The Statesman Takes To The Hills

Newspaper wars do not happen only in the metros. In these times of price cuts and shrinking advertising revenue, the battle is spilling over to smaller towns.

The Old Lady of Esplanade, The Statesman, has taken the front to Siliguri in north Bengal. It hopes to have a Siliguri edition by June.

The Statesman, which currently has editions in Calcutta and New Delhi, is putting up an office and a printing press in the town, and hopes to capture a sizeable chunk of the north Bengal market.

Coming close on the heels of the price war among the Bengali dailies, where Ananda Bazar Patrika slashed its price to Rs 2 from Rs 2.30 from Wednesday, The Statesmans Siliguri venture has added spice to the newspaper wars in Bengal.

 

The Statesman managing editor Ravindra Kumar says: The launch of our edition in Siliguri is imminent. Currently, the Calcutta papers reach Siliguri in the afternoon and get distributed only by evening.

On the days when the papers go by train, they get distributed only the next day. He says Calcutta papers have been irresponsible in ignoring north Bengal.

Siliguri does not have an English daily of its own and The Statesman is expected to eat into the vernacular papers share too.

Besides Siliguri, towns like Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Darjeeling are potential markets for its Siliguri edition.

Currently, newspapers based in New Delhi have captured the market because they reach there earlier than those based in Calcutta.

While Kumar does not want to put a circulation figure to the Siliguri edition, sources in the media and advertising circuit expect it to touch 50,000 within two months of the launch. The Statesman has a combined circulation of over 1,76,000, and sells about 1400 copies in Siliguri.

Kumar is candid about the rationale: We are looking at this as a survival strategy. If we want to continue to be major players in the state, we have to get to these places in time. Overall, north Bengal has seen negative growth for Calcutta papers because of the delay element. In the age of television, who wants to read a paper a day late?

The media grapevine is already abuzz with talk of other newspaper houses examining Siliguri as an option. All roads now lead to Siliguri, says a public relations executive at a leading Calcutta corporate house.

C B Sen, vice president, Ananda Bazar Patrika, the largest circulated Bengali daily, owned by ABP Ltd, currently has no plans of going to Siliguri, but if competition goes there, we may have to examine that as an option.

Kumar concedes the advertising potential is not too high in north Bengal. But advertisers outside the state do look at north Bengal as an advertising vehicle. However, we have not drawn up a Siliguri-alone advertisement rate. We realise that our rates may be prohibitive for local advertisers.

Sen says: The advertisement potential in north Bengal is low. West Bengal is a rare state where Calcutta papers do not have editions outside the city. Maybe the competition has more money.

Kumar says The Statesman has not put a figure to the revenues it expects from north Bengal. If you ask me if Rs x more would come in, I cannot say.

He says additional revenue will depend on the success of the edition. For instance, in the consumer durables segment, the feedback from the dealers would be a key element. Our next step is to look at the impact.

Media observers say The Statemans Siliguri edition would be strategically located near Assam and Bihar, and, therefore, the paper can aim at higher circulation figures as well.