By A Correspondent
With just a few hours in balance for the unveiling of IRS2017, there are many things one is looking forward at the late afternoon release of the report.
Of course what will happen at the venue is just the release of the top-level data. What’s needed eventually is the detailed data which media owners, media agency professionals and advertisers will use for an analysis of what lies ahead for them and the business.
We’ve made this list of 17 notable things that we would be looking forward to following post the release of the data.
1. Overall growth or degrowth of print
Our sources tell us that print has grown in early double-digit percentage on the back of language publications. However, given that internationally print is declining and we’ve also seen India has consistently bucked the trend, it would be good to see how print news has done given the explosion of television news and also the rise of news served digitally – even in Hindi and regional languages.
2. Will English get beaten given digital?
And even if the overall pie grows, the focus will be on the English print news segment – specifically newspapers. If it degrows, and this could be a result of the rise of digital news in English, it could also offer indicators to the over print newspaper space.
3. Magazines – further decline or growth?
It’s possibly just a coincidence that a conference of magazine publishers was held earlier this week, just a few days before the release of IRS 2017. But, then, magazine publishers have over the years questioned the efficacy of IRS as a currency for buying print magazine space. But still it would be interesting to see the data for the mass readership-based print giants.
4. Delhi ka Sultan Kaun?
We’ve read about the battles for Delhi in our history books. But that’s been assorted leaders of another era. Over the last two decades, The Times of India has been steadily gaining ground in the capital and its surround areas. The top brass in TOI – wherever they may be in the world – will eagerly look at the numbers. As will the captains at Hindustan Times which has revved up its over the last decade-and-a-half. The question uppermost in everyone’s mind: who will forge ahead in Delhi and NCR in IRS2017.
5. Pink City ki Rani
It’s a market that’s not as large as many others, but given the presence of players DainikBhaskar and Rajasthan Patrika, the battle is as fierce as one of those several fought by the Rajputs and the Rajas many decades back. Whoever wins will raise the warcry from the rooftops, and whoever doesn’t, well, even the sky won’t be the limit for it to cry murder. Well, whatever
6. Mumbai: The Battle for #2, 3, 4
Mumbai is a clear market for English papers. The Times of India rules. Given that it comes as a part of an optional package, it’s smooth sailing for Mumbai Mirror. The battle now is for the next in line: Hindustan Times, Mid-Day or DNA. We think we know who will be the winner, but let’s wait for the data
7. Will it be Sakal or challenger Lokmat in Pune?
For around the last two years, numerouno Marathi paper Lokmat has been claiming the #1 status in Pune, a market that has been dominated by Sakal for decades. In the absence of an IRS, some of the claims stuck though they were fiercely contested by Sakal. IRS 2017 will bring in some clarity on this. As they say, doodhkadoodh, panikapani.
8-11. Other Metros –The Leaders and the Challengers
There is a challenger brand in all the other key metros, and while the leader has been known, it will be interesting to see what the data throws up. We’re referring specifically to Kolkata to see if there’s any impact on Telegraph and ABP at all. Similarly in Chennai, where The Hindu rules, but it will be interesting to see if The Times of India has been able to effect a dent in numbers. We would love to see the very well-designed New Indian Express also up there, but this is a battle for readership numbers, alas. Over the years, it’s The Times of India that has led Bengaluru given its changing demographics, but Deccan Herald is a local favourite too. Similarly, in Hyderabad, it would be good to see how Deccan Chronicle is doing vis-à -vis TOI.
12. Tier 3 markets
The need for data is huge in Tier 3 and Tier 4 markets too, including the non-English space amongst regional leaders. Of particular interest are: Nagpur, Raipur (and rest of Chhatisgarh), Bhubaneswar, Kochi (and rest of Kerala)… the list could go on.
13-14. Lucky for whom – MP, UP… rest of cow belt
The battlelines are huge, and possibly should have been ranked higher. It will be interesting to see how the old favourites will do here. Of particular interest to us is how the UP leaders do – DainikJagran, Amar Ujala and Hindustan. Madhya Pradesh has DainikBhaskar dominating, but Patrika is around and is not known to sit pretty
15-16-17. Perhaps this should have been the first point. Or perhaps it should have been all the points. But a lot depends on how the MRUC and RSCI respond to cribs of its constituents. The last time around, we believe there was a breakdown because of some cowboys on both sides of the divide. This time around, we hear much pragmatism has prevailed. Hurray for that!