LOKMAT A Case Study By- Maitreyee Karambelkar Saylee Salvi

Introduction Lokmat is a popular Marathi language newspaper. It is the fourth largest Indian daily and in Marathi, it is the largest selling daily with 1.2 million copies a day. Its readership (NRS 2006) is 10,856,000. Its main corporate office is located in Nagpur City in Maharashtra (India) and main office of Mumbai is located at Sanpada.

Lokmat has 11 Marathi editions in Maharashtra- Nagpur, Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Solapur, Solapur, Kolhapur, Akola, Jalgaon, Nashik and Goa. Lokmat also caters to the Marathi speaking population outside Maharashtra. It has editions in Indore (Madhya Pradesh) and Belgaum (Karnataka). On 21 April 2009, Lokmat launched its Goa edition (Marathi) primarily for the Marathi-speaking population of north and north-east Goa.

Vijay Darda, a Rajya Sabha member is the Chairman and Managing Director of the Lokmat Group. Dinkar Raikar, a veteran Marathi journalist was appointed Editor-in-Chief for the Lokmat Group of publications on July 30, He was previously Lokmat’s Editor for its Mumbai and Aurangabad editions.

HISTORY Lokmat was conceptualized and started by Loknayak Bapuji Aney as a weapon to fight the British imperialism during the freedom movement of India from Yavatmal. The newspaper was so named by Lokmanya Tilak.

Inspired by the great luminaries of the freedom movement, Late Shri Jawaharlal Darda took over this fortnightly published newspaper in The former Prime Minister of India, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru formally inaugurated Lokmat as a daily publication in 1958 at Yavatmal and on December 15th 1971, the first full fledged edition was started from Nagpur, the winter capital of one of India's largest and most affluent states - Maharashtra.

Today Lokmat publishes three national dailies namely, Lokmat in Marathi, Lokmat Samachar in Hindi and Lokmat Times in English which collectively have 17 editions and 58 sub-editions. Lokmat has been the leading Marathi newspaper in terms of average daily circulation and average daily readership in Maharashtra.

Online versions of Marathi, Hindi and English newspapers—Lokmat in 2005 and Lokmat Samachar and Lokmat Times in 2009 respectively have also been launched. The Lokmat is one of the leading newspapers in the city of Nagpur in Maharashtra. This newspaper of Nagpur is very popular among the newspaper readers of the city, as it provides news, views and ideas that really matter to the common people of Nagpur.

In addition to the publication business, the group owns other businesses comprising the broadcasting of a Marathi news channel (IBN Lokmat) and film production. The group owns an event management business as well.

PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION Newspapers are printed at 12 printing facilities in Maharashtra and Goa. Such printing facilities have a collective total installed capacity of approximately 891,000 copies per hour. Over the years, the circulation of Lokmat has been extended to 11 key markets and several towns and villages in Maharashtra and Goa as well as certain locations bordering Maharashtra in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

SECTIONS AND FEATURES Sections such as Local, Maharashtra, National, International, Agriculture, Sports are covered every day in all editions of Lokmat. Besides, there are some special sections, which only appear in certain editions or on certain days. Specialized supplements form an integral part of the product base, as they focus on addressing specific reader needs while offering advertisers a focused reach to a target audience. They also increase the readership.

THE JOURNEY Achieved a meteoric rise in the late 80s and the 90s by focusing on the needs of the readers. Highest standards in journalism, quality in every field of the business, cutting edge technology and a national network of some of the most talented journalist catapulted Lokmat to the forefront of Maharashtra's journalism.

GROWTH Lokmat was started as a weekly from Yavatmal. It eventually became a daily from Nagpur. Darda’s professional management and new editorial concepts changed the newspaper character in rural Maharashtra. This encouraged editions from Jalgaon and Aurangabad.

REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENTS IN BUSINESS GOA CASE STUDY

LAUNCH OF THE GOA EDITION Courageously undertook the launch of its new Goa edition in times of economic downturn. Goa edition launched in April 2009 with initial print run of 50,000 copies. Saw Goa market “underserviced”. Found opportunity in 50 Cr. advertisement market of Goa. Launch planned with a lot of care.

Efforts made to cater to specific tastes and sensitivities of reader. Tagline revised-from ‘Maharashtra’s No.1 Newspaper’ to ‘India’s No.1 Marathi Newspaper’. Currently, circulation of Lokmat Goa- 46,000 copies.

In 2009, the Lokmat group decided to increase circulation and readership of Pune edition. Door-to-door & Market surveys to asses readers expectation. Improved editorial content. Meetings with advertisers to know requirements of ad placements. Revised Lokmat launched at an invitational price of Rs per copy.

Faced resistance from the existing distribution system in Pune. Distributers reserved-a cut in cover price will cut their commission. Stopped distributing the Pune edition from January 2010 resulting in a decrease in advertising revenues from Pune. Overcame the obstacle-through creation of alternative distribution system. Alternative distribution network of employees, milk vending shops, grocery shops. Hired additional 18 vehicles to assist them.

24 hour toll free phone line-for direct home delivery of Lokmat. Publicity events organised through initiatives like, Sakhi Manch, Yuva Manch forums. Advertising in different media, including the group’s television news channel-IBN Lokmat. In a span of six months, average daily circulation of Lokmat‘s Pune edition grew from 216,611 in July-December, 2009 to 316,563 in January-June, 2010.

CURRENT MARKET SITUATION In quarter 2 of IRS Lokmat strengthened its no 5 position among all national dailies by adding around 4 lakh readers. Has TR (Total readership) of 2,37,00,000. Newspaper industry suffering from high cost of newsprint. The language newspaper industry in India-fastest growing in the world.

Received good ratings for financial and business stability. Crisil assigned ‘A+/Stable’ rating to the bank facilities, and ‘P1+’ rating to the commercial paper programme, of Lokmat. Reflect the market leadership of Lokmat, and also a healthy growth in the newspapers ad revenues, despite the general economic slowdown.

PRESENT STRENGTHS AND STRATEGIES Leading presence in the Marathi newspaper segment in Maharashtra and Goa. Strong brand connection with audiences. Wide distribution network. Strong relationships with diversified advertiser base. Strong editorial team with ability to provide local, national and international news. Experienced and proven Promoters and management team. Strong financial position and profitability.

FUTURE STRATEGIES Consolidate leadership in Maharashtra Want to strengthen presence in four key markets within Maharashtra: Mumbai, Pune, Akola and Kolhapur. Expand into new markets Lokmat expects improve its methodology for the identification of new regional and niche markets. market entry strategies include implementing differential pricing as well as focusing on low penetration regions.

Invest in cross-media strategy Under Brand unbrella “Lokmat”- Lokmat publications, IBN Lokmat, film productions,events Intends to leverage the brand by cross selling advertising space/time between its publication and other businesses.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION Instituted the Jawaharlal Darda Excellence Awards. Jawaharlal Darda Fellowships for Marathi Journalism students. Journalists - Sopan Pandharipande and Savita Harkare won the prestigious Ramnath Goenka award for investigative journalism. G2 –A Gujrati Magazine by the Lokmat group was awarded as the Best New Launch of a local title category in 2007 by the Asian Publishing Management. IBN Lokmat, the only Marathi channel to win the prestigious Maharashtra Times Sanman Awards.

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