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A SUMMER TRAINING PROJECT REPORT ON
Marketing Mix of The Times of India.
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements
For the award of the Degree of
Master of Business Administration
(2017-19)
(Dr. APJ AKTU, Lucknow)
By
SUSHANT SHUKLA
Roll No. 1709470110
MBA
(GIMT, Greater Noida)
Project Undertaken at
The Times of India, Lucknow.
Report Submitted to:
Training Manager: Mr. Saurabh Gaur
(GM-Marketing)

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DECLARATION FORM
I hereby declare that the Projectwork titled “MARKETING MIX OF THE TIMES OF INDIA” submitted
by me for the Summer Internship during the Master of Business Administration(MBA) to Galgotias
Institute of Management & Technology is my own original work and has not been submitted earlier
either to GIMT or to any other Institution for the fulfillment of the requirement for any course of study.
I also declare that no chapter of this manuscript in whole or in part is liftedand incorporated in this report
from any earlier / other work done by me or others.
MR. TARIQ SIDDIQI MR. Amit Srivastava
Head Of Department (MBA-GIMT) MANAGER (THE TIMES OF INDIA)
Date: 15-06-2018 Date: 15-06-2018
Place: Greater Noida Place: LUCKNOW

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I take this opportunity in expressing the fact that this project report is the result of incredible amount of
encouragement, co-operation and moral support that I have received from others.
Words alone cannot express my deep sense of gratitude to Mr. Tariq Siddiqi (HOD & Faculty mentor),
who provided me an opportunity to be a part of The Times of India for my training.
I would also like to express my gratitude to Sandeep Kumar (Deputy Manager). Their valuable guidance
and support made this project work an enlightening educational experience.
I would like to thank Mr. Surpreet Singh Saluja who helped me in gaining knowledge about the marketing
strategy and distribution channels of The Times of India.
I would also like to express my gratitude from the core of my heart to my mentor Mr. Tariq Siddiqi who
helped me in coordinating my entire project. His consistent support and cooperation showed the way
towards the successful completion of project.
I would also like to express me deep sense of gratitude to all the members of The Times of India who
directly or indirectly helped me during my project work.
I am also thankful to Dr. Unni Krishnan (Director).

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The marketing mix refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to promote its brand or
product in the market. The 4Ps make up a typical marketing mix - Price, Product, Promotion and
Place. My project is the study of marketing mix and the behavior of customers towards The Times of
India newspaper. The study was conducted at The Times of India office, Hazratganj, Lucknow. The
project was of 6 weeks duration.
During the project I had taken theguidance of all the employees & staff to collect the data, & also made
use of Company’s various reports. The data collected were then compiled, tabulated and analyzed.
OBJECTIVES-
1. The main objective of the research factors affecting customers to read TOI.
2. To find Preference of students or customers towards newspapers.
3. To know the marketing channels of The Times of India.
4. To know the pricing strategies of The Times of India.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter-I Introduction to consumer readership & marketing
mix……………………………………………………………………………..……………...………....5
1.1 What’s driving circulation of newspapers…………………………………………..…….….……...6
1.2 IRS report......................................................................................................................................…...8
1.3 Marketing mix ………….………………………………………………….……………..………...10
Chapter-II Company profile…………………………………………………….………..…………..15
2.1 History……………………………………………………………………….……………..…….....16
2.2 Bennet and Coleman ownership………………………………………………….……….…..........16
2.3 Dalmiya ownership……………………………………………………………….….…………......16
2.4 The Times of India in 21st century………………………………………………….………….…...17
2.5 TOIFA awards…………………………………………………………………….…………….…..17
2.6 Editions and publications…………………………………………………….……………….….....19
Chapter-III Review of Literature………………………………………………………….…………21
Chapter-IV MARKETING STRATEGIES & COMPETITION OF TIMES OF
INDIA………………………………….……………………………………………………….………..24
4.1 Industry analysis…............................................................................................................................24
4.2 Situational analysis………………………………………………………….……………………...27

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4.3 Marketing strategy……………………………………………………….…………………………30
4.4 Marketing mix……………………………………………………………….……………………...31
4.5 How do we reach our potential readers…………………………………………………………….38
4.6 What do we do to reach our potential readers……………………………………………………...38
Chapter-V Research methodology………...…………………………………………………………39
5.1 Research objectives…………………………………………………………………………………39
5.2 Research design……………………………………………………………….…………………….39
5.3 Limitations………………………………………………………………………………………….40
5.4 Demographics………………………………………………………………………………………41
Chapter-VI Analysis and interpretation…………………………………………………………….43
6.1 Learnings…………………………………………………………………………………………...50
Chapter- VII Conclusion& Recommendations…………………….……………………………….51
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………….………….54
ANNEXURE

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Chapter 1- INTRODUCTION TO CONSUMER READERSHIP &
MARKETING MIX
Morning chai at 7’o clock along with a crisp copy of the day’s akhbaar is how a typical day in India
starts. The akhbaar, as a newspaper is locally called in Hindi, contains an item foreveryone in the family,
be it the front page issues for grandpa, the business sectionfor dad, employment/education/entertainment
section for the son/daughter and of course the additional women’s sectionfor the ladies of the family, a
newspaper has something for them all.
The rapid penetration of electronic media into everyone’s lives has left the printing industry in tatters all
over the world, but in India. While in the West, newspaper industry has seen an overall decline in sale
volume in the past few years, India’s on the other had has grown in size. In the latest survey, India is the
world’s largest consumer of newspapers, followed by China and Japan. And in the past four years, its
readership has further grown by 60%. Among the top sellersare the regional language newspapers which
have its readers among all genres of people in the country. The only English newspaper that comes in
the top 10 list is The Times of India. And TOI is the largest selling English newspaper in the whole
world.
There can be a few reasons to this increasing trend opposed to the worlds. The very first reason is the
limited access to internet (or the electronic media) that the general public in India have as compared to
the developed nations. For people in rural and small cities, newspaper is the only way they get in touch
with what is happening all over the world. And because the literacy rates have gone up steadily and
people are looking for other business options too apart from agriculture, newspapers have become an
integral part of their lives.

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One another reason is the cheap and easy availability of newspapers in India compared to the other
countries. One can buy a newspaper in less than 5 Rs and it is even delivered at your doorstep every
morning free of cost by the publishers. The concept of recycling newspapers has also helped the
publishers reduce their printing cost. In most of the households in India, daily newspapers gets stacked
day after day and is later sold by the month-end to the “raddiwalas” at a lesser cost (around Rs 5/Kg).
These recycle paper vendors then sell these old newspapers back to the publishing house. Sometimes the
old backdated magazines are also soldin flea markets which have got their own satisfiedreadership who
could not have afforded the new ones.
And in the end the feel factor matters too. That smell of the newly printed ink and the way you can save
the newspaper cuttings just cannot be replaced with the e-news experience. And of course the paper boats
that you get to sail in the small puddles in the monsoon makes it even more priceless.
What's driving circulation of Indian Newspapers?
Newspaper circulation in India continues to grow despite its global counterparts in America and Europe
struggling for survival. The growth of the industry can be appraised by circulation and readership, with
readership being the more apposite basis as generally in India a copy of the newspaper is shared by an
entire family.
In 2016, the average cover prices for English newspaper saw a minimal increase in the range of 2 to 5%,
for Hindi newspapers the increase was in the range of 10 to 12% and for other regional language
newspapers was 14 to 18% depending on the market.
The growth in circulation is driven by the following factors.

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Hyper-localization
Trends in traditional newspaper readership in India show greater inclination towards regional language
newspapers. In addition to growing literacy, there are other factors that have contributed to this growth.
First, the Indian economy is a rural economy with more than 65% of India’s population residing in the
rural areas. A paradigm shift is visible in the rural population over the past five decades as they become
one of the most influential consumer groups with increased income levels and changing tastes and
preferences.
Second, the coverage of local news by regional language newspapers has given circulation the much
need momentum as it provided the people in the rural areas a medium to express their grievances and
aspirations.
Third, localization led to multi-edition newspapers with publishers syndicating national content with
regional news and expanding their content diversity with supplements. The success of hyper-localization
is also attributed to readers’ predilection to read content in their first language.
Low pricing
The increase in cover price of an average Indian newspaper today has not kept pace with the multi-fold
inflation in the past two decades. At under Rs 1,000 for an average annual subscription, newspapers in
India are cheaper than in any other large newspaper market in the world. The difference between India
and other countries is the population density and labor cost in newspaper distribution. In India,
newspapers are delivered door-to-door and at very low cost. As many as 500 newspapers are delivered
in an hour, while in the US given the suburban spread it would be just a fraction of that.

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In India, newspapers are priced low or coupled with discounts or complimentary supplement/edition
thereby making price a non-issue for the reader and building a loyal readership base which advertisers
can target. This pricing model continues to pay rich dividends to the Indian newspaper industry.
DEMOGRAPHICAL CHANGES
Over the past few decades, India has experienced many demographical changes. Literacy level across
states has seenan upswing including literacy among women. This has primarily contributed to growth in
readership as more people are being initiated into the world of reading and writing. The fastest growth
in newspaper circulation was in states with strongest growth in literacy. India’s literacy rate stands at
74.0% with rural literacy rate at 68.9% and urban literacy rate at 84.9%.

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Efficient distribution system
Another differentiator of Indian newspaper circulation is the effective and efficient distribution network.
India’s newspaper distribution chain is unique and multi-tiered; newspapers are soldthrough an extensive
network of agents and vendors.
Value to vendors
Vendors form the lowest part of distribution chain and are paid commission as a percentage of the cover
price by the newspaper companies. Newspaper companies regularly float promotional offers for vendors
and in some rare cases also pay cash incentives. Vendors also have additional sources of income example
pamphlets, which are manually inserted in the newspaper, are used by local advertisers as a mode of
advertising; however, rates vary based on language of the newspaper, locality and consumer
demographic. Similar to pamphlets, sometimes, stickers and small replica of a product are pasted on top
of the newspaper for advertisement.
Distribution chain operates with limited resources, the entire distribution in managed manually with no
use of technology and delivered on bicycles to readers at their door. The delivery charges are nominal.
Also, entire circulation is usually completed within three hours and with two holidays in an entire year.
Despite the huge scale of operations, the error rate is very low. Thus with minimum costs, use of
technology and investment, they achieve highest levels of customer satisfaction.

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IRS REPORT 2017
There is 9% growth in total newspaper readership in the last four years. Among 12+ individuals, the IRS
2017 has recorded last 1 month readership at 104 crore, up from 96 crore in IRS 2014.
Readership of English dailies has grown by 10% over the last four years and touched 2.8 crore in IRS
2017 as compared to 2.5 crore in the last IRS.
Hindi readership stands at 17.6 crore in IRS 2017, up 45% from 12.1 crore in IRS 2014.
The largest percentage growth has been in Oriya language readership which has grown by 83% to 1.1
crore as compared to 0.6 crore in IRS 2014.
Bengali readership grew by 9% to 2.1 crore from 1.9 crore.
In the Indian Readership Survey 2017, released after a hiatus of four years, Dainik Jagran and Times of
India retained their top slots in Hindi and English daily categories respectively. Meanwhile, Dainik
Jagran has a total readership (last month) of 7, 03, 77,000while The Times of India has a total readership
of 1, 30, 47,000.
The second largest read daily is Hindustan with a total readership of 5, 23, 97,000 followed by Amar
Ujala at No 3 with total readership of 4, 60, 94,000.

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MARKETING MIX
The marketing mix (also known as the 4 Ps) is a foundation model in marketing. The marketing mix has
been defined as the "set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the
target". Thus the marketing mix refersto four broad levels of marketing decision, namely: product, price,
promotion, and place. Marketing practice has been occurring for millennia, but marketing theory
emerged in the early twentieth century. The contemporary marketing mix, or the 4 Ps, which has become
the dominant framework for marketing management decisions, was first published in 1960.

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4 Ps OF MARKETING MIX
Product refers to what the business offers for sale and may include products or services. Product
decisions include the "quality, features, benefits, style, design, branding, packaging, services, warranties,
guarantees, life cycles, investments and returns".
Price refers to decisions surrounding "list pricing, discount pricing, special offer pricing, credit payment
or credit terms". Price refers to the total cost to customer to acquire the product, and may involve both
monetary and psychological costs such as the time and effort expended in acquisition.
Place is defined as the "direct or indirect channels to market, geographical distribution, territorial
coverage, retail outlet, market location, catalogues, inventory, logistics and order fulfilment". Place refers
either to the physical location where a business carries out business or the distribution channels used to
reach markets. Place may refer to a retail outlet, but increasingly refers to virtual stores such as "a mail
order catalogue, a telephone call centre or a website".
Promotion refersto "the marketing communication used to make the offer known to potential customers
and persuade them to investigate it further." Promotion elements include "advertising, public relations,
direct selling and sales promotions.
A good way to understand the 4Ps is by the questions that you need to ask to define your marketing mix.
Here are some questions that will help you understand and define each of the four elements:
PRODUCT----
 What does the customer want from the product/service? What needs does it satisfy?
 What features does it have to meet these needs?

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 How and where will the customer use it?
 How and where will the customer use it?
 How is it differentiated versus your competitors?
PLACE----
 How is it differentiated versus your competitors?
 How can you access the right distribution channels?
PRICE-----
 What is the value of the product or service to the buyer?
 Is the customer price sensitive? Will a small decrease in price gain you extra market share? Or
will a small increase be indiscernible, and so gain you extra profit margin?
 How will your price compare with your competitors?
PROMOTION----
 Where and when can you get your marketing messages across to your target market?
 Will you reachyour audience by advertising online, inthe press, on TV, onradio, or onbillboards?
By using direct marketing mailshots? Through PR? On the Internet?
 When is the best time to promote? Is there seasonality in the market? Are there any wider
environmental issues that suggest or dictate the timing of your market launch or subsequent
promotions?

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IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING MIX-----
1. It helps in a clean mix creation
Your marketing mix should have all the P’s compatible with each other. The price should be
compatible with the placement of the product. The product should be compatible with the
promotions. In general, all the P’s are intrinsically linked to each other.
2. It helps in new product development
While designing an existing product, there are any number of ideas which can come up for
a related product that can be designed by the company. The pricing, place and promotions might be
different for such a product. Nonetheless, it can be classifiedas a new product and hence while designing
the marketing mix, the company can come up with good ideas for NPD as well.
3. It helps to increase the product portfolio
Whenever you want to increase the product depth or product line and length, you have to make
minor changes to the product. In essence, you are making minor changes in the marketing mix
itself.You are making changes tothe product features, to itspricing and possible to its promotions.

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4. It is a guide to improve a business----
Physical evidence was an important P in the service marketing mix. If a restaurant or an interior
design business realises its importance, then naturally they can act on it and improve the physical
evidence of their business thereby bringing in more business.
5. It helps in differentiation----
When you analyses the marketing mix of Competitors, there are many different ways that you can
differentiate yourself from the competitor. The competitor might have poor promotions and by
analysing them, you can create better promotions of your own product.

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CHAPTER 2- COMPANYPROFILE - THE TIMES OF INDIA
The Times of India (TOI) is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Times
Group. It is the fourth-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest selling English-
language daily in the world according to Audit Bureau of Circulations (India). It is the oldest
English-language newspaper in India still in circulation, with its first edition published in 1838. It
is the second oldest Indian newspaper still in circulation after the Bombay Samachar. During the
turn of the 19th century, Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, called The Times of India "the leading
paper in Asia". In 1991, the BBC ranked The Times of India among the world's six best
newspapers.
It is owned and published by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. which is owned by the Sahu Jain
family. In the Brand Trust Report 2012, The Times of India was ranked 88th among India's most
trusted brands. In 2017, however, the newspaper was ranked 355th.

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HISTORY---
The Times of India issued its first edition on 3 November 1838as The Bombay Times and Journal
of Commerce. The paper published Wednesdays and Saturdays under the direction of Raobahadur
Narayan Dinanath Velkar, a Maharashtrian Reformist, and contained news from Britain and the
world, as well as the Indian Subcontinent. J.E. Brennan was its first editor. In 1850, it began to
publish daily editions.
In 1860, editor Robert Knight (1825–1892)bought the Indian shareholders' interests, merged with
rival Bombay Standard, and started India's first news agency. It wired Times dispatches to papers
across the country and became the Indian agent for Reuter’s news service. In 1861, he changed
the name from the Bombay Times and Standard to The Times of India. Knight fought for a press
free of prior restraint or intimidation, frequently resisting the attempts by governments, business
interests, and cultural spokesmen and led the paper to national prominence. In the 19th century,
this newspaper company employed more than 800 people and had a sizeable circulation in India
and Europe.
Bennett and Coleman ownership
Subsequently, The Times of India saw its ownership change several times until 1892 when,
Thomas Bennett and Frank Morris Coleman, who later drowned in the 1915 sinking of the SS
Persia, acquired the newspaper through their new company, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.

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Dalmiya ownership
Sir Stanley Reed edited The Times of India from 1907 until 1924 and received correspondence
from the major figures of India such as Mahatma Gandhi. In all he lived in India for fifty years.
He was respected in the United Kingdom as an expert on Indian current affairs. He christened
Jaipur as "the Pink City of India".
Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd was sold to sugar magnate Ramkrishna Dalmia of the then-famous
industrial family, the Dalmiyas, for Rs 20 million in 1946, as India was becoming independent
and the British owners were leaving. In 1955 the Vivian Bose Commission of Inquiry found that
Ramkrishna Dalmia, in 1947, had engineered the acquisition of the media giant Bennett Coleman
& Co. by transferring money from a bank and an insurance company of which he was the
Chairman. In the court case that followed, Ramkrishna Dalmia was sentenced to two years in
Tihar Jail after having been convicted of embezzlement and fraud.
The Times in the 21st century
In late 2006, Times Group acquired Vijayanand Printers Limited (VPL). VPL previously
published two Kannada newspapers, Vijay Karnataka and Usha Kiran, and an English daily, Vijay
Times. Vijay Karnataka was the leader in the Kannada newspaper segment then.
The paper launched a Chennai edition, 12 April 2008.It launched a Kolhapur edition, February
2013.

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TOIFA Awards
Introduced in 2013 and awarded for the second time in 2016, "The Times of India Film Awards"
or the "TOIFA" is an award for the work in Film Industry decided by a global public vote on the
nomination categories.

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EDITIONS AND PUBLICATIONS----
The Times of India is published by the media group Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. The company,
along with its other group of companies, known as The Times Group, also publishes Ahmedabad
Mirror; Bangalore Mirror; Bangalore Times, Delhi Times; The Economic Times; ET Panache
(Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru on Monday to Friday and as Times of India ET Panache in Pune and
Chennai, Every Saturday) Ei Samay, (a Bengali daily); the Maharashtra Times, (a Marathi-
language daily broadsheet); Mumbai Mirror; the Navbharat Times, (a Hindi-language daily
broadsheet); and Pune Mirror.

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The Times of India has its markets in major cities such as Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Allahabad,
Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore,
Delhi, Guwahati, Hubli, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolhapur, Kolkata, Lucknow,
Madurai, Mangalore, Mysore, Nagpur, Nashik, Panaji, Patna, Puducherry, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi,
Surat, Trichy, Trivandrum, Varanasi, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

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CHAPTER 3--- REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Marketing channel strategy decisions are of great importance as they represent constraints and
opportunities, inherently over a long term, according to Dwyer and Welsh (1985). Marketing
channel strategies refer to the choice of structure in designing the distribution channel by
manufacturers. They also include influence strategies which refer to content, frequency and
intensity of communications intended to achieve demonstration of favorable behaviors by their
channel partners.
Research on bureaucratic form of channel structure studied structural dimensions like
centralization, formalization, and specialization or differentiation in channel performance
(Reukert et. al. 1985; Dwyer and Oh 1988; Stern and Reve 1980). This approach looked at
aspects of power, authority, and control of the channel to achieve the desired performance. This
approach stressed that the effectiveness, efficiency, and adaptiveness of the channel could be
improved by increasing centralization, formalization, and specialization. Centralization refers to
the extent to which decisions taken unilaterally or on shared basis with channel partners.
Formalization involves the extent to which activities and social relationships are governed by laid
down rules, procedures, agreements and contracts.
Marketing investments by marketers towards advertisements and promotions creates
accumulation of goodwill for channel members, which in turn spurs 49 sales growth. This forms
an incentive for further investment by channel members. Chintagunta and Jain (1992)

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developed a dynamic model for determining equilibrium marketing investment levels for channel
members and a framework for understanding the effects of channel dynamics on difference in
profits resulting from coordinated marketing interventions. They have concluded that when the
manufacturer and channel member followed a coordinated strategy, it resulted in enhanced
marketing effort levels by channel members resulting in higher total channel profits and that there
is greater need for such coordinated strategy when discounts, rates, carryover effectsof marketing
efforts and goodwill interactions between manufacturers and channel partners are high.
Boyle et. al. (1992) developed measures of the following six influence strategies in marketing
channels - 1. Promise: Source certifies to extend specified reward contingent on the target's
compliance, 2. Threat: Source informs the target that failure to comply will result in negative
sanctions. 3. Legalistic plea: Source contends that target compliance is required by formal
agreement. 4. Request: Source asks target to act; no mention of subsequent sanctions. 5.
Information exchange: Source supplies information with no specific action requested or otherwise
indicated. 6. Recommendation: Source stresses that specific target action is needed for the latter
to achieve desired outcomes. They examined association of the influence strategies on channel
relationship and alternative channel governance structures (market, administered, franchise, and
corporate).
Vaughn (1986) contributed to the development of understanding of relationship between
cognitive and a ective processing of commercial communication by enumerating four hierarchy-
of-e ect types of message perception, based on which he formulated four advertising planning
strategies: informative, a ective, habitual and satisfaction.

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Heath, R. (2000) argues that most responses of consumers to advertisements are low involvement
processing in nature and provides a Theory of Low Involvement Processingof advertising, which
operates through the repeated processing of elements at low attention levels leading to the gradual
establishment of meaningful brand associations in consumers.
Consumer behaviour has been keenly studied by researchers and a rich literature on the subject
has been developed. Consumer behaviour theories propose that consumers actively search for and
use information tomake informed purchase decisions. This assumes a rational approach intreating
the consumer as intelligent, thinking and with problem solving ability to make logical decisions
(Markin and Narayana, 1975). However, consumer behaviour on many occasions appears
irrational as it does not involve extensive information search or a comprehensive evaluation of
alternatives (Olshavsky and Granbois, 1979).
Bauer ET. al. (2006) proposed a product involvement category dependent model of consumer
decision making styles and encouraged future researchers to further investigate this relationship
that products and product involvement have on the decision-making styles exhibited by
consumers.
Kalish (1985) opined that adoption of a new product is preceded by and is conditional on
awareness and adoption occurs if the perceived risk adjusted value of the product exceeds selling
price of the new product. Continuing further along the lines of awareness and familiarity with a
domain, Moreau et. al. (2001) showed that consumers who have developed expertise in the
primary domain of a new product rapidly adopt the new product but resist adoption of a radically

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new category disrupting product, as their expertise decreases their understanding of the product’s
benefits.
Ziamou and Ratneshwar (2002) extensively researched the role of information shared by
marketers in influencing consumer perception of new high-technology product performance
uncertainty. They are of the view that more information is not always better in reducing
performance uncertainty and it depends on whether a new interface is combined with a new
functionality or 64 with a pre-existing functionality. In the former event consumer uncertainty is
increased, whereas in the latter it is decreased.
Wee (2003) confirmed and built on the findings of Rogers (2003) in the domain of electronic
durables to conclude that the seven most important factors in adoption of new consumer, ranked
in order of importance are trialability, compatibility, relative advantage, observability,
complexity, image and perceived risk of adoption.

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CHAPTER 4—MARKETING STRATEGIES & COMPETITION
OF TIMES OF INDIA
Industry analysis
 India has emerged as the second largest newspaper market in the world by buying 99
million newspapers daily, according to World Association of Newspapers (WAN).
 China leads the pack with highest (107 million) number of dailies sold every day. The
Indian newspaper market is projected to grow from Rs. 56,300 Crore To 92,300 Crore by
the end of 2013, as per the research done by price water house cooper.
 New ad revenue figures from KPMG and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce
(FICCI) roughly align with those estimates. Research from the two entities found that print
advertising generated INR201.3 billion ($3.0 billion) in revenues in 2016, while TV was
responsible for INR201.2 billion ($3.0 billion).
 India remains somewhat unusual in that print revenues continues to grow, with newspapers
specifically still serving as an effective way for advertisers to reach a significant audience.
The research from KPMG/FICCI found that newspapers generated INR289.9 billion ($4.3
billion) in overall revenues—including advertising and circulation—in 2016, while
magazine revenues declined, hitting INR13.4 billion ($199.5 million) last year.

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KPMG/FICCI reported that newspaper growth was really coming from papers published in Hindi
and in other local languages and dialects—generally referred to collectively as “vernacular”
papers. According to the research, ad revenues for English-language papers grew 3.5% in 2016,
compared with 7.1% for Hindi-language papers and 8.7% for those in regional languages. English
is really only prevalent in India’s largest cities, leaving readers in smaller cities and rural areas
with an appetite for content in their local languages.
Unlike in markets with a more developed digital ecosystem, newspaper revenue streams in India
have not yet faced a serious challenge from digital content channels. However, the rise of digital

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is inevitable. E Marketer estimates the annual growth rate in the number of smartphone users in
India will remain in double digits through 2019, dipping to 9.8% in 2020. By then, 28.8% of the
country’s total population is expected to own and use a smartphone at least once per month.
Newspaper circulation in India has grown from 39.1 million copies in 2006 to 62.8 million in
2016 – a 60 percent increase. Comparable data for the most recent year available, 2015, show that
while newspaper circulation grew by 12 percent in India, it fell in almost every other major media
market: by 12 percent in the UK, 7 percent in the US and 3 percent in Germany and France.

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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS—ASSESING THE MARKET
STRENGHTS
 World’s largest newspaper.
 Brand and strong brand image.
 Easy Brand Recall useful in a competitive market with numerous dailies; high brand
loyalty.
 Weekly paper called Ascent is widely regarded as excellent platform and also a must read
for potential recruiters and job seekers.
 Times of India-widely circulated daily newspaper.
 Largest infrastructure for advertising and circulation sales.
WEAKNESSES
 Some people have the perception that TOI publishes more celebrity / entertainment news.
 Very less distribution channel in rural and small cities in India.
 Lack in covering useful news for competitive student.
 Late circulation in small cities.
OPPORTUNITIES
 Expanding organized distribution channels in small cities and rural areas.
 Has a limited presence in Southern India as compared to the rest of India.
 Huge opportunity in Regional Languages space.
 Better usage and interaction with online and mobile mediums.

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 Personalized newspaper editions.
 Digital space media.
THREATS
 Tough competitions from competitors.
 Competitors-Hindustan times, The Hindu, DNA, and INDIAN EXPRESS.
 Regional newspapers.
 Changing economic conditions because increasing rate of dollar as compared to rupee
means increase in production cost.
 Increasing digital media growth.

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MARKETING
STRATEGY
*NEW HIGH QUALITY
PRODUCT
*TO INCREASE
CIRCULATION
BY LAUNCH OF NEW
EDITION
BETTER
ADVERTISEMENTS
WITH MOREFOCUS
ON TV

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MARKETING STRATEGIES----
 To improve quality of product and extend variety of product range.
 To launch new editions in English and regional languages for students and online newspaper
i.e. e-paper or mobile paper and increase readership and circulation of newspaper.
 To increase the advertising in paper and thus sales revenue.
 More advertisement through the medium of TV, Radio, Internet and social campaigns.
 To Launch new social campaign ‘Young India’ basically focusing youth of the county.
 It is important to get the promotional balance right. Combo offers with regional language
newspapers. Combo offer for both newspaper buyer and advertiser. TOI come up at lower
subscription rate at 250Rs per year. It also allowed the brand to build and maintain a consistent
dialogue with vendors, which helps to drive sales. Also Times of India in collaboration with
HDFC launched the Times Card.
 Times of India have other brands like Economic Times, Mumbai mirror, Maharashtra Times,
Film fare etc. so as to cover needs of all classes of consumer. The price of one copy TOI
newspaper is 3 Rs which competitive price as compared to HT, The Hindu & DNA.
Low prices and advertising are the twin pillars of the Times of India’s marketing strategy,
and are mutually reinforced in a virtuous circle, wherein advertising revenues make possible
a pricing system verging on dumping, while the readers attracted by this system draw in the
advertisers. The Times of India fully embraced this strategy in 1994. At the time strongly
identified with Mumbai, it decided to undertake a price war to win over the Delhi market,

37. 37
considered the country’s most important, and where, with only 70,000copies sold, it occupied
the position of challenger to the Hindustan Times (300,000 copies).
MARKETING MIX
The marketing mix refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to promote its
brand or product in the market. The 4Ps make up a typical marketing mix - Price, Product,
Promotion and Place.
All the elements of the marketing mix influence each other. They make up the business plan
for a company and handled right, can give it great success. But handled wrong and the
business could take years to recover. The marketing mix needs a lot of understanding, market
research and consultation with several people, from users to trade to manufacturing and
several others.
1. PRODUCT
The Times of India (TOI) is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Times
Group. It is the fourth-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest selling English-
language daily in the world according to Audit Bureau of Circulations (India). It is the oldest
English-language newspaper in India stillin circulation, with itsfirstedition published in1838.
and the second-oldest Indian newspaper still in circulation after the Bombay Samachar. At the
turn of the 19th century Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, called The Times of India "the

38. 38
leading paper in Asia". In 1991the BBC ranked The Times of India among the world's six best
newspapers.
The Times of India is published by the media group Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. The
company, along with its other group of companies, known as The Times Group, also publishes
Ahmedabad Mirror, Bangalore Mirror, Bangalore Times, Delhi Times, The Economic Times,
ET Panache (Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru on Monday to Friday and as Times of India ET
Panache in Pune and Chennai, Every Saturday) Ei Samay, (a Bengali daily), the Maharashtra
Times, (a Marathi-language daily broadsheet), Mumbai Mirror, the Navbharat Times, (a
Hindi-language daily broadsheet), and Pune Mirror.
2. PLACE
The Times of India has its markets in major cities such as Mumbai,[38] Ahmedabad,
Allahabad, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Chandigarh, Chennai,
Coimbatore, Delhi, Guwahati, Hubli, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolhapur, Kolkata,
Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Mysore, Nagpur, Nashik, Panaji, Patna, Puducherry, Pune,
Raipur, Ranchi, Surat, Trichy, Trivandrum, Varanasi, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

39. 39
3. PRICING
SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS
OFFER NAME PRODUCT DURATION MODE OF
PAYMENT
PRICE
TIMES JOINT
OFFER
THE TIMES
OF INDIA &
SUNDAY
TIMES WITH
THE
ECONOMIC
TIMES ( MON
TO FRI)
12 MONTHS CHEQUE RS 1199
TIMES MEGA
OFFER
THE TIMES
OF INDIA
AND
SUNDAY
TIMES
15 MONTHS CHEQUE RS 899

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MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONFORM

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COMPETITIVE PRICING
12 MONTHS AVEARGE BILL OF HT+MINT= 2868
YOU PAY- 1199
TIMES JOINT OFFER (TOI+ET)
YOU SAVE- 1669
HT READERS PAYING 155 PER MONTH
15 MONTH AVERAGE BILL OF HT- 2325
YOU PAY- 899
TIMES MEGA OFFER
YOU SAVE - 1426
4. PROMOTIONAL MIX
ADVERTISEMENT
 TOI previous advertisement emphasized functionality of newspaper.
 While now emotional platform where the newspaper is being projected as something
that of chronicle aspirations of Indians(ATL) – Eg.100 rupee advertisement, hockey
advertisement, Go India ad etc.
INTERNET MARKETING
 Own their own web portals to advertise their products through banner ads.

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PUBLIC RELATION
 They have their own website and videos featured in television Medias through which
image in marketing being maintained.
VIRAL MARKETING
 Through word of mouth the information about price cuts for 1 year subscription has
spread out well.
OUT OF HOME PROMOTION
 They have covered most of consumer touch points in the city starting from
convenience shop, tea stalls, and cycle spare repairing shops.
 Billboards in buses, road dividers/medians.
SALES PROMOTION
Sales are the lifebloodof a business, without sales there would be no business in The first place; therefore
it is very important that if a business wants to succeed, it should Have a sales promotion strategy in mind.
The primary objective of a sales promotion is to Improve a company’s sales by predicting and modifying
your target customers Purchasing behavior and patterns. Sales promotion is very important as it not only
helps to boost sales but it also helps a Business to draw new customers while at the same time retaining
older ones. There are a Variety of sales promotional strategies that a business can use to increase their
sales, However it is important that we first understand what a sales promotion strategy actually Is and
why it is so important.

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A sales promotion strategy is an activity that is designed to help boost the sales of a Product or service.
This can be done through an advertising campaign, public relation Activities, a free sampling campaign,
a free gift campaign, a trading stamps campaign, Through demonstrations and exhibitions, through prize
giving competitions, through Temporary price cuts, and through door-to-door sales, telemarketing,
personal sales Letters, and emails.
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.
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.
PROMOTIONAL OFFERS
The Times of India is offering a promotional offer of RS.1399 for 2 years with a complementary gift of
the choice of the customers with the newspaper subscription. The gifts include a blender, toaster and bed
sheets.

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HOW DO WE REACH OUR POTENTIAL READERS?
TRADE-
 Door delivered copies.
 News stand copies.
 Wholesalers.
 Agents & dealers
 Signal sales
BULK-
 Corporate sponsorships.
SUBSCRIPTION-
 Acquisition through attractive offers/gifts.
 Effective courier deliveries.
What do we do to service and retain our readers?
TRADE-
 Incentives to our distribution partners.
 Visibility drive at selected outlets.
 A mechanism of feeder routes.
BULK-
 Customized innovation.

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 Handling the logistics and backend works for clients.
SUBSCRIPTION
 Lucrative discounts.
 Attractive gifts.
 Special incentives on combo offers.
 Assured delivery at doorsteps.

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CHAPTER 5- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY----
Research methodology is the systematic and theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a field of
study. It involves qualitative and quantitative techniques. It is a process used to collect information and
data for the purpose of making business decisions.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES---
 To predict and explore the customer demands in terms of Price, Quality and
Services for newspapers.
 To figure what are the most important factors in a newspaper that are most critical from the view
point of customers.
 To know what other forms of media which the customers are using in place of newspapers.
RESEARCH DESIGN
DATA COLLECTION SURVEY THROUGH QUESTIONNAIRE,
TELECALLING AND DOOR TO DOOR
INTERVIEW.
TYPE OF DATA PRIMARY DATA
STATISTICAL CHARTS USED PIE CHARTS, COLUMN AND BAR GRAHPS

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RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS QUESTIONNAIRE
SAMPLE SIZE 60
LIMITATIONS-----
1. Sample size may not be completely representative of the universe.
2. Completely relying on the data provided by the individuals through the questionnaire.
3. A failure to use a random sampling technique significantly limits the ability to make broader
generalizations from the results.
4. Lack of time to study the broader concept.
5. Less geographical reach.
DEMOGRAHPICS-----

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UP TO 18 YEARS 0
18-24 YEARS 37
25-40 YEARS 21
MORE THAN 40 YEARS 2
MALE 28
FEAMLE 32

50. 50
STUDENT 26
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE 0
PRIVATE SECTOR 23
OWN BUSINESS 7
HOUSE WIFE 2
HOME MAKER 1
FREELANCER 1

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CHAPTER 6- ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION
 ALMOST 52% PEOPLE READ NEWSPAPERS DAILY.
 27% PEOPLE READ NEWSPAPERS WEEKLY AND 18% PEOPLE MONTHLY.

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 50% PEOPLE ACCESS THE NEWS IN THE MORNING.
 REST 50% AT AFTERNOON, EVENING AND NIGHT.

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 AROUND 57% PEOPLE USE MOBILE INTERNET FOR NEWS.
 45% PEOPLE USE TELEVISION AND 40% USE SOCIAL MEDIA RESPECTIVELY.

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 48% PEOPLE THINKS THAT NEWSPAPERS ARE VERY IMPORTANT.
 38% THINKS THAT NEWSPAPERS ARE IMPORTANT AND 10% THINKS THAT THEY
ARE SOMEWHAT IMPORTANT.

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 50% PEOPLE SPEND 10-20 MINUTES ON READING NEWSPAPERS.
 ONLY 4% PEOPLE SPEND MORE THAN 30 MINUTES IN READING NEWSPAPERS.

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 ACCORDING TO 53% PEOPLE POLITICS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TOPIC IN THE
NEWSPAPERS.
 45% PEOPLE CONSIDER FOREIGN NEWS AS AN IMPORTANT TOPIC AND 38%
PEOPLE CONSIDER ENTERTAINMENT AS AN IMPORTANT TOPIC.

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 36 INDIVIDUALS READ NEWSPAPERS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION.
 35 INDIVIDUALS READ NEWSPAPERS TO KEEP ABREAST OF THE PRESENT
HAPPENINGS.
 28 AGREE THAT IT IS A USUAL TASK OF THE DAY.

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59. 59
 25 INDIVIDUALS RATE TIMES OF INDIA EXCELLENT WHEREAS 32 PEOPLE RATE
THE HINDU EXCELLENT. 13 RATED INDIAN EXPRESS AS EXCELLENT AND 18
RATED HINDUSTAN TIMES AS EXCELLENT.
 NOBODY RATED TIMES OF INDIA POOR WHEREAS 2 PEOPLE RATED THE HINDU
VERY POOR AND 2 RATED HINDUSTAN TIMES VERY POOR.
 37, 36 AND 33 PEOPLE RATED INDIAN EXPRESS, DECCAN CHRONICLE AND
HINDUSTAN TIMES AS GOOD RESPECTIVELY.
 71% PEOPLE PREFER TIMES OF INDIA TO OTHER ENGLISH NEWSPAERS AND 28%
PEOPLE DO NOT PREFER TIMES OF INDIA TO OTHER ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS.

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 21 PEOPLE CONSIDERED PRICE, 27 PEOPLE CONSIDERED QUALITY OF CONTENT,
22 PEOPLE CONSIDERED NEWS COVERAGE AND 26 PEOPLE CONSIDERED
SUPPLEMENTARY ISSUES AS EXCELLENT.
 1 INDIVIDUAL EACH CONSIDERED ALL OF THE FEATURES AS VERY POOR.
 ONLY 28% PEOPLE THINK THAT THE QUALITY OF TIMES IF INDIA IS EXCELLENT
AS COMPARED TO OTHER NEWSPAPERS.
 63% PEOPLE THINK THAT QUALITY IS GOOD AND 8% THINK THAT QUALITY IS
AVERAGE.

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63. 63
 31 PEOPLE CONSIDERED CONTENT AS EXCELLENT.
 7 PEOPLE CONSIDERED SERVICES AS AVERAGE.
 40 PEOPLE CONSIDERED ADVERTISEMENTS AS GOOD.
 53% PEOPLE ARE NEUTRAL TOWARDS ADVERTISEMENTS.
 28% PEOPLE AGREE THAT ADVERTISEMENTS ARE HELPFUL.

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 40%, 21% AND 20% PEOPLE DISLIKE ADVERTISEMENTS, CONGESTED APPEARANCE
AND SMALL FONT SIZE RESPECTIVELY.
 36% PEOPLE DISLIKE NOTHING ABOUT THE NEWSPAPER.

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LEARNINGS
 Most of the customers prefer Hindi newspapers rather than English.
 Subscribers have high demand in the improvement of services.
 There is tough competition from Hindustan times.
 Subscription schemes attract more customers.
 Schemes with gift are playing a good role in increasing readership as there are lot of customers
who are subscribing just for the gift.

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CHAPTER 7- CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The sector is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9 per cent and touch INR373 billion by 2018. The
opportunity may lie in capitalizing on expansion opportunity and tapping the growth potential in
regional markets while concurrently the challenge could be to explore consolidation opportunities
within the existing markets. Innovation in product, content and distribution increasing demand for
region-specific content; and expansion by large players into new geographies and languages
resulting in increased penetration of regional print media; appropriate usage of social media and
increase in below the line activities can pave the way for growth in the next year. The print
industry operates in a dynamic environment with readers’ needs and preferences changing
continuously. In such an environment, it is imperative for publishers to innovate consistently and
also engage and interact with their readers on a real time basis. There are a plethora of
opportunities that could benefit the flexible players who can adjust to the changing environment.
Going forward we may witness expansion in regional markets and
Consolidation in established markets with only the fittest players survive the changing
environment.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
1. It would be critical for the Print sector to recoup lost ground by addressing the decline
in advertising rates and growing them back to at historic levels. This may prove
challenging as there may be significant push back from advertisers.
2. The Print sector needs to focus on managing the readership decline through increasing
penetration and also by increasing content relevance for various demographic sections
and age groups. This is already a serious problem in developed markets which are
seeing declining overall readership levels (after adjusting for migration to online
readership).
3. The Print industry needs to increase focus on online editions to tap into potential
migration onto the internet. There is a consistent migration onto online news noted in
developed countries, which though currently not a major concern in India, is inevitable
as internet penetration grows. Given that increasing number of eyeballs will be viewing
news online, monetization opportunities of online editions requires more focus.
4. A continued focus is required on operational improvements and retaining efficiencies.
There is a risk that as the economy improves some of the operational improvements
may be lost and companies would revert to adding more flab.
5. Regional media needs to improve its profile among advertisers through improved
product quality, innovative use of reach and bundling of services to provide advertisers
with ‘more bang fortheir buck’. This would be essential tonarrow the gap in advertising
share between English and Regional Print.

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6. English media needs to focus more on localizing the content in terms of relevance and
attractiveness, continuing to add niche and special interest segments, etc. This would
be essential to gain a higher wallet share from their existing markets and also to
penetrate into the advertising share going to regional media.

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GOING FORWARD---
A booming Indian economy, literate population on the rise, increasing consumerism, entry of global
brands in the country and opening of the sector to foreign investors would drive the growth in print
media. Also, with newspaper companies entering into newer regions and segments would lead to stronger
growth.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_of_India
2. https://www.scribd.com/doc/26047157/INDUSTRY-ANALYSIS-OF-
PRINT-MEDIA
3. https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Why-Indias-Newspaper-Industry-Still-
Growing/1015540
4. http://www.academia.edu/7711472/SUMMER_TRAINING_PROJECT_R
EPORT_ON_SALES_AND_PROMOTION_OF_TIMES_OF_INDIA
5. https://www.slideshare.net/pra_p48/the-times-of-india-newspaper-
marketing-project