Dainik Bhaskar entry triggers print war in Bihar

BY IMPACT Staff

DB Corp Limited (DBCL) launched its flagship newspaper, Dainik Bhaskar, in Patna last week, heating up the Bihar Print market until now dominated by players such as Dainik Jagran and Hindustan. Prior to the launch, DBCL carried out a high decibel marketing and sales campaign in two phases, leading the other players to launch various promotional activities of their own to hold on to their readers. The Patna edition is Dainik Bhaskar’s 67th edition.

PRE-LAUNCH SURVEY TO IDENTIFY GAPS

The aggressive pre-launch campaign, the Patna project, was led by a concentrated in city door-to-door study with 650 surveyors who went to around 3,38,000 households in the first phase to get feedback from readers. Their aim was to help identify the existing gaps and so that the final product could be designed accordingly. Readers’ data and inputs including their profiles and lifestyle, news consumption preferences and needs, expectations from Dainik Bhaskar, product gap analysis, price inputs were collated to develop a brand connect and encourage reader involvement right at the initial stages. In the second phase, the readers surveyed were again approached with a product that met with their expectations and prelaunch bookings were also undertaken. The 360-degree launch campaign included outdoor media with hoardings and kiosks, banners, human signage, auto branding, posters, Radio campaign supplemented by newspaper inserts, cable advertising, cinema slides and rallies within the city.

‘IGNITING THE BHASKAR BRAND IN BIHAR’

Commenting on Dainik Bhaskar’s Bihar foray, Sudhir Agarwal, Managing Director, DB Corp Limited, said, “Our intensive onground study exposed an exciting prospect where we could establish a leadership position and create a marked impact in terms of readership and circulation. Once again, the results have reiterated our execution capabilities, meticulous pre survey planning and thorough pre-launch strategies until seamless final roll-out. We unveiled our marketing campaign with bolder creative outdoor branding and a firm goal of igniting the Bhaskar brand in Bihar. Our product has already achieved wide acceptance and we are delighted that Dainik Bhaskar has emerged as a product with very powerful, unbiased content appealing to diverse readership categories. We are committed to making it the most preferred vehicle to participate in and look forward to actively participating in the region’s socio-economic progress.”

‘PARTNER IN THE REGION’S DEVELOPMENT’

Girish Agarwal, Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group, said, “We had been studying the Bihar market for long as it is an important region that has shown very promising growth and high market potential, being the 15th most developed in terms of GDP, high per capita income and a key agricultural hub. On the whole, these development dynamics and a very rapidly growing consumption trend are our key new market identification criteria which Bihar fulfilled very well.” He added, “We are delighted with our launch performance in Patna, which is the most important market in Bihar with very formidable peers. This success not only reiterates our strong execution capabilities, but also the strong brand equity that our product has been able to create in a short period of time amongst Patna’s readers due to its exciting and topical content customized for readers in this region, offering unbiased political coverage, and providing a wide range of relevant domestic economic, social news and international updates. We look forward to enhancing our presence in Patna and be actively associated with the region’s development.”

When asked about advertising revenues, he replied, “The Bihar Print advertising market is growing fast and is currently valued at around Rs 350 crore. A large portion of it is available in Patna market alone. With presence in Jharkhand and Bihar, advertisers and media planners would be able to opt for Dainik Bhaskar as a complete package.”

COVER PRICE WAR IN PATNA

Patna city has been witnessing a cover price war among newspapers, besides a slew of promotional offers to readers, along with outdoor advertising. In a bid to fortify their market shares, the existing players – Hindustan, Dainik Jagran, and Prabhat Khabar – have cut down their cover prices. Dainik Jagran is selling at Rs 2.5, down from Rs 4, and Prabhat Khabar is now priced at Rs 3.

KK Goyenka, Managing Director, Prabhat Khabar, admitted, “Yes, I agree there is a price war going on and it’s a simple strategy to remain in the competitive market. This price war will definitely expand the market space of Bihar and products which are not good will remain at No. 4 position. We all are running promotional offers to hold on to our consumers. At the end of the day, it is content which will be the USP and not these promotional offers.”

The new paper consists of 40 pages with a cover price of Rs 2.50 and an initial print run of 1,70,000 copies. Surendar Kishore is the Editor. With this launch, DB Corp Ltd now publishes eight newspapers with 67 editions across 14 States.

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