Buoyed by the success of its tabloid Ebela and taking on the news and marketing strategies of the Times Group’s Ei Samay, Anandabazar Patrika of the ABP Group is now adding to its regular offerings new products.
The Bengali daily has now come out with a new supplement named Ananda Plus, targetting the younger generation, with glossy Hollywood, Bollywood, Tollywood and cultural news. This comes just over two months after the launch of its new tabloid Ebela. Followed by this, the state has witnessed a circulation battle as Bennett, Coleman and Co ( BCCL), the publisher of The Times of India, introduced a broadsheet Ei Samay in October.
According to a survey done by audit firm Deloitte, Ebela’s circulation in October was 2.79 lakh, within weeks after its launch. “Ebela was a huge success. These figures are compared to the city circulation of 6.9 lakh by ABP and 3.6 lakh by the Telegraph. Now, we want to go ahead with the changing times, hence we came up with Ananda Plus on November 26,” said Supriyo Sinha, Vice President (Bengali dailies), ABP Ltd.
The new supplement comes with ABP on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Meanwhile, in September, ABP had also introduced a supplement for Thursdays, named Bishoy Ashay, on personal finance. Adding to its generation next focus, it also comes out with an educational supplement called Prastuti on Tuesday and Patrika, a weekend pull out on Saturdays.
According to sources with in the Times group, the circulation of Ei Samay is more than 200,000. “Ei Samay circulation is increasing on a daily basis. On the otherhand, Ebela has pricing and content issues too, as far as consumers are concerned. If you buy it with ABP, you will get the tabloid for Rs 1 and if you buy it as a standalone it will cost you Rs 2.
Moreover, the content is mostly the same as ABP,” said Ashim Saha, one of the largest newspaper agents in the Sealdah region.
Responding to this, Sinha said, “Even if the content is same, the difference is about the treatment. Both editorial and brand teams are different for both the dailies.”
While the reach of E Bela is limited to the city, the Times group is making Ei Samay available in the outskirts too. Ei Samay is priced at Rs 4 on week days and Rs 5 on Saturdays and Sundays. With its pricing only, Ei Samay has made it clear that it is competing with the market leader ABP, with a circulation of more than 1.2 million.
