Dainik Bhaskar

The Beginnings
 One Hindi Edition from Bhopal in 1958.

 Enjoys wide circulation in UP, MP, Rajasthan,

Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, and
Himachal Pradesh.

 Has grown to become one of India's largest

newspaper group. At present, the Dainik
Bhaskar group has 5 newspapers with 61
editions.
Newspaper presence
• Flagship • Gujarati daily
Hindi Np

Dainik Divya
Bhaskar Bhaskar

Divya
DB Star
Marathi
• A compact • Marathi daily
np in MP and
Chhatisgarh
Major market of the paper
 Enjoys good circulation & readership in the
Hindi Heartland.

 With 43 editions across 11 states,

readership of 5.33 crore (Source: IRS Q4,
2019) and a series of editorially-altered
sub-editions, Dainik Bhaskar connects with
India on a vast scale.
Key features

 Technically advanced.

 Uses state of the art machinery.

 Over 90% of newspaper content is politics

and local issues oriented.

 From village to State to national level

political issues are covered extensively.

Language
 Uses colloquial language or the ‘bol-chaal
ki bhasha’ to reach out to a larger audience.

 Often uses English words written in

Devanagri script.

 Seldom uses pure Hindi.

The Rajasthan Experiment
 Until 1996 the Dainik Bhaskar did not exist
beyond Madhya Pradesh.
 In that year it set out to expand, and started

its first Rajasthan edition in Jaipur.

 Did something remarkable before launch.
 Hired 500 market surveyors for doing

research in Jaipur.
 Over six months they did two house-to-

house surveys covering both families and

commercial establishments.
The Rajasthan Experiment
 Phase I
 They wanted to find out what readers and

advertisers wanted from a newspaper.

 Phase - II
 The first visit was to get people`s opinions,

the second was to book orders.

 They began publication in Jaipur with a

circulation of 1.7 lakh.
The market research approach

• Followed the market

survey approach for
every launch.

• Did the same at

Patiala in 2002.
Localization
 Dainik Bhaskar walked into Rajasthan
strategizing in the main market of Jaipur
but with an eye focused on the hinterland.

 Not just the immediate hinterland, the

entire state. It went rural straightaway,
rapidly adding new printing centres over the
next few years.
Use of Hinglish – Chandigarh edition

 Launch of Chandigarh edition, pre-launch

customer preference survey held.

 Results showed reader’s preference for a Hinglish

paper as compared to a chaste Hindi paper.

 Paper adapted that language in the Chandigarh

edition.
Innovations

 Has many innovations to its credit.

 Localization of news.

 Each edition has a local page.

 Has reach even in small towns.

 One of the fastest growing daily in India.

 National edition - circulates in metros & main cities.

Distribution Channel
 Distribution channel- key to good circulation

 Initial years- the paper was available everywhere, every

nook & corner of cities, at bus stands, in trains (for which it

used hawkers), eating out joints etc.

 To get a quick foothold- kept attractive invitation price.

 Never ran short of copies.

 Went out of its way to keep the distributors happy.

Getting advertising revenue
 Recognized the need to manage ad revenue early on.

 For e.g., If some ad appeared in rival newspaper, say Nai Dunia-

called up ad executive why they had chosen Nai Dunia over Dainik

Bhaskar

 Actively pursued advertisers; as a result, were high in the minds of

the advertisers.

 In spite of being the top Hindi newspaper, made the effort to

reach out to advertisers.

Networking with advertisers
 E.g., During days of monopoly of Nai Dunia in Indore, an

annual gathering would be organized where everyone

associated with the newspaper would be invited

including people from ad agencies. The Chief Editor &

owner would not interact much, apart from the routine

“please have snacks, thank you for coming” bit.

Events marketing
 DB started the trend of creating marketing events to bring

about brand excitement in readers.

 Followed the twin model: Conducted major events and

offered media partnership to event management companies

to conduct the event under their flag.

 These included: Career fairs, Bollywood star shows, dance

shows, great prizes schemes, fun events etc.