From MidDay to Mail Today- the Indian tabloids have gone for a piggyback ride on the increasing spending power of country's middle class. Interestingly, that's what all commercial products are doing- making the newly-discovered "wealth" go round (wealth should be taken in pre-recession context) With a large English-speaking population game for a lifestylised newspaper, it's no surprise the country is taking to the new experiments with open hands. It's interesting how the Mail Today story actually began.
Thomas Jacob, pursuing a course at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, wrote a thesis identifying a niche in India for a tabloid newspaper targeting mid-market English readers.
His sponsors for the MBA programme in Singapore, Associated Newspapers of Britain, liked the idea so much that they prepared a 48-page prototype edition.
They took the dummy to New Delhi and called on Aroon Purie, chairman of the India Today group. He was impressed enough with what he saw to ensure a deal was in place within weeks, heralding the birth of Mail Today Newspapers Pte Ltd.
The tabloid is an Indian version of Britain's mass-circulated Daily Mail, published by Associated Newspapers. In the one year that it has been around, the sassy tabloid has achieved a circulation of more than 110,000 copies.
It seems to have exceeded the expectations of the promoters. Jacob, who is now a Singapore permanent resident representing Associated Newspapers on the joint venture's board, says the only problem the tabloid is facing right now is the constraint of a printing press. With good promotional campaigns, the demand is on rise, but there is a huge waiting list for printing presses.
His sponsors for the MBA programme in Singapore, Associated Newspapers of Britain, liked the idea so much that they prepared a 48-page prototype edition.
They took the dummy to New Delhi and called on Aroon Purie, chairman of the India Today group. He was impressed enough with what he saw to ensure a deal was in place within weeks, heralding the birth of Mail Today Newspapers Pte Ltd.
The tabloid is an Indian version of Britain's mass-circulated Daily Mail, published by Associated Newspapers. In the one year that it has been around, the sassy tabloid has achieved a circulation of more than 110,000 copies.
It seems to have exceeded the expectations of the promoters. Jacob, who is now a Singapore permanent resident representing Associated Newspapers on the joint venture's board, says the only problem the tabloid is facing right now is the constraint of a printing press. With good promotional campaigns, the demand is on rise, but there is a huge waiting list for printing presses.
Thought to think of- Why we have all the tabloids beginning with a letter M- MidDay, Mail Today, Metro Now and if you will so- Mint? Don't know how far the M trend would go on.
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