According to EY’s 2023 M&E Report, the print industry was thrown into chaos when Covid-19 hit in 2020. But it appears that the dust has settled and the sector will be experiencing a strong rebound. According to EY’s 2023 M&E Report, the sector grew 10 per cent in 2022 to reach 85 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels already, and is expected to cross the Rs 260-billion revenue mark this year. Financial results from several publications indicate that the sector is making a strong return.
Dainik Bhaskar & HT Media recently released their 2023-24 quarterly results. While the first posted a net profit, the second managed to reduce its losses significantly.
In the quarterly result media release, Sudhir Agarwal, Managing Director, DB Corp said, “As global economies are making a slow recovery from their inflationary pressures, the Indian economy, especially the non-metro markets, continue to see rapid growth. The print sector has been on the uptrend for the past few months and this is likely to continue.” Total revenue for Dainik Bhaskar grew by around 15 per cent to Rs 573.6 crore.
HT Media’s consolidated net loss decreased to Rs 18,98 crore in the quarter ending on June 2023. The company’s net loss in the previous quarter, April-June, was Rs 41.80.
Talking about the numbers, Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson and Editorial Director HT Media and Hindustan Media Ventures, in an investor meeting, had said, “Rising media spends by companies, growing consumer demand, more government spending, and relative easing in inflationary pressure, all augur well in the near-term for print, radio and digital sectors of the M&E industry. We are focused on working towards achieving profitable growth in our core businesses while expanding into new areas such as OTT.”
BCCL also saw a 38.48 percent increase in print media revenues, which were Rs 3611.69 crore compared with Rs 2608.01 crore for the fiscal year ended March 31 2022. Jagran Prakashan’s Mid-Day too registered growth in revenues, catching up fast with its numbers in the pre-pandemic times and recorded operating profit from significant operating loss for year ended FY23.
Tofler reports that Amar Ujala, a regional publication, reported an operating revenue of over Rs 500 Crore for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022. It increased 8.86% compared to the previous year.
Mathrubhumi Daily (a Malayalam-language daily widely read in Kerala) improved its revenue to Rs 530.7 Crore in FY2022 from Rs 485.3 Crore in FY2021. This was primarily due to growth in advertising revenues.
Industry experts say that loyal readers of these magazines has been a major factor in this comeback.
“When it comes to physical newspapers, the brands may have fewer readers but they earn a lot. The reason being that newspapers have a loyal set of readers and the advertisers are willing to pay for them,” explains an industry source.
Print ad revenues back in the game
With the linear TV facing stiff competition from OTT players for viewer’s attention, print has been a good option for advertisers, say industry experts. According to EY’s report, advertising accounted for 67 per cent of total revenues in the print sector, up from just 63 per cent by 2020.
Dainik Bhaskar’s advertising revenue grew by a strong 17.2 per cent to Rs 394.6 crore in Q1 2024 as against Rs 336.8 crore in the same quarter of last fiscal. HT Media’s ad revenues grew Y-o Y, with categories like education, retail, and real estate growing, while FMCG, auto, and other subdued ones remained. Mid-Day’s advertising revenue was Rs 53.09 Crores in the year ending March 31, 2023, an increase of 53.8% from Rs 34.5 Crores.
.jpg)
Circulation revenue still lower
The industry’s circulation revenue is recovering slowly, despite the rapid upward movement of the ad revenues. According to the EY Report, many publishers increased cover prices as circulation copies in 2022 were 23 percent lower than they were before the pandemic.
The circulation revenue for HT Media grew by 4 per cent y-o y due to a greater number of copies.
In order to increase circulation revenue, many publications have introduced bundles of magazines and genres. Many publications have tried to offer a package deal that includes both physical newsprint and digital news.
Will print surpass digital?
Covid’s pandemic was a catalyst for digital apps and e-papers. Readers stopped buying physical newspapers, instead switching to digital. The Covid pandemic acted as a catalyser for digital apps and e-papers, with many asking: Will print be able get more revenue from advertisers than digital media? It has.
The report states that digital subscriptions for news reached Rs 1.2 billion in the past fiscal year, primarily due to premium and exclusive content. Indian readers, however, spend just one percent of their reading time using news and information apps. Ads on digital news platforms are not doing much for their exposure. Online news accounts for less than 5% of the revenues generated by most print companies. Experts say that due to the abundance of free news platforms, subscription products such as e-papers or ad-free content, as well as exclusive content, cannot be as profitable as print.
For instance, Jagran Prakashan’s operating revenue for FY23 from print media (Dainik Jagran, Mid-day, Naidunia, I-Next, Punjabi Jagran and more) was a soaring high at Rs 1435 crore, whereas the revenues from digital channels stood at just Rs 85.66 crore.
“Except for Times Group and DB Corp, most news publishers had an extremely low proportion of app-based audiences. News publishers generate over 90 per cent of their MAUs on their websites, which serve fleeting and transient traffic, in effect becoming an ad-rate arbitrage business with extremely high churn,” states the EY M&E report.
What lies in the future
“You, as an advertiser, can’t do without print in many categories because it goes into the homes of rich and educated audiences,” said an industry expert.
The EY report predicts that print media will achieve a steady readership in the next 3 to 5 years and reach the mark of Rs. 279 billion revenue by 2025. Most of this will come from the increasing number of educated workers entering the workforce, who will need news and information.
CRISIL Ratings’ analysis of Indian print media companies predicts that higher corporate advertising spending in certain sectors, as well as an increase in government advertising in light of the state and general elections in the near future, will boost the sector’s revenue.