Publisher of The Hindu to launch Tamil daily before season time

Ropes Ananda Vikatan's Editor to head the new venture

The Kasturi & Sons Ltd, publisher of country's one of the leading Newspaper The Hindu, has roped in K Asokan to head its new Tamil Daily, which is expected to be launched before or during the festival season. 46-year old Asokan, one of the industry veterans, was the 4ditor and now the publisher of Ananda Vikatan, a leading Tamil language weekly magazine published from Chennai and he was responsible for all the seven publication from the Group.

 

Meanwhile, KSL decided not to for the name 'Kamadhenu', which was proposed earlier.

 

N Ram, director of Kasturi & Sons and former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu has confirmed the development and said KSL in the process of recruiting people for the new venture.

 

While sources in the Board said that the launch could be before the festival season, Ram did not confirm the timing stating that “we are working on it and it will be soon”. Source also said that it was decided not go with the name 'Kamadhenu' and looking at tittles which will have the name Hindu. “We may not be able to reveal the name at present,” said Ram.

 

Asokan was selected considering his long tenure with one organisation, which spanned for around 25 years. He joined Vikatan group in in 1987 and he had good News sense and has been practical, said one of the sources in KSL. Asokan was one of the faces for the Vikatan group, which clocked around Rs 125 crore turn over and got seven magazines in general, politics, investigation, for women, spiritual, agriculture, finance and auto. All put together they got a circulation of around 14 lakh circulation and he was responsible for all these publications.

 

Ram said, “we require a team of Tamil journalists who have been schooled in Tamil news. That is where the expertise of Asokan comes in. He was trained by Vikatan from very young age as a student and has been there for a long time. He was the Executive Editor of the Group and lately the Publisher of Ananda Vikatan.

 

Asokan is joining as the Editor of the Tamil daily, said Ram. “Our editors are independent. They dont report to the CEO. They will be functioning withing the framework, but they are independent,” he said.

 

Ram said, there is a huge untapped space and market for the language newspaper segment, especially in Tamil. However, the Tamil dailies works on a different platform than the English dailies and the company is taking that also into consideration.

 

Analysts said, Tamil journalism is different from the English and it would require more sensational stories, from which the Group has stayed away for long time and the other major challenge would be political coverage. The advantage or the strength for KSL is its network in Tamil Nadu and its No 1 position in various parts of the State and in the Chennai market.

 

The Analyst added, currently English newspaper industry is stagnated or growing very marginally, so the entry into Tamil Newspaper segment will certainly help KSL. According to sources, KSL has reported a three% growth in 2012-13 at around Rs 1,100 crore.

 

KSL is expected to launch the Newspaper in major cities to start with including Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchy, where it also got its own printing press.

 

The Tamil readers are discerning and there should be a balance of education and entertainment contents in the new newspaper. 

 

According to an estimate by Deloitte, Tamil Nadu accounts for 26% of the overall regional print industry, estimated at about Rs 2,970 crore in 2011-12. The overall market in the South is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 12%, to Rs 4,630 crore by 2016. Sandip Biswas, director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India, said the circulation ratio in Tamil Nadu was 75:100; if a shop or an agent sells 75 English newspapers, it sells 100 Tamil dailies

 

The dominant players in the Tamil daily market are Daily Thanthi, the Sun TV-owned Dinakaran, Dinamalar and Dinamani.

 

Ninety% of the revenue for English dailies is accounted for by advertisements, with circulation contributing the remaining revenue. For Tamil dailies, 75% revenue comes from advertisements, while 25% comes from circulation.