There is lot of interplay between our print, digital readership: Pundi S Sriram, The Hindu

On the heels of The Hindu’s revamp on its 144^th year anniversary, Pundi S Sriram, Chief Product Officer, The Hindu Group, had an engaging chat with exchange4media’s Sneha Walke at the e4m-Pitch CMO – South last week. He spoke on the storied publication’s history, present and vision for the future.

Addressing the changes in the design of the newspaper, Sriram remarked that somebody had called it the “Instagram style of news”. This meant that both The Hindu and Business Line would go for a whole lot of imagery. “Much like influencers and celebrities, you’ll see several banner-like pictures and headlines, calling out for your attention, which is a big shift. There’s a lot more use of images and infographics.”

“Another big change is the use of white space. In a newspaper, every square inch of newsprint costs money so it’s a bold decision to make. But we’re using the white space to emphasize the scope and gravity of our main story or any other story we want attention drawn to,” added Sriram.

He said that these changes help guide readers through a curated news experience in a newspaper, which is what they’re paying for. Another thing that has been rejigged, based on readers’ feedback, Sriram said was to increase the size and boldness of the typeface to mirror reading content on phones, which can be enlarged as needed.

He also spoke about the implementation of two-or-three line-long headlines, something not seen in Indian newspapers, so as to be able to browse through a newspaper, much as one would online, be informed of all the main news of the day, and then peruse what interests you the most.

“Also, for the first time in my memory, there’s a cinema story on the front page, on the top left. It’s still a very Hindu story, but it’s on cinema on the front page, which is usually devoted to politics and national news. So, we’re learning to play with content, and the new format allows us different styles of presentation,” said Sriram.

Answering a question by Walke on the omni-channel approach and ensuring universality in content production and presentation vis-à-vis a media house, Sriram noted that interestingly, The Hindu, which had more than 200,000 digital subscribers, was read online more than it was in print. 

“A large number of our readers who read the newspaper then read it online, and vice versa, for a multitude of reasons. So, there is a lot of interplay between our print and digital readership, and they are very active,” he said, adding that despite its recent pivot towards digital and appealing to younger audiences, The Hindu is a 144-year-old legacy brand that retains its gravitas even as it caters to a diversifying audience.

Speaking on working with Dr Mario Garcia, the legendary designer behind the revamp, Sriram said, “He’s 78 years old and still dynamic and capable of moving faster than anyone else in this room. He told us when he came in, “Hey, let’s get started. The Hindu is my 749^th redesign and Business Line is my 750^th so I’ve forgotten more about newspaper design than any of you in this room know.”  And that’s true. Just as an example, he shepherded Wall Street Journal from black-and-white to colour, so we’re talking about many 3-5 different generations of change. Taking a newspaper and rebuilding it for a new mobile generation of digital readers is something he’s thought about a lot and done well. And still, what we’ve done is something that hasn’t been done before, and it’s been going well.”

Walke and Sriram closed the session by recounting the impact of The Hindu on the lives of its readers over the years, and through the generations, from job hopefuls remarking on how reading the paper helped them do everything from learning English to general knowledge to interactions between grandfathers and grandsons about how to read the paper, to continuing the living legacy of a 144-year-old institution.