SUMMER TRAINING PROJECT REPORT

ON
“PERCEPTION OF READRS ANALYSIS &
PROACTIVE LEADS GENERATION”
BY
SHIVA SAINI
GEP 09
 THE TIMES OF INDIA

A SUMMER INTERNSHIP REPORT ON

SUBMITTED TO:
College Guide: Company Guide:
Miss Simran Mam Mr. Navneet Thakur

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. The Preliminary Section
1. Title page
2. Acknowledgment
3. Declaration of the trainee
4. Table of contents

B. The main section

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I wish to express highest regards for Mr. Navneet Thakur whose guidance and support on every
instance helped me in my Internship.
I also hold utmost regards for Mr. Harmel Sir, without whom the work would be a little bit
tougher to do it.
I am very grateful to all the staff and collaborators of THE TIMES of INDIA GROUP in Chandigarh
who directly or indirectly helped me in this project and introduced me to the nuances of
working in the corporate sector

Last but not least I will always be indebted to all my fellow summer intern colleagues from
different universities across the region. It was amazing work with such talented people.

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The main purpose of the internship is to gain hands on experience in a real organisation. The
internship was completed to gain experience in the marketing department of TIMES of INDIA.
As an intern, I knew I had to gain a lot of meaningful learning experience that would help me in
my future career. TOI gave me enough space and opportunities to not only learn but also to
demonstrate my skills as a team member.
We also tried to get more information about the basic job functions of all departments in order
to better understand all functions.
It is commendable how warmly they welcomed, acknowledged and valued new ideas and
insights. I enjoyed the daily challenges.
These lessons will help me in my future activities. The project is based on the TIMES of INDIA
readers analysis and the proactive leads generation.

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 INTRODUCTION
Print media is one of the most powerful and cost effective medium to transfer information and
knowledge. The print media industry in India is more than a century old. Also it is well
established industry. Along with these the increasing level of income of peoples and the robust
competition in this industry helps print media in its growth. Producers are increasing day by
day, new entrants from outside India is also a factor of tough competition. In the case of Times
Group also the readership of Hindi Femina is higher as compared to English magazines.
This survey also said that more than 300 million literate individuals do not read any
publications. According to ArcGate, the dramatic effects of internet and globalization in current
scenario are playing high impact on Media industry. Even people are now consuming news and
information from internets through computers or mobiles, the popularity of print media is not
decreasing. They also needs to make the contents available on mobile and web platforms to
provide a choice to its subscribers to explore the contents anytime anywhere.
Dr. Saukat Ali, in his paper “A Study of Consumer Behaviour & Loyalty in Print Media, says a
huge challenge for the publishers by strategic prescriptions with Special references”.

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 ORGANISATION PROFILE
Key Business areas:
. Publishing
. Television
. Digital
. Out of Home
. Other Activities
Publishing:
. Largest publisher in India: 13 newspaper, 18 magazines, 16 publishing centres, 26 printing
centres
. Largest English newspaper in India by circulation (and the world), the Times of India
. Largest Business newspaper in India by circulation

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 . Largest Non-English newspapers in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore by circulation (India’s three
largest cities)
Television:
. Largest English News Channel, No.2 English Business News TV Channel
. Largest Bollywood News and Lifestyle TV Channel, No.2 English Movies TV Channel
Digital:
. Largest Indian Network based on traffic and revenue(behind Google, Facebook and
Yahoo)
. Operates 30+ digital businesses, most of which are Top 3 in their competitive segment
. Most popular B2C mobile short code in India, across SMS, voice, WAP, and USSD Radio
. Largest radio network in India by revenue and listenership, with 32 stations
. Operates the largest rock radio station in UK
Out-of-Home:
. Largest Out-of-Home advertising business in India with presence in all other metros
. Owns advertising contracts in most major airports in India

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Other Activities:
. Music
. Movies
. Syndication
. Education
. Financial Services
. Event Management
. Specialised publications-including Books and Multimedia

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 HISTORY
1838
In November 3, 1838 the first edition of The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce were Published,
reflecting basically the business community of Bombay. It was a bi-weekly publication. Dr. J.E. Brennan
was the Editor
1850
Shareholders decide to increase the share capital and the paper is converted into a daily
1859
Bombay Standard and Chronicle of Western India merges into The Bombay Times and Journal of
Commerce to form Bombay Times & Standard
1861
Editor Robert Knight amalgamates The Bombay Times & Standard and Bombay Telegraph & Courier to
form The Times of India - giving it a National Character
1892
T.J. Bennett becomes the Editor and enters into a partnership with F.M.
Coleman to form a joint stock company – Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. (BCCL)

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1907
Editor Stanley Reed revolutionizes news production by extending the deadline to midnight. Until then
any news that came in after 5 pm was held over for the next day. The newspapers’ first price war was
also initiated with cover price being cut from 4 annas to 1 anna – leading to a five-fold increase in
circulation
1946
The Times of India gets Indian ownership with Seth Ramakrishna Dalmia buying the company
1947
Exclusive Sunday edition of Times of India launched in Mumbai. The company also launches its
Hindi daily – Nav Bharat Times in Delhi
1948
Sahu Jain Group takes over as the owners of the company after Ramakrishna Dalmia sells the
firm to his son-in-law Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain – who becomes the first chairman of the group
1950
The Times of India launches in Delhi
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1952
Filmfare launched
1959
Femina launched
1961
The Economic Times is launched
1965
Femina Miss India contest started
1988
Times of India completed 150 years. Special stamp released by Government of India to
commemorate the occasion
1996
The Times of India crosses 1 million marks in circulation. It also carries the first – ever color
photograph
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1997
BCCL enters into music market with Times Music
1999
India Times web portal launched; BCCL enters music retailing business with Planet M. Also
operates the first ever private FM broadcast through Times FM (which later becomes Radio
Mirchi)
2000
The Times of India crosses the 2 million mark in circulation
2001
Radio Mirchi – Nationwide private FM broadcasting starts 360 Degrees-Event management
business also launched. TOI goes all colour and storms Delhi by being “Number One”
2003
Launch of the Times Private Treaties as a strategic business division.
2005
Launch of a Matrimonial website Times Mantri
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2006
Launch of a television News Channel called Times Now
2007
Launch of Bangalore Mirror, Ahmedabad Mirror, ET (Gujarati) and Whats Hot. The Times of
India becomes largest English daily in the world with circulation breaching the 3 million mark
and beating Sun (tabloid) of UK
2008
Launch of ET (Hindi), Pune Mirror and The Times of India editions at Jaipur, Goa and Chennai.
Acquisition of Virgin Radio (now rebranded as Absolute Radio) in the UK
2009
TOI Crest edition launched. Launch of ET Now – premier business channel having integrated
newsroom with ET print edition
2010
Private Treaties re-branded as Brand Capital. The Speaking Tree newspaper launched. ET
Wealth launched
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2011
Sunday ET re-launched as a tabloid. Bodhivriksha (spiritual weekend newspaper in Kannada)
launched. Launch of The Times of India, Coimbatore and Madurai/Trichy Editions
2012
Launch of The Times of India, Kerela, Vishakhapatnam and Raipur (Chhattisgarh) Edition
2013
Launch of the Times of India, Kolhapur Edition

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 Subsidiaries of Times Group
TMIL & ENIL
Times Innovate Media Limited (TIML) & Entertainment Network India Limited (ENIL) that
together control.
. Radio Mirchi National Network of Private FM Stations
. 360 Degrees Events
. Times Outdoors (TIM Delhi Airport Advertising Private Limited)
. Mirchi Movies Limited Filmed Entertainment. Producers of BEING CYRUS, VELLITHIRAI,
MANJADIKURU
Times Internet Limited
Times Internet Limited is one of the largest internet companies of India. It has interests in
online news, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and Bengali news, mobile, e-commerce, music, video
and communities.

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Times of Money
Times of Money operates financial remittance services for Indians abroad to send money back
to India. Their product, remit2India, is a standalone product, while also powering the
remittance services of many banks globally
Times Global Broadcasting Limited
Television division. It is also called Times Television Network
. Times Now A general interest news channel
. Smart Hire A Consulting Division – Recruitments
. ET Now A business news channel
. Zoom a 24*7 Bollywood entertainment and gossip channel
. Movies Now a 24*7 Hollywood Movies Channel in High Definition
Times Business Solutions
. TBSL, corporate website of TBSL
. Times Jobs, a jobs portal
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World Wide Media
World Wide Media – started off as a 50:50 magazine joint venture between BCCL and BBC
magazines. In August 2011, it was announced that Bennett, Coleman & Co. bought out the
remaining 50 per cent shares of Worldwide Media from BBC Worldwide thereby making World
Wide Media a fully owned subsidiary of BCCL
. Filmfare
. Filmfare Awards
. Femina
. Femina Miss India A Beauty Pageant
. Top Gear Magazine India
. BBC Good Homes
. Femina Hindi
. Grazia
. What to Wear
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TIML Radio Limited
On 30 May 2008, SMG sold The British Virgin Radio to TIML Radio Limited for $53.2 million
with $15 million set aside for rebranding. On 28 September 2008, The British Virgin Radio
Station rebranded as Absolute Radio, including the sister radio stations Absolute Classic Rock
Stations
. Absolute Radio
. Absolute Radio 60s
. Absolute Radio 70s
. Absolute 80s
. Absolute Radio 90s
. Absolute Radio 00s
. Absolute Classic Rock
. Absolute Radio Extra , this company is a direct subsidiary of BCCL

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Times Syndication Service
The syndication division of The Times of India Group, grants reprint rights for text and other
media from the group’s publications
Brand Capital
Brand Capital provides funding to growth oriented enterprises for their long term brand
building needs
Online Shopping
Satvik shop, an online shopping website dedicated to organic and ayurvedic products

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 Key Management
Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.
Promoters & Directors
1. Chairperson: Indu Jain
2. Vice-Chairman & MD: Samir Jain
3. Managing Director: Vineet Jain
Board of Directors
1. Executive Director: Trishla Jain
2. Executive Director & CEO: Ravindra Dhariwal
3. Executive Director & COO: Shrijeet Mishra
4. Executive Director & President: Arunabh Das Sharma
5. Non Executive Director: A.P. Parigi
6. Non Executive Director: Leo Puri
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Editorial Heads
The Times of India
Editorial Director: Jaideep Bose
Executive Editor: Arindam Sengupta
Economic Times
Editorial Director: Rahul Joshi
Maharashtra Times
Executive Editor: Ashok Panwalkar
Times Now
Editor: Arnab Goswami
ET Now
Editor: R. Sridharan
ZOOM
Editor: Omar Qureshi
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 WORLDWIDE MEDIA

World Wide Media is a joint venture between the BCCL and BBC World Wide. It is the India’s
largest producer of lifestyle and special interest magazines. It was formed in 2004 and in 2011
it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL). From
just four magazines in 2008, WWM is currently producing 13 magazines in India and
worldwide. The Times of India Group have the selling and distribution right of these
magazines for India. The magazines are:-
. Femina
. Filmfare
. BBC TopGear
. Grazia
. Hello!
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 ABOUT THE MAGAZINES
FEMINA (English, Hindi, Tamil)
Launched in 1959, Femina is India’s first and to-date India’s largest English
Women’s magazine. Femina covers issues on women, fashion, relationships,
home-making, food, beauty, health & fitness, careers, new products, etc. The
Fortnightly magazine, owes its success to a level – headed approach to
feminism made rich by writers from all walks of life.
Inspired by the success of Femina magazine, the group started Femina Miss India awards-
A celebration of womanhood and beauty – which have acted as a catalyst in making a whole
new generation of women rediscovering and redefining themselves.
Femina Girl was launched in February 2002, forging a bond with the teen waiting in the wings
to become a Femina Babe.

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FILMFARE (English, Hindi)
Nothing powers popular culture like the Hindi film and nothing more than
Bollywood- the largest film industry in the world- which is captured in all its
glory by Filmfare – India’s leading film magazine launched in 1952.
Filmfare has a cult status amongst its readers resulting as evident from the
Periodicity of the magazine becoming from monthly to a fortnightly since 2007.
Spurred by the popularity and insatiable demand for Bollywood films, Filmfare Awards were
Instituted within a few years of launch of the magazine.
Within a short period, the annual Filmfare Awards became the gold standard for excellence in
Hindi and other Bollywood mainstream films and came to be acknowledged as the Oscars
of India, being the most prestigious and most sought after by every cine-industry professional.

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BBC TOPGEAR
BBC Top Gear is the world’s leading automobile magazine since 1993. In India, it has an image
of straightest talking and most entertaining automobile magazine. It also includes a
comprehensive listing of every single car and bike available in the market to give the readers a
real experience

GRAZIA
Over 70 years since its launch in Italy, Grazia is still successful in keeping the women’s taste
season after season. It became the most qualified interpreter of style for millions of
women across the globe today

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 COMPETITION TABLE
CATEGORY TIMES MAGAZINE COMPETITORS
Fashion & Celebrity Grazia, Hello! Verve, Vogue etc
Automobiles BBC Top Gear Overdrive, Auto Car
Bollywood & Movies Filmfare Stardust, Cineblitz ,
Masala The Street Journal
Women lifestyle Femina Wedding affair
Interiors BBC Good Homes Ideal Home
Travel Lonely Planet Travel Plus
Science & Knowledge BBC Knowledge Popular science
India
Food and Catering BBC Good Food Khana Khazana

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 CHANNEL MEMBERS OF THE TIMES OF INDIA
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 Chandigarh for Punjab region
. Capacity to print over 10 lac copies
. Printing starts around 1-1:30 am usually
. Labelling done to match stacks with destination
DEPOTS
. The distribution centre receives the copies from the transporter and stocks for a short time
. Close to numbers of depots in Lucknow
. Keep publications (newspaper + magazines) for various companies
. Serviced by salespersons who are company employees
. Unorganized – keep newspapers / magazines scattered on pavements or some malls etc
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AGENTS
. Employed where distribution is not organized
. Exclusive agents of TOI
. Work on commission, themselves act as salesmen
VENDORS
. Like retailers, Link between depot and end consumer
. Go to nearest depot everyday . Pick out publications they want
. MDI vendor serve in areas . He collects newspapers from Old Bus Stand Agents
BEAT BOYS
. 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
INFORMATION FLOW
. New consumer taking or terminating subscription
. Vendors informs the distributor
. Distributor informs the company
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 CHANNEL MARGIN
. 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
PROMOTION SCHEMES:-
TRADE SCHEMES
. Offered to channel members
. Incentive to increase sales
. Discounts for purchase of larger volumes by vendor
DISCOUNTS
. Mainly for institutional sales
. Eg. Bulk sale at schools at discount rates
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
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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
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths:
. Being the largest company of its kind, it has the largest market share in India
. It provides best quality contents including all magazines and newspapers in low prices
. Having tie-up with BBC, increases the brand value
Weaknesses:
. Tough competition in the industry raises limited scope for increasing market share
Opportunities:
. It has better opportunity in regional language publications in India
. It can also penetrate in the online market, by making its contents available online
THREATS:
. Main threat comes from its competitors
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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Task
As a part of the Summer Internship Program we have been assigned to book subscriptions for the various
magazines published by World Wide Media and sold and distributed by TOI and also to collect renewal from the
expired subscribers
Research Methodology
Objectives
. To predict and explore the customer demands in terms of price, quality and services for
magazines published by (WWM)
. To find out the reasons why subscribers are not renewing or discontinuing their subscription
Research methodology
This Exploratory research has been conducted through primary data. The data will be qualitative as well as
quantitative. It is collected through PI or door to door visit
Research design
. Geographical location
. Sample size

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Limitations
. The field work for the purpose of research was limited to some part of the Chandigarh city .
Therefore it may not represent the overall consumers as perceptions of the consumers may
vary place to place due to demographic factors
. The sample size is 150
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Sample Size Distribution:
Reader - 100 (67%)
Non-Reader – 50 (33%)
Readers include Existing subscribers and Expired subscribers, Continued subscriber who have
renewed their subscription

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Reason for not reading:
I can’t afford - (20%)
I don’t have time - (24%)
I am not interested - (34%)
I prefer to read online - (22%)

Rating upon features:

(C) Gossip-
10 out of 10- (7%)
7 out of 10- (32%)
8 out of 10- (37%)
9 out of 10- (10%)
Blank- (6%)

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(D) Updates-
10 out of 10- (16%)
5 out of 10- (1%)
8 out of 10- (15%)
9 out of 10- (55%)
Blank- (5%)

The contents in the magazines are well updated as the diagram shows that 55% of respondent
Gave 9 out of 10. Only a few percentage of respondent think that magazines are not updated

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(E) Price-
9 out of 10- (27%)
6 out of 10- (2%)
7 out of 10- (23%)
8 out of 10- (45%)
Blank- (3%)

By seeing other responses we can say that subscribers are well satisfied with the price of the
Newspapers and magazines. But still their demand is to decrease the price due to human
Behaviour of expecting more than what they get

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(F) Language-
10 out of 10- (11%)
6 out of 10- (3%)
7 out of 10- (21%)
8 out of 10- (36%)
9 out of 10- (24%)
Blank- (5%)

Customers are well satisfied with the language used in the magazines. Maximum percentages
Of the respondents give higher rating

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(G) Renewal Call-

Total Call 50
Continued 13 (26%)
Discontinued 37 (74%)

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# Reason for Discontinuation:
Reasons derived from the survey for the discontinuation of the subscriptions-
. Decrease of interest and usability
. Shifting
. Due to Contents
. The consumers who had only subscribed in the sake of free vouchers and gifts provided
in the package by the company and do not have any personal or family
requirement
. Personal reasons
. Vendors problem

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. Cost
. Service
1. Delivery
2. No response in problems
3. Representatives
4. Vendors

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 FINDINGS
. Magazines are well entertained, updated and well informative
. The price according to the quality of magazines is satisfactory
. Subscribers have high demand in the improvement of services
. There is tough competition among magazines
. Maximum people prefer Hindi rather than English
. Subscription schemes attract more customers
. Schemes with gift are playing a good role in increasing relationship as there are a lot of
customers who have subscribed only for gift
. There are a big number of boutiques and designers in Chandigarh and most of them deals
with Indian traditions.

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. Peoples are highly interested in magazines but low awareness about the schemes of these
they have

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 CONCLUSION
The Summer internship project plays an important role in management education where
students gets a golden opportunity to apply his knowledge and learning gained from
classroom lectures in practical business environment. I have also learnt a lot by my Internship
at Times of India Group, Chandigarh.
This research has been done to study perception of readers analysis and leads generation in
TOI. There is high demand and high awareness about TOI newspaper in Chandigarh but less
people are aware that TOI have magazines also.
There are some other reasons also , but if TOI works on improving services of delivery or
customer relationship or improving the quality of responding towards the customer’s
problems with better solutions, than obviously no reader will leave TOI ever in his / her
lifetime.

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