion and encouragement.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sr. No. Particulars Page no.
1 INTRODUCTION 5

2 HISTORY 6
MARKETING MIX

3 a) 4 P’s of Marketing 7-13

b) Marketing Strategy

DISTRUBUTION CHANNEL ADOPTED BY TOI TO ITS

4 14-16
EXISTING CUSTOMERS
5 COMPARITIVE ANALYSIS 17

6 STP ANALYSIS 18-21

7 AWARDS AND RECOGNITION 22

8 RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY 24-32

9 RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESTIONS 33

10 CONCLUSION 34

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 INTRODUCTION

The Times of India (TOI) is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. According to

Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has the largest circulation among all English-language newspapers
in the world, across all formats i.e. broadsheet, tabloid, compact, Berliner and online. The Times of
India’s website ranks among the world’s most-visited news sites.

Published since 1838, the paper has shown no signs of aging and keeps reinventing itself to
remain in step with its young readership. Known as a trend-setter that adheres to the highest
standards of journalism, The Times of India not only provides news coverage of unrivalled depth
and breadth but also places equal, often greater, emphasis on perspective and context to empower
the reader.

Its coverage includes every topic and trend of interest to the reader – national, international,
city, community, business, health, science, technology, sports, lifestyle and entertainment. Instead of
taking the traditional role of newspapers to “mould public opinion”, The Times of India provides the
choices that enable readers to arrive at their own conclusions.

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 HISTORY

The Times of India was founded on November 3, 1838 as 'The Bombay Times and Journal
of Commerce' In Mumbai, as a semi-weekly edition, on Saturdays and Wednesdays.
The daily editions of the paper were started from 1850 and in 1861, the Bombay Times was
renamed The Times of India.
In the 19th century this newspaper company employed more than 800 people and had a sizable
circulation in India and Europe.
It was after India's Independence that the ownership of the paper passed on to the then famous
industrial family of Dalmiyas and later it was taken over by Sahu Shnati Prasad Jain of the Sahu
Jain group from Bijnore, UP.
The Anglo-Indian papers promoted purely British interests. Robert Knight (1825–1892) was the
principal founder and the first editor of the Times.
Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. is the largest media group in India, known as The Times Group. It
is best known as the publisher of the English daily The Times of India.
It was after India's Independence that the ownership of the paper passed on to the then famous
industrial family of Dalmiyas and later it was taken over by Sahu Shnati Prasad Jain of the Sahu
Jain group from Bijnore, UP.
The Anglo-Indian papers promoted purely British interests. Robert Knight (1825–1892) was the
principal founder and the first editor of the Times.
Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. is the largest media group in India, known as The Times Group. It
is best known as the publisher of the English daily The Times of India.

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 MARKETING MIX

The marketing mix is a business tool used in marketing products. The marketing mix is often
crucial when determining a product or brand's unique selling point, the unique quality that
differentiates a product from its competitors, and is often synonymous with the four Ps: price,
product, promotion, and place.

4 Ps of TIMES OF INDIA

Product:
Newspapers cannot be called totally a product but it’s a service
product which provides information so Times of India is a
product that ideally satisfies a market's want or need of
knowing that what is happening around the world. Newspaper
provides all types of information of current affairs in city,
country, world, business, technology, sports, entertainment, health, lifestyles etc. It also makes
reader aware of products in the market as it consists of many advertisements of all categories. It also
acts as an instrument of communication, like if government want to give message to the people of
India it can write its message in the newspaper, many companies print there balance sheet or
announce call of shares to communicate with the shareholder. It also consists of pages that include
job opportunities or vacancies in different organizations.

Its supplement products are as follows:

Bombay times, times international, times accent, times drive, education times(Tuesday and
Thursday),times classified, times matrimonial(Sunday),Westside plus, times property, times
wellness, times life(Sunday).

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Other products offerd by TIMES GROUP :

 The Times of India – Their flagship product and the world’s largest English broadsheet
daily, with a circulation of 2.2 million copies nationwide daily and readership of 4 million.
 The Economic Times – India’s most widely read financial paper and the second largest
English business daily newspaper with a circulation of 400,000.
 Femina – Magazine for the modern Indian woman. Femina organizes the Miss India
pageants, the national feeder for Miss Universe.
 Filmfare – Magazine about the Indian film and entertainment industry (Bollywood).
 Navbharat Times/Sandhya Times – The nation’s leading Hindi daily newspapers.
 Times FM – The largest FM broadcaster in five Indian cities, with an audience of over 7
million people.
 Internet – Websites of their publications as well as a media portal.
 Planet M Retail – Music and entertainment store.
 Times Music Label – Indian and International music.
 TOP GEAR – Automotive and lifestyle magazine.
 GRAZIA – Europe’s No.1 style magazine, deals with latest fashions and trends.
 THE ECONOMIST – weekly finance news magazine focusing on international politics,
business news and opinions.
 GOOD HOMES – BBC Good homes is a unique blend of design, creativity and substances.
It talks about interior designing, shopping options, etc.

Price:

The pricing of newspaper The times of India is done under THE NEWSPAPER (PRICE AND
PAGE) ACT, 1956

ACT NO. 45 OF 1956 [7th September, 1956.]

An Act to provide for the regulation of the prices charged for newspapers in relation to their pages
and of matters connected therewith for the purpose of preventing unfair competition among
newspapers so that newspapers may have fuller opportunities of freedom of expression.

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Rs 5 Monday-Saturday (including Mumbai mirror of Rs 3)
Rs 6 Sundays (including Mumbai mirror of Rs 3)
 

Sr. Week Days Price (with

No Mumbai Mirror)
1. Monday Rs. 5
2. Tuesday Rs. 5
3. Wednesday Rs. 5
4. Thursday Rs. 5
5. Friday Rs. 5
6. Saturday Rs. 5
7. Sunday Rs. 6

In the process of promotional pricing, the times of India has to undergo certain losses till they time
they establish a firm position for them self in the market.The company need to spend money for the
employees, the intermediaries in the process, for the paper, machines etc. The company after
completing its first year came up with a revised plan for their customers, the cost of the 1 year is at
Rs.299 without any gift and the 6 months subscription plan has been cancelled completely. The daily
price of the paper was also revised from Rs.1 to Rs. 2 on weekdays and the Sunday paper price has
been revised from Rs.2 to Rs.3.The cost also includes the cost which they have to pay to the vendors
and dealers as commission, which is shown in the table below. Price Last year ( in Rs.)Current year
(in Rs.)Subscription amount per y r299299 Gift worth,150-Vendor commission per year 360360
Dealer commission per year 6060 Booking commission per order 8080 Rathi 292292 Total Loss per
subscription- 643- 493The major source of income comes from the advertisements which
are published in the newspaper, with this subscription scheme the company have a known number of
customers in their bags

Place:
It has a well established network. It is available Nationally
There are three ways to sell the “TOI”

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1.CASH SALES: Take newspaper from pan wala or any shop in cash
2.SUBSCRIPTION SALES: Pay money in advance and read “TOI”
3.L I N E S A L E S : M a x i m u m % o f s a l e s c o m e s f r o m t h i s m e t h o d . M o n e y
collection works in reverse order

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL OF “TOI”: TO ITS EXISTING CUSTOMER

The distribution channel plays a key role in the newspaper

industry, the newspapers have a very short life time and hence
it is highly essential to choosing a proper distribution channel. The
distribution channel adopted in the newspaper industry is not the same as the distribution
channel adopted for other   p r o d u c t s , w e h a v e s e e n i n t h e p r e v i o u s s e c t i o n h o w
t h e n o r m a l p r o d u c t s a r e distributed and now let’s see the distribution pattern
followed by the times of  India. The normal distribution channel has intermediaries

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like wholesaler, retailer, a g e n t e t c . B u t y o u w o n ’ t f i n d t h e m i n t h e c a s e o f a
d i s t r i b u t i o n c h a n n e l o f   newspapers. The reason is that the wholesaler stocks the products
for some time and then passes the products to the next intermediary. In the case of newspapers ,i f
the newspapers are stored and delivered then they become useless, as
t h e  paper reaches late to the customer and by the time paper reaches the
customer the customer will get the news from various other sources  
In this case of newspaper the channel is almost same but the process takes place bit faster than other
products, in this case the wholesaler is replaced by the dealer and the retailer is replaced by the
vendor. The papers are printed and they are passed to the respective dealers , the dealers generally
receive the newspapers and supplements separately, the dealer after collection both the newspapers
and the supplements passes on the number of paper to each and every vendor falling under him. The
vendor receives both the news paper and the supplements and they he has to arrange the newspapers
and supplements together, one newspaper may have n number of supplements and thus the required
supplements are to be inserted to each and vey paper given to them. The vendors have number of
beat boys bellow them how actually deliver the newspaper to the customers. The above process
explains how the distribution channel work in a newspaper industry. Now let’s see the pictorial
representation of the distribution channel followed in the newspaper industry.
 
The distribution process in times of India takes place on 2 phases one for the upcountry edition and
other for the city called the mid night edition, the upcountry editions are first printed and distributed
because they have to reach a longer distance. The upcountry edition is circulated to the outskirts of
Chennai and the city edition is circulated with in Chennai. The concept is that the longest distance
gets the first printed copy and the nearest distance gets the last printed copies. The reporters collect
the information all round the day and then they are edited and made ready for printing, The early
edition or the up country edition is edited around 10.00pm and the printing starts at 11.00pm and the
mid night edition starts printing by 12.00am, thus the news are updated till 12.00 am for the
midnight edition. After these papers are printed the papers are then sent to various dealers in the city,
dealers then distribute the papers to the depots or the drop points, the vendors or hawkers in the
depots insert the supplement into the main newspaper and then they are given to the beat boys or the
delivery boys who deliver the paper to the customers in their respective houses. The entire process
should end by a maximum of 7.30 am.

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Promotion:

The Times of India is a very well established brand. Though, every successful or unsuccessful brand
requires continuous advertisements to remind people of their existence. It mainly promotes itself in
theatres & print ads(newspapers).
The bulk of newspapers' revenue comes from advertising- the contribution from sales is
small by comparison. On average, a newspaper generates 80% of its revenue from advertising
and20% from sales.
Promotion involves disseminating information about a product, product  line, brand, or
company. It is one of the four key aspects of the marketing mix. Promotion is the method of
communicating the key features of a product to a target audience. The Times of India started
its promotion in Chennai with at ease, they displayed huge billboard with caption “next
change” and news prints around it, which actually created confusion in the minds of people
about what change is going to happen. Over a period of time they removed the caption “next
change” and told about their launch in Chennai on 14 th April, The best promotional step used
by the times of India is its pricing about which we have already seen in the previous section.
The Times of India to add on to its promotional pricing also gave free gifts to its customer
which actually helps it to gain a large amount of market share. The introduction of the
subscription scheme in the English daily industry gained popularity with the times of India
subscription offers, The customers were pretty happy to pay in advance for their
subscriptions because of the benefits offered by product.
During its launch the times of India did the following as a part of their  promotional
campaign
 Used more than 100 billboards to advertise about times of India
 Employed over 1000 students for visiting homes and offices to promote the product.
 Made people dressed up with newsprints all around their dress and made them
campaign for times of India
 They also advertised in call taxis and vans

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 Installed stalls in corporate sectors to promote and sell the product
 Also gave free subscriptions to corporate companies and its employees to promote the
product.

 Introduced subscription schemes with free gifts (when launched ) 

 6moths subscriptions – free gift of vacuum flask 

 1 year subscription- free gift of a travel bag or a vacuum flask A year after its launch
the times of India wanted to revise its subscription schemes, the company revised its
price such that it was giving the offer at a much cheaper rate than its competitors, the
customer have started getting use to the paper and thus despite no gift was offered
this year about 3/4th of the total customers renewed the subscriptions, these were are
the result of the promotions and advertisements which were done all throughout the
year

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 DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL ADOPTED BY TIMES OF
INDIA TO ITS EXISTING CUSTOMER

1.  Distribution - Structure The Times of India Printing Press Depots Agents Vendors
Vendors Beat Boys Newspaper Stands Beat Boys (3-4) Newspaper Stands Readers
2.  Channel Members Printing Press It takes the content from the editorial team and prints using
high capacity advanced press machines that deliver the product in packaged condition
Situated in Ghaziabad for Delhi NCR region Capacity to print over 10 lac copies. Printing
starts around 1-1:30 am usually After Printing, stacking is done before dispatching

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 newspapers to depots Labeling done to match stacks with destination .Usually stocks for
depots situated the farthest are dispatched earliest
3. Channel Members Depots The distribution Centre receives the copies from the transporter
and stocks it for a short duration Close to 100 depots in Mumbai Keep publications
(newspaper + magazines) for various companies. Serviced by salespersons who are company
employees Unorganized – keep newspapers / magazines scattered on pavements or on steps
of some malls etc. Records are kept at depots in the following format:- Newspaper 1
Newspaper 2 Vendor code Qty to be Delivered Qty Actually Delivered Qty to be Delivered
Qty Actually Delivered X Y
4. Channel Members Agents Employed where distribution is not organized Exclusive agents
of TOI Work on commission, themselves act as salesmen channel Members Vendors Like
retailers. Link between depot and end consumer Go to nearest depot every day. Pick out
publications they want they sell via: door-to-door beat boys/single point newspaper stands
MDI vendor serve in areas – Sector 14 and MDI. He collects newspapers from Old Bus
Stand Agent
5. Channel Members Beat Boys The delivery boys have demarcated regions/housing societies,
which they serve Hawkers are individuals who do not have established customers and sell at
road sides, bus stands etc. They make small quantity purchases Deliver required
publications to proper destinations Have route-wise list of addresses and their required
newspaper/publications 3-4 beat boys cover an area via their routes
6. Information Flow New consumer/Existing consumer taking or terminating subscription
Inform their Vendor( increase/decrease his order by one ) Vendor Informs the distributor
Distributor informs the company.
7. Channel Margins Margin given by TOI to channel members is around 30% More or less
uniform rate across the industry Agents get 5-10%, salesmen on payroll get fixed salary
Vendor receives 20-25%, to cover the costs incurred due to travel, beat boys etc. It depends
on the type and language of newspaper. (Hindi – 25%; English – 20%)
8. Credit Periods 30 day credit period to distributor is offered, subject to 3 month security
deposit For Vendors, on an informal basis, 1-2 days is offered. Vendors buy a fixed, large
amount of newspapers daily and pay in cash on a day-to-day basis 2% of the papers which
remain unsold at the end of the day can be returned back

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9. Promotion Schemes Trade Schemes Offered to channel members Incentive to increase sales
Challenge for channel member: Balance reader interest while trying to increase sales to avail
benefits of the scheme Discounts for purchase of larger volumes by vendor Bonus of 50
paisa for each new account generation by vendor Discounts Mainly for institutional sales
Eg. Bulk sale at schools at discount rates
10. Promotion Schemes Reader Schemes Directed at final consumer/reader. Mainly to draw in
new customers Varies depending on location & demography Could include trials, discounts,
freebies, combo offers etc Subscription Sales Offer choice of publication for a certain
amount of time at a lump sum discount price Purpose- gaining new customers and making
customer switch
11. Issues Identified Timely Delivery Payment & Claim Delays Return Policy Manual
Packaging system
12. Timely Delivery Important to deliver on time at each level Dispatch first to depots that are
farthest Company might go against norms- For eg. deliver first in areas of early risers
Unnatural events could effect on-time delivery Most common reasons are traffic jams,
monsoons, break- downs etc Ownership is transferred once paper leaves press In case of
delay, agitated vendors and stall owners might switch to substitutes to satisfy their customers
13.  Recommendation Local Knowledge about routes etc. can be helpful Timely delivery at
important locations benchmarking competition, especially managing routing properly.
Distributors should take care of critical vendor locations Possible Roadblocks Additional
costs due to operational inefficiency to be borne by TOI Routing is not under control of TOI
Could lead to complete system failure  Distributor must be capable of handling this task
14. Payment & Claim Delays Informal Credit terms between distributor & vendor Chances of
default are higher Probability is higher towards month end when vendors are cash-strapped
Could translate into distributor defaulting on payment to TOI Challenge for distributor to
balance sales & credit based promotion
15. Manual Packaging Automatic & manual packaging, both are used in industry Manual
Packaging has lot of inefficiencies associated Delays – could cascade on to delays in
loading, delivery Human Errors – could lead to incorrect quantities or editions being packed
Onus to make up is on distributor, as error is detected usually after leaving printing premises
Distributor has to bear costs of transporting replenishments to aggrieved vendors.

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 MARKETING STRATEGY

The advertisements have highlighted the ‘Indian-ness’ in all the campaigns and reflected how
TOI is a part of this great journey of Indian-ness.
It has the country's largest advertisement revenue of Rs.1,000 crores, of which only one player - The
Times of India – has the lion's share. The Times of India's advertising rates are the highest in the
country. At present, DNA and Hindustan Times' advertisement rates are around one-fourth that of
The Times of India. Months before DNA and Hindustan Times launched in Mumbai, The Times of
India went on the defensive and started a new `compact' newspaper, somewhat like a tabloid, called
Mumbai Mirror. But it did not sell much, so The Times of India started distributing it free with the
main newspaper. Now, for Rs.4, The Times of India reader gets more than 100 pages. "We always
knew that there was space for a second newspaper in Mumbai, and so we started an alternative to
broadsheets - a compact. By including Mumbai Mirror with The Times of India, we are improving
the price performance ratio of our brand," says Bhaskar Das, executive president of The Times of
India group. "The Mirror is a newspaper for the new generation who want news-onthe-
go like McDonalds. It's for the supersonic age where people want to scan news without going into
too much depth.
Moreover, both The Times of India and Mirror went on a massive recruitment of journalists and
media executives at high salaries, mopping up manpower and making it more expensive for their
competitions to recruit. But advertisement rates are as expensive as ever, around four
times that of DNA or Hindustan Times What seems inevitable, however, is that circulation will
expand. Around 40 per cent of Mumbai's population speak, read and write English, of which only 20
per cent are buying English newspapers Until now, The Times of India was way ahead of the
competition. So, it had a high cover price and didn't push for greater sales, because that would
increase their costs (since the cost of producing a newspaper is much greater than its market price).
They didn't need to increase circulation, since they anyway milked all the ad revenue. THE new
newspapers are priced much lower – Hindustan Times at Rs.3 and DNA at Rs.3 - which have
boosted initial sales. "Generally, the price of an English newspaper in every city is around Rs.3,
only Mumbai was an aberration where The Times of India was priced at Rs.5. However, now

17
they have tried to increase their value proposition by adding a second free newspaper to The Times
of India. DNA's vice president, Sales, N.B. Verma, says: "We want as many people as possible to
sample our product, so we have kept the price low. Surprisingly, DNA's counter sales are giving the
afternoon tabloid Mid-Day a run for its money. But, as a newspaper agent points out, a vendor stands
to earn 45 paise more per copy if he sells DNA in the raddi (recycled paper) market,
rather than selling it at the counter at Rs. 2. The Times of India, while maintaining some of its fluff,
has become far more news-oriented and also more colourful. Our newspaper is aimed at
empowering the reader. We are not into crusading or agenda journalism, but are still doing
investigative stories on issues that matter in our reader's life. "With all the new newspapers coming
in, the reader is the ultimate winner because everyone is splurging to gain his/her attention."
The Times Group constantly keeps things exciting – not just through their contents, but also through
their designs and innovations.
Everything that they do is also always greatly marketed and backed up by perhaps one of India’s
best sales teams, which is always equipped with the best tools and researches.
In their campaigns – rather than talk about the newspaper, they try and be the platform or the
presenter of ideas that come from the readers’ own lives, reflect their hopes, aspirations.
TOI recently announced the launch of an all-colour newspaper of colour in Indian life as seen on
our streets and our cinema and linked it back to the product subtly, rather than a narrow campaign
focusing on the product itself.
The newness of the masthead on occasions like Diwali, Holi, Christmas, New Year, Budget Day,
etc., acts as a refreshing innovation and helps forge an emotive link with the reader segment.
They don’t have their PR agency. So they communicate through their own media channels.
The Times Group also places equal focus and importance to every department and function - which
has made it a professional entity and ensured its place as the most profitable newspaper in the
country.
The present management of The Times Group has been instrumental in changing the outlook of
Indian journalism.
Today's readers don't just expect news about politics or society or business issues anymore. They
also expect an editorial line on contemporary issues like fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle.
In order to build its brand image, TOI adopted a social marketing strategy and projected itself as an
agent of social change by launching a series of social campaigns highlighting social issues.

18
In a bid to improve its circulation, TOI was concentrating on efforts like introducing colored pages,
celebrity articles, and film-related news rather than taking care of the deteriorating quality of its
content.

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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN TIMES OF
INDIA(TOI), HINDUSTAN TIMES(HT) AND DAILY NEWS
AND ANALYSIS(DNA)

DAILY NEWS AND ANALYSIS (DNA) V/S TIMES OF INDIA (TOI)

The battle has been joined; the assault on Bennett, Coleman's citadel has begun. Last
week, the Dainik Bhaskar group (which is partnering Zee) kicked off a Rs 60 crore
(Rs 600 million) outdoor campaign ("Speak up, it's in your DNA") in Mumbai for its
yet-to-be launched English daily, unusually called "DNA." It plastered Mumbai with
150 hoardings and 500 kiosks with advertisements, and mounted a campaign on FM
radio stations too. But the publishers of The Times of India, The Economic
Times and other dailies and magazines had not exactly been sitting idle either.
Bennett, Coleman was readying to launch a newspaper of its own called Mumbai-
Mirror on May 15 and quickly started hiring journalists from newspapers in the city.

HINDUSTAN TIMES (HT) V/S TIMES OF INDIA (TOI)

Hindustan Times is the paper’s closest competitor in Delhi and Mumbai circles. Although Times of
India is the number one newspaper in NCR, the difference is not much. And although TOI rules the
roost in Mumbai by quite a large margin, aggressive marketing by Hindustan Times has shaken it
up.
In terms of news and reporting style, the two are fundamentally different. While Times of India has
its focus on fluff and youth centric topics, Hindustan Times focuses on serious news and in-depth
coverage.
What that means for the advertiser? Broadly speaking, that means Hindustan Times has a more
mature reader base compared to Times of India. In other words, for youth as your target, Times of
India should be the preferred brand. However, that does not mean Hindustan Times is a bad choice
either. Actually, there is very little to choose between the two, except the fact that TOI is the
preferred choice when it comes to Mumbai

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 STP Analysis

SEGMENTATION

Geographic segmentation calls for dividing the market into geographical units such as nation ,states
and region. Here Times of India segments many parts of the country mostly all part of India. In some
major cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad .etc.

The segmentation are as follows:-


The Times of India, World's largest English-language broadsheet daily in terms of
circulation.

The Economic Times, India's largest financial daily, and the world's second largest in terms
of circulation after The Wall Street Journal

Maharashtra Times, Marathi daily

Navbharat Times, Hindi Daily in Delhi and Mumbai

Sandhya Times, Hindi Daily Evening Tabloid in Delhi

Mumbai Mirror India's largest circulated compact newspaper

Kolkata Mirror

Ahmedabad Mirror

Pune Mirror

Bangalore Mirror, Bangalore's first morning compact daily

Vijaya Karnataka, Kannada daily.

ZigWheels, India's largest Automobile magazine.

ET Wealth, India's largest Personal Finance compact weekly.

TARGETING

Times of India have been known to cater to the youth of the society. It has a young style of writing,
and has a major focus on entertainment, gossips, gadgets and other youth trending subjects. And not
surprisingly, the newspaper has a loyal young audience which swears by the reporting style of the

21
paper. That means if you are looking to reach out to the affluent youth of the country, Times of India
is the best medium to do so out of all the newspapers available. With its focus on entertainment and
youth centric topics, you are sure to get some fantastic visibility for your money’s worth.
Every newspaper has supplements, and Times of India has some more. Supplements add value to a
newspaper and that’s exactly what happens in the case of TOI. The paper has a slew of supplements;
and each of them is dedicated to a niche audience, ranging from entertainment to health and
education among others.

Two supplements of Times of India which deserve a special mention are Times Life, which is
dedicated to famous personalities and the one on automobiles, which is dedicated to the auto market.
What it means for the advertiser? Apart from having the tried and tested supplements of
entertainment, education and career, Times of India brings new value to the advertiser through its
two innovative supplements.
While Times Life has prematurely a student audience, the one dedicated to auto market caters to
automobile enthusiasts and crates a great platform for advertisers looking to pitch their automobile
related products and services.

POSITIONING

In 2008, the newspaper reported that (with a circulation of over 3.14 million) it was certified by the
Audit Bureau of Circulations (India) as the world's largest selling English-language daily, ranking it
as the 8th largest selling newspaper in any language in the world. Whereas in India it is on number
one position in circulation.

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 Awards and Recognition

On May 7, 2008, the 73rd Annual INMA awards for the world's best newspaper marketing
campaigns were presented at the INMA World Congress in Beverly Hills, California. 
The Times of India's (TOI) 'Lead India' Campaign bagged the 'Best of Show' award for
community service and also picked up the first prize in the 'Brand Awareness Across Platforms',
the 'New Brand / Production/ Audience Development', and 'Public Relations and Community
services' categories.

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Sampling Plan:
People who read TOI and also those whose are non TOI readers.
Sample size: 30
Type of Research: Survey through Structured Questionnaire.

Objectives of the study:-

1) To study the times of India as a part of newspaper industry

2) To study the company’s profile of times of India the maker
3) To find conclusion to our project

Statement of research objective:-

The main objectives of my research are as follows:-

1) To find out percentage of population likes to read newspaper.

2) To find out which paper is most preferred.
3) To analyze the reason for the popularity of the most preferred newspaper.
4) To know the satisfaction level of people who read newspaper.
5) To find out the preferences of people for different types of newspaper.

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 QUESTION 1:

INTERPRETATION:
When people were asked about preference of newspaper were TOI and HT. But when
comparison between TOI and HT , we found out that mostly people preferred TOI rather than HT.

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 QUESTION 2:

INTERPRETATION:
According to the survey, we came to know that 66% felt that TOI is the best newspaper.

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QUESTION 3:

INTERPRETATION:
People trust TOI but they would like to experiment other papers.

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QUESTION 4:

INTERPRETATION:
The main factor that influences people to buy TOI is the
information part as it has the largest share among all three. Price is
the 2nd most factor that influence people to buy TOI.

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QUESTION 5:

INTERPRETATION:
According to the survey ,80% of the people would suggest to buy TOI.

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QUESTION 6:

INTERPRETATION:
84% of the people are satisfied with the information provided and only 16% are not satisfied.

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QUESTION 7:

INTERPRETATION:
According to the survey TOI should emphasize more on health and business.Next comes the
politics which stand on 17% .And they should also focus less on entertainment,sports,lifestyle and
others.

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QUESTION 8:

INTERPRETATION:
As shown in the above diagram 80% of the people are satisfied with the facts and
figures which are provided in it.

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 SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATION

TOI associates itself with people who are Heroes of modern society like SRK, business
tycoons designer clothes. The problem with this was that TOI was more concern with image, style
and gossipy language. TOI is heading all attempts at internationalization. However TOI – education
times give info about the courier opportunities to students the economic times is the best economy
newspaper in India. The accent provide info about various job opportunities. With such supplements
TOI is much ahead of its competitors. Many readers believe that the general out look of TOI is so
better than HT. Not only the main newspaper but also the supplements are interesting habit and
loyalty are the only things which are responsible for keeping the readers base of TOI.Newspaper
should bring out the headlines from T.V. news in a more elaborate manner and be truthful to the
news as well as to its readers to letting them decide which side of a story they are, not by
commenting on the news giving the notion that the reporters/editors have instead of the readers
forming an opinion on is own.

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 CONCLUSION:
The Times of India has emerged as the largest daily of the nation and the second largest English daily of
the world. The channels used for the Distribution of a newspaper are common for all the players
in the market in spite of intense competition and the reason for that is that it s a very different service
product. It has gained century of trust of the customers .TOI’S marketing strategy is unique as it
innovates its products constantly. Distribution channel is well established. As we saw that TOI that it is
better than the other newspaper in terms of price, reliability and information. It is well segmented and
they have a brand image in the market.

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