Written for Print on Digital

Remember the days which started with a morning newspaper? I don't blame you if you can't recall. It's may have been a while, afterall. Aware of the new normal where a large group of news consumers open their app on their way to work or through their daily routine to stay up top date with where the world is going? Well it's definitely heading towards digitisation, more so, after the pandemic !An anchor holding and reminding us of the calmer times is said to have gone weak in the present day. The crisp morning newspaper brought in with a cup of hot chai is believed to have lost its charm in modern society.

Afterall, we're a generation chasing instant gratification and virality.

In recent times, increased competition and sectoral hurdle has made running a print publication business even more difficult. For instance, almost 50% of the ink used to print newspapers is imported from Russia and Canada. Due to the pandemic and war, the costs have gone up significantly making it less profitable for media houses at large. Well there was a problem and people started looking for how to solve it !

One one hand were media houses launching their apps faster than events making it to the headlines. While newsworthy content was moved to their " digital platforms for instant consumption", they were seeing sharing news space in their print versions with brands who seemed thrilled on the opportunity to run full page advertisements on prime space. Don't recall when this transition happened either? Well, that's how smooth it was !While this solved the problem it killed the purpose of quality content at the very brink of the newspaper. What remains exciting though is how one, cannot snatch the excitement of a front page ad from any brand marketer just like you cannot snatch a front page story from a journalist. We all know when push comes to shove, which one is given priority (nowadays). 

Why did I say it was not right to assume the fall of newspapers? 

According to a survey conducted by Reuters in 2021 Indian print brands dominated broadcast outlets in the trust score table. The reverse was true in the West. This means, at least for Indians, printed text will always have deep-rooted meaning. There is a large section of India’s demography that still believes what is in front of them and not what they see on some server. Media is the fourth pillar of our democracy. A pillar, planned, built and renovated day in and day out by one of our oldest forms of mass communication. 

An elemental argument made when talking about the decline of newspapers is the inception of digital transformation. This cannot be justified. Even though a significant number of people consume news online, that does not mean they do not read newspapers. Digital is just another option in the already vast array of channels. This is justifiable – Why would brands focused on Genz and Millennials of today spend millions and billions of their marketing budget on nationwide print ads across languages? These brands know the wide and pin-pointed reach of print and want to leverage it. Customized print ads based on locations and languages are themselves an argument for the dominant status of newspapers in India. Here’s a quick example of Dunzo’s recent print campaign :

Coexisting is the way forward !

In a nation where language changes every 15 kms, newspapers take the baton to drive the feeling of common collectivity and being a part of a secular state. They act as levellers. No matter which section of the society you belong to, you can read the happenings of the day in the preferred language. As opposed to digitally available content which is still majorly in a 2 or 3 language, newspapers solve the language barrier. Keeping in mind the population of India, these regional language publications are not so regional. Some of them have more readership than daily page views of online publications. 

Digital is important. So is print. An effective amalgamation of both is seeming to do better for media houses these days. Subscriptions and paywalled articles of newspapers and magazines along with a website and app not only give access to quality content like editorials, opinion pieces and authored articles but also generate new interest for the print edition.