India’s English-language publications have literally been in some ferment. As advertisers move away and readers scour internet blogs instead of magazines, many publications are ‘trimming flab’. Now, The New York Times has struck Indian readers a blow. In October, it rebranded the venerable International Herald Tribune as the International New York Times, and took it on a world tour. They seem to have gone everywhere—except India.
The poor subscription numbers totted up by IHT—published out of Hyderabad by Midram Publication, a Deccan Chronicle group company, with M.J. Akbar as editor—was the reason for dropping India post October 15. “After several years of operating in this market, the IHT’s total print circulation was too small to justify the costs of continuing print distribution,” Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said in an e-mail response to Outlook. “We currently have no plans to print and distribute the International New York Times in India,” she said.
Henceforth, India’s English-speaking elite cannot claim to sit at the same high table as Paris, Dubai, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong or London (the IHT was printed out of 38 cities when it closed), where news junkies settle down in cafes to chew on the latest global newspaper. This isn’t just nostalgia, though the IHT serves up plenty. It’s actually a telling statement on the current state of India’s local news market if a global paper chooses to sidestep one of the world’s fastest-growing economies (with a massive English-speaking middle class to boot).
IHT’s departure also comes soon after the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) made a pitch for enhancing the foreign direct investment limit in print media to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent. “It sounds like the New York Times has just given up on Indian print subscribers,” says Santosh Desai, an advertising professional. “In a market where local news, in regional languages, is as well developed as in India, buying international content regularly may just not work. This is specifically true for the printed, physical newspaper,” he says. Localisation rules—for global news, Indian readers seem to prefer foreign blogs.
Of course, Indian readers can subscribe to INYT online if they wish. This is certainly the trend everywhere else. The New York Times had 6,40,000 digital subscriptions in February, according to a Bloomberg news report. The report also said the New York Times now makes more money from readers than advertisers, helped by digital subscriptions.
Such news is heartening for English-language Indian newspapers and magazines but also a cause for concern. India’s English press is being encouraged to invent a digital strategy but there are no trailblazers here. In mature markets, everything from the buzz-heavy Huffington Post to Financial Times, Wall Street Journal and New York Times have successful digital strategies. “Digital advertising expenditure in India is increasing quite rapidly,” says Meenakshi Madhvani, a Mumbai-based media planner. From a pool of 150 or so advertisers who she works with, Madhvani says, digital spending has “more than doubled in the last two years”.
The IHT exit also indicates how tough it is to market quality global English content in India. The older readers (over half of Indians are younger than 30) want ‘customised’ news, but are not fussy if their newspaper makes their selection. “Younger readers want bespoke content. He’s more tech-savvy, has less time and lower attention-span too,” Madhvani says. They pick their own news. Now that most Indian newspapers publish select reports from international publications, including Washington Post, The Guardian, The Economist and others, the Indian reader may well wonder why he should buy a digital subscription.
The print IHT, in that sense, featured much content available ‘free’ or through syndicates. Ultimately, it could rake up only 3,500 paying subscribers. RIP.
