Akila Urankar, President, Business Standard
I feel the editorial quality does play a huge role in getting quality advertising. The time spent on reading a paper having quality editorial would be much more and that is an important aspect when different media are fighting for the consumers' time.
I feel the editorial quality does play a huge role in getting quality advertising. The time spent on reading a paper having quality editorial would be much more and that is an important aspect when different media are fighting for the consumers' time.Recently the paper went into a complete overhauling exercise - it was redesigned, resized and had a content revamp as well. Ritu Midha of exchange4media had a chat with Akila Urankar, President, Business Standard on the changes, reasons for changes and the impact of these changes.
Q. On new design content and size... "We are yet to undertake a major market research activity, however initial feedback from market and business associates indicate that the paper now has an international look to it, is far easier to navigate and covers a wide range of topics."
Q. Was it the advertisers' need more than the readers' that led to the change in the size... "Not really, I will tell you why. All print publications in the country have not moved to the same size, so the agencies are still making material in different sizes. Hence, that was not obviously a demand or request from the advertisers. The size and design of the paper have been changed keeping readers' convenience in mind and information needs."
Q. On whether the design change is an attempt to lure more young audience... "We played around with the design and the fonts to make the paper nicer, pleasing to eye and more reader friendly. The attempt has been to move away the heaviness that people generally associate with business papers. The paper has become more modular and reader friendly. We have integrated the information to the extent it is possible in print format. And hence, hopefully, people will not have to look at various sources to find out different aspects of a piece of information, for instance, the effect a move in commodity prices will have on stock prices"
Q. On segmentation leading to more advertisers... "We definitely hope that better segmentation would lead to more advertisers. The main stay of business papers is advertisements from financial categories. FMCGs would not look at business papers easily. However, we are hoping to get more ads from automobiles, white goods, and other such categories."
Q. So you are not trying to compete with main line papers too... "No, absolutely not. "
Q. On the difference in the new look of BS from other papers in the category... "As I mentioned, we have made efforts to make the paper extremely reader friendly by changing a lot of elements in the newspaper right from design and size to content. Our efforts have been to, besides providing credible and insightful business and corporate news information, to now providing a broader spectrum of news and features. New sections that we have added, for instance creative business wherein we will look at sectors like advertising, marketing, entertainment, art, publishing, theatre etc from the business point of view, would provide a lot of additional value to the readers. We cover the markets with greater sophistication, imparting more meaning and understanding and with a holistic and integrated perspective. Our stock market coverage is more comprehensive than any other paper in the category. We provide information on 22 parameters for stocks that account for 98 per cent of the trading is given daily. An entire special page is devoted to explaining how and why the market moved the way it did the day before. And that is just a few of the things..."
Q. On increasing the print run of the Business Standard post revamp... "It is too early to gauge the effects of the revamp on the print run though we expect more people especially young budding managers and entrepreneurs to be more involved in our paper."
Q. Gujarati Mid Day has reduced the number of columns... "They were first ones to switch. Express and Times and Hindustan Times came much later. We have retained 8 columns as before - but we have widened the width of the first column - to accommodate the 'News in Brief' section. "
Q. On Business Standard taking so long in changing the size... "We have been contemplating shifting to this size for quite some time. This is the international size but we had some plans on design change, on content management, sprucing up the content, and adding a few new sections. We decided to wait and do it together - instead of doing it piecemeal, as it would have destroyed the harmony in design. If you would go through the paper on various weekdays you would find how different sections have been brought out keeping in mind different reader needs. Value additions have been made to all the sections. Design, size, navigation of the paper, content everything has been improved on."
Q. Pink papers are looked upon as over-serious and catering to the older generation... "Not really. We are getting a very large set of young readers coming in. One paper might have a more serious image than the other - but to say that entire genre has a very serious image, I don't agree."
Q. Is this change in design a result of research... "Yes, we have done a lot of research in the last couple of years but our regular readers never gave the impression that they found Business Standard to be a heavy paper. A lot of management people are quite young these days, and hence we are also getting a large number of young readers. Therefore we decided to cater to them also, without compromising on our strength and depth of information. We have actually done many value additions. We stand for editorial excellence and we would not compromise on that. Content has actually been enhanced."
Q. On the enhancement of the content of the paper... "We have enhanced content in every field- more so in regional news. We are giving more state news - it used to be very little earlier. We have beefed it up. Political news we have always provided, but now we have a dedicated section on it. We are not covering any general news - city specific news is something we don't want to look at. Even the regional news we are looking at is more business focussed - for example performance of corporates based in southern markets. And also State governments, their policies and related stuff. Then we have added a section on personal finance, and also one on creative business. Entertainment section would provide business perspective in entertainment domain - be it art, music, films or advertising."
Q. There be more political news now... "Not really. Let me put it this way - there is better-segmented political news now. It has become one page from half page and there would be more coverage of the state governments - however focus would be more on economy and business, and less on politics."
Q. On the difference in the new look of BS from other papers in the category... "As I mentioned, we have made efforts to make the paper extremely reader friendly by changing a lot of elements in the newspaper right from design and size to content. Our efforts have been to, besides providing credible and insightful business and corporate news information, to now providing a broader spectrum of news and features. New sections that we have added, for instance creative business wherein we will look at sectors like advertising, marketing, entertainment, art, publishing, theatre etc from the business point of view, would provide a lot of additional value to the readers. We cover the markets with greater sophistication, imparting more meaning and understanding and with a holistic and integrated perspective. Our stock market coverage is more comprehensive than any other paper in the category. We provide information on 22 parameters for stocks that account for 98 per cent of the trading is given daily. An entire special page is devoted to explaining how and why the market moved the way it did the day before. And that is just a few of the things..."
Q. Don't the advertisers pay less for a full-page ad in the new size... "Not yet. Guess it would happen once more and more newspapers adopt the new size. Today it is Hindustan Times, Express, Times, Business Standard and a few others that have shifted. It does form the bulk as far as English newspapers are concerned, but regional papers have not shifted - and they get a fair amount of advertising."
Q. On content integration... "We have now adopted a very integrated approach to covering market news. Every company is interested in the commodities because they constitute a big chunk of its expenditure budget. If a commodity price moves southwards, the stock price of the company operating in that area is influenced. Our page tracks that very effectively. Also we have the most comprehensive money market coverage. The money market has remained relatively opaque for most people. We have made it more open and easy to understand. The data offered is easier to read and understand."
Q. Was it the advertisers' need more than the readers' that led to the change in the size... "Not really, I will tell you why. All print publications in the country have not moved to the same size, so the agencies are still making material in different sizes. Hence, that was not obviously a demand or request from the advertisers. The size and design of the paper have been changed keeping readers' convenience in mind and information needs."
Q. On whether the design change is an attempt to lure more young audience... "We played around with the design and the fonts to make the paper nicer, pleasing to eye and more reader friendly. The attempt has been to move away the heaviness that people generally associate with business papers. The paper has become more modular and reader friendly. We have integrated the information to the extent it is possible in print format. And hence, hopefully, people will not have to look at various sources to find out different aspects of a piece of information, for instance, the effect a move in commodity prices will have on stock prices"
Q. On segmentation leading to more advertisers... "We definitely hope that better segmentation would lead to more advertisers. The main stay of business papers is advertisements from financial categories. FMCGs would not look at business papers easily. However, we are hoping to get more ads from automobiles, white goods, and other such categories."
Q. So you are not trying to compete with main line papers too... "No, absolutely not. "
Q. On the difference in the new look of BS from other papers in the category... "As I mentioned, we have made efforts to make the paper extremely reader friendly by changing a lot of elements in the newspaper right from design and size to content. Our efforts have been to, besides providing credible and insightful business and corporate news information, to now providing a broader spectrum of news and features. New sections that we have added, for instance creative business wherein we will look at sectors like advertising, marketing, entertainment, art, publishing, theatre etc from the business point of view, would provide a lot of additional value to the readers. We cover the markets with greater sophistication, imparting more meaning and understanding and with a holistic and integrated perspective. Our stock market coverage is more comprehensive than any other paper in the category. We provide information on 22 parameters for stocks that account for 98 per cent of the trading is given daily. An entire special page is devoted to explaining how and why the market moved the way it did the day before. And that is just a few of the things..."
Q. On increasing the print run of the Business Standard post revamp... "It is too early to gauge the effects of the revamp on the print run though we expect more people especially young budding managers and entrepreneurs to be more involved in our paper."
Q. Gujarati Mid Day has reduced the number of columns... "They were first ones to switch. Express and Times and Hindustan Times came much later. We have retained 8 columns as before - but we have widened the width of the first column - to accommodate the 'News in Brief' section. "
Q. On Business Standard taking so long in changing the size... "We have been contemplating shifting to this size for quite some time. This is the international size but we had some plans on design change, on content management, sprucing up the content, and adding a few new sections. We decided to wait and do it together - instead of doing it piecemeal, as it would have destroyed the harmony in design. If you would go through the paper on various weekdays you would find how different sections have been brought out keeping in mind different reader needs. Value additions have been made to all the sections. Design, size, navigation of the paper, content everything has been improved on."
Q. Pink papers are looked upon as over-serious and catering to the older generation... "Not really. We are getting a very large set of young readers coming in. One paper might have a more serious image than the other - but to say that entire genre has a very serious image, I don't agree."
Q. Is this change in design a result of research... "Yes, we have done a lot of research in the last couple of years but our regular readers never gave the impression that they found Business Standard to be a heavy paper. A lot of management people are quite young these days, and hence we are also getting a large number of young readers. Therefore we decided to cater to them also, without compromising on our strength and depth of information. We have actually done many value additions. We stand for editorial excellence and we would not compromise on that. Content has actually been enhanced."
Q. On the enhancement of the content of the paper... "We have enhanced content in every field- more so in regional news. We are giving more state news - it used to be very little earlier. We have beefed it up. Political news we have always provided, but now we have a dedicated section on it. We are not covering any general news - city specific news is something we don't want to look at. Even the regional news we are looking at is more business focussed - for example performance of corporates based in southern markets. And also State governments, their policies and related stuff. Then we have added a section on personal finance, and also one on creative business. Entertainment section would provide business perspective in entertainment domain - be it art, music, films or advertising."
Q. There be more political news now... "Not really. Let me put it this way - there is better-segmented political news now. It has become one page from half page and there would be more coverage of the state governments - however focus would be more on economy and business, and less on politics."
Q. On the difference in the new look of BS from other papers in the category... "As I mentioned, we have made efforts to make the paper extremely reader friendly by changing a lot of elements in the newspaper right from design and size to content. Our efforts have been to, besides providing credible and insightful business and corporate news information, to now providing a broader spectrum of news and features. New sections that we have added, for instance creative business wherein we will look at sectors like advertising, marketing, entertainment, art, publishing, theatre etc from the business point of view, would provide a lot of additional value to the readers. We cover the markets with greater sophistication, imparting more meaning and understanding and with a holistic and integrated perspective. Our stock market coverage is more comprehensive than any other paper in the category. We provide information on 22 parameters for stocks that account for 98 per cent of the trading is given daily. An entire special page is devoted to explaining how and why the market moved the way it did the day before. And that is just a few of the things..."
Q. Don't the advertisers pay less for a full-page ad in the new size... "Not yet. Guess it would happen once more and more newspapers adopt the new size. Today it is Hindustan Times, Express, Times, Business Standard and a few others that have shifted. It does form the bulk as far as English newspapers are concerned, but regional papers have not shifted - and they get a fair amount of advertising."
Q. On content integration... "We have now adopted a very integrated approach to covering market news. Every company is interested in the commodities because they constitute a big chunk of its expenditure budget. If a commodity price moves southwards, the stock price of the company operating in that area is influenced. Our page tracks that very effectively. Also we have the most comprehensive money market coverage. The money market has remained relatively opaque for most people. We have made it more open and easy to understand. The data offered is easier to read and understand."
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