The Economic Times reports on SEPTEMBER 28, 2005:
S.K. Arora, secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said that print readership in the urban sector seems to be flattening out while in the rural sector it was growing with a ratio of 50:50 with TV. There are currently 55,700 print publications of which 9,000 are English dailies, 22,000 are Hindi publications and 90 regional language publications.
According to Arora, the “challenges which the print media is facing today include developments in technology, the frequency and spread of the electronic media, convergence of broadband, internet and radio and foreign publications entering India”.
The mind of the govenment can be gauged by Arora’s statement that:”The liberalisation of the print media policies can lead to further foreign investments and ‘corporatisation’ of Indian media.” Arora also gave some figures about the ad revenue situation as well:
Although readership of Hindi newspapers is twice that of English. The total print advertising revenue is Rs.5,400 crore, and:
- English language press cornered 50% of the advertising pie
- Hindi media managed 25% of the print advertising revenue.
- Ad spend in print declined by 2% over last year from 46% to 44%, which went to television
Source: The Economic Times