Comments on: Ungal choice: media wars in Chennai

By: markez linda

markez linda — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:20:10 +0000

Great article. I will link back from my site. Please post more often if you have time. Thanks!

By: manuscrypts

manuscrypts — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:08:16 +0000

But, i guess your last but one paragraph is exactly the point – the average chennaiite…. the average bangalorean until 5 years back would be loyal to DH… and then Bangalore changed, the ‘migrants’ started arriving in larger bunches, and the average Bangalorean is now no longer from Bangalore (at least the majority of the monteisable kind).. chennai might be hot, but if it becomes a hot place to make money, it could replicate the bangalore story…..have shared my views here … http://tinyurl.com/4m2g3h

By: ///slash\\\

///slash\\\ — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:14:14 +0000

Interesting article. Personally I don’t think the timing really matters all that much if you are an established player like the times. From what I’ve heard Hindu is planning on returning the favor.

@anonymous coward
The Hindu is a commie bastion because its chief N Ram is a comrade. Me thinks the continuing the commie flavor is going to be Hindu’s biggest challenge.

By: Naveen Roy

Naveen Roy — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:29:38 +0000

The “Toilet-paper Of India” gets launched in another city of India. Woe to Chennaites!! Love The Hindu. People call it communist and what other names!! My dad read it religiously, I do too!!

By: lbhat

lbhat — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:20:35 +0000

Ram, many thanks! Nikhil, thanks for the link. Fairfax Media of Australia owns The Age and Sydney Morning Herald (I think). From the web version of both these papers it appears that they are more ‘with it’ at least on use of new media. They also have loads of content on the web. Interesting if this deal come through…

By: Ram N

Ram N — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:40:41 +0000

The majority of chennai commentators, i guess, are still expecting TH to retian its share and rule and ToI to be No.2. Probably this might be the mindset at TH too …. just by adding a couple of supplements like NxG’s and reducing to Rs2.5 the cover price TH can’t retain their Numero Uno spot. They need to do something radically different without shooing away it’s followers. ToI on the other hand has a large expectations from the other side of the divide, i’ve come across quite a few bloggers giving up TH for ToI & DC as an one month experiment.Also waiting to see DC’s reaction in terms of content, price & packaging ….
Lets wait n watch ….
Good one by you LBhat

By: Nikhil Narayanan

Nikhil Narayanan — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:25:18 +0000

Was wondering why is Hindu asleep.
Here is the answer.
TOI watch out!!
http://tinyurl.com/5hv3y7

By: lbhat

lbhat — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:57:36 +0000

Avik, I think part of the reason why Telegraph succeeded was the ‘packaging’. They appealed to the younger audience but yet did not come across as flaky or superficial. And yes, the muscle power of ABP helps. In Chennai, The Hindu has not faced that kind of competition yet and that’s the reason why I think TOI has the best chance to become a strong No.2 in double quick time.

By: Avik

Avik — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:51:01 +0000

I think there is some similarity between the scenario in Kolkata when The Telegraph launched. At that time the No. 1 english daily was The Statesman, which was considered as intellectual and cerebral by its followers and as old and boring by the nay-sayers (just like Hindu). Kolkata never had any substantial migrant population, the average educated bengali is still considered to be ‘high-thinking-plain-living’ intellectual.

But TT won the race in short time (shorter than expected). And that’s mainly based on its popularity among the young generation. Obviously being a part of a big media group like Anandabazar Patrika helps.

Don’t we see the similarities? I am not saying Kolkata and Chennai is same, but surely Hindu can learn some valuable lessons from this history, while defending its territory.

By: Avik

Avik — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:25:08 +0000

Though I am not from Chennai, based on my experience with TOI in Bangalore and Telegraph v/s Statesman in Kolkata, I will give some points.

I agree with Biju, that the migrant population in Chennai is very small (and will remain so for a long time), and TOI cannot depend solely on this segment to win this race.

But what about the young generation? I don’t have any idea about the psyche of the students and young professionals there, but I think a substantial portion may like to switch to TOI.

And Surely the DC will get hurt the most. Being seen reading gossip and fashion in TOI is lot better than being seen with DC.