India Today Plans Morning Daily In Delhi; To Counter Times’ New Morning Launch

India is still a thriving print media market. Now we hear that The India Today group is planning a morning daily general newspaper. It may be a tabloid, and it’s expected to be launched in Delhi. The group already has an afternoon daily called Today. India Today always wanted to launch a morning paper but had held back since it’s a big money game. Business Standard reports that the group is looking for (foreign) financial investors to bankroll this project.
I have a bit of exclusive information on the Times of India’s new morninger for Delhi market. The paper will be targeted at 18-36, will focus more on the city news, lifestyle, spending etc. They are targeting a November launch, and it’s mostly likely to be called Metropolis. The paper (in tabloid shape) is likely to have outside investors and the rumour is that Hindustan Times (The Times of India’s arch rival in Delhi) will team up with Times to launch this new daily.
Yes, strange bedfellows! The idea is to put up a combined front against DNA’s launch in Delhi which is expected early next year. The existing stakeholders in Delhi market (TOI and Hindustan Times) would rather join hands to protect their own turf rather than fight against each other and let a third party eat into their share. The new morninger is apparently not part of Bennett Coleman (the owner of Times), but will be held under a different company – so that it makes easier for HT (or other outside investors) to participate. They have already appointed Kamlesh Singh, a former senior editor with CNN-IBN and Today newspaper, as the editorial head of the new paper. Sameer Kapoor, formerly with Scholastic India, has been appointed as the president. This time capital is going to witness a media war, maybe much more vigorous that what Mumbai witnessed last year when DNA was launched in the commercial capital. Watch this space!

Comments have been disabled for this post