Comparative Analysis of Business Magazines:

BW Businessworld and Business Insider India

I Introduction

1.1 | Overview

India is one of the few countries in the world to have many business newspapers
and magazines, which not only reflects the vitality and vibrancy of the media,
but also the new vitality of our economy. The large readership for these business
magazines and newspapers transcends from the rapidly growing corporate
sector, it also illustrates the growing interest that the general public now evinces
in economic matters which reflect the growing importance of business and
economy in our national discourse. Business newspapers and magazines focus
mainly on business news, insightful views on significant issues and
comprehensive coverage of the stock market. They have the ability to carry the
message in greater detail and clarity, more in-depth information and analysis,
which helps companies and their business. There is a huge scope of growth for
Business newspapers in coming years as only a paltry 0.1% of the population is
reading business newspapers at present.

Newspapers reach only 35 per cent of our adult population even though the
adult literacy is about 65 per cent. To build this gap between readership and
literacy and also to remain competitive the publications have kept their prices
low and depended entirely on advertisers to subsidize the reader and to
increase the sales. They are using different strategies to attract the customers
of different sectors.

In this report, a comparative study of two business magazines (online edition) -

BW Businessworld & Business Insider India is done on the basis of the following
parameters:

Brand Awareness
Brand Preference
Reliability
Quality of content/analysis
 Layout and Design
News Coverage
Writing Style

1.2| Rationale of the study

The project report is made keeping in view the changing need of customers and
ever increasing awareness. As the number of magazines being published in
Indian market is increasing, the competition is huge. When we talk about
business magazines, there are six prominent business dailies being published in
India. Among these, Business Today is clearly in the lead in terms of by a huge
margin. Under such circumstances and with no strong background unlike
Business Insider, it is very difficult for magazines like Businessworld to compete.
But with a sound understanding of the country demographics and emerging
market trends it is possible to develop brand loyalty among the target
customers.

1.3| Objectives of the study

To identify the target market for business dailies

To estimate the newspaper brand preference among the target customers
To examine the content and online edition of the business magazines
II Theoretical Framework

2.1 | Overview of the Print Industry

Printing Industry encompasses numerous fields of every economy and generates

a wide range of products which are required in our daily life. Starting from
newspapers, magazines, books, post-cards to memo pads, each are the products
of printing industry. Other than the direct contributions, there are many indirect
influences of printing industry up on the economy. This is because all the
activities like binding and embossing which generate considerable amount of
income and employment are related closely with the printing industry. Packaging
industry and advertising industry in many ways depend on the printing industry.

2.2 | History of Indian Print Industry

Indian print media is at a massive business in the media world and its
newspapers and magazines are said to offer majority of national and
international news. The history of newspaper in India began in 1780, with the
publication of the Bengal Gazette from Calcutta.

James Augustus Hickey is considered as the father of Indian press as he

started the first Indian newspaper from Calcutta, the Calcutta General Advertise
or the Bengal Gazette in January, 1780. In 1789, the first newspaper from
Bombay, the Bombay Herald appeared, followed by the Bombay Courier next
year (this newspaper was later amalgamated with the Times of India in 1861).

The first newspaper in an Indian language was the Samachar Darpan in Bengali.
The first issue of this daily was published from the Serampore Mission Press on
May 23, 1818.

The first Hindi newspaper, the Udnant Martand (The Rising Sun) began in 1826.
Since then, the prominent Indian languages in which papers have grown over
the years are Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telgu, Urdu and Bengali. The
Week is the first Indian magazine published in December 1982.

2.3 | Printing Industry in India

Print industry in India is the worlds second largest with over 90 million copies in
circulation daily after China with 130 million copies in circulation daily. Most
newspaper has an online presence and a growing view counts on their portals.
Much of the entertainment and media segments are now focusing on growth in
regional areas and smaller towns. Year 2009, a year when there was a
slowdown, the regional print showed growth in local to local advertisement. In
2010, regional print further increased its share in overall print advertisement
revenue pie. Regional papers give advertisers access to localized populations
and their niche target audience, difficult to do via national broadcast media.
Newspapers have realized value and have gone one step further and have
launched area specific newspapers. Magazines have not been at their best
performance in past few years. However, niche magazine are doing well and is
expected to show positive growth. The major challenge faced by this segment of
media and entertainment industry is newsprint which continues to threaten
profitability. Newsprint forms a major component of the cost of publishing a
newspaper. It is roughly 40- 50 percent of the total cost.

The Indian language papers have taken over the English press as per the latest
National Readership Survey (NRS) survey of newspapers; the main reason being
the marketing strategy followed by the regional papers, beginning with Eenadu,
a Telugu daily started by Ramoji Rao and the second being the growing literacy
rate. Increase in the literacy rate has direct positive effect on the rise of
circulation of the regional papers. The people are first educated in their mother
tongue as per their state in which they live for e.g. students in Maharashtra are
compulsory taught Marathi.

2.4 | Magazines in India

The journalistic revolution in India came from the magazine sector. In the Indian
magazine scenario, general interest magazines are flourishing and the special
interest magazines are growing in number. The first breakthrough in Indian
magazine industry was made by Stardust which ended the old fan-magazine
culture of film journalism and introduced bright, witty, celebrity journalism to
India. The second breakthrough, India Today was India's first successful attempt
at quality, up-market serious journalism. It was well-produced, well-written and
covered politics and social trends with style and panache. Niche magazines on
lifestyle, travel, educationand automobile have established themselves in India.
Today, Indiahas become a glorious store house of both general interest and
specialized magazines which include Outlook, Frontline, Femina and Competition
Success Review that have been quitesuccessful in catching the attention and
imagination of people.

Coming after a long gap, the findings of the Indian Readership Survey 2014
survey presents a better picture for most leading magazines than the figures

released for 2013.

Only one of the top 10 magazines, Manorama Thozhil Veedhi, registered a drop
in readership according to the study. Besides which, all top 10 Hindi magazines
grew on their 2013 readership numbers. The Sportstar, Outlook English and
Readers Digest were the three among top 10 Englishmagazines listed by IRS
2014 to have lost readers in this round of the study.
III Company Profile

3.1 | BW Businessworld

Vision- Changing the thoughts

BW Businessworld is an Indian business magazine. The magazine was used to be

published by ABP Group, whose most prominent publication are The Telegraph,
Anandabazar Patrika, Sananda, Anandamela and others. On 19 September 2013,
ABP Group owners Ananda Publishers sold Businessworld to Anurag Batra, owner
of media group exchange4media, and VikramJhunjhunwala, who runs
investment banking and asset management firm Shrine Capital for an
undisclosed amount.

BW Businessworld offices are located in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and

Chennai and one of the oldest as well as most respected business publications in
the country. The magazine was born in 1981, and over the past three decades, it
has become known for its rigorously reported and deeply analyzed reports and
articles on the economy, banking, finance, industries, corporate houses and
entrepreneurs. Ithas become an essential decision making tool for leaders both
in the government as well as in corporate houses.

BW Businessworld, a fortnightly launched more than three decades ago, is

among Indias largest and most respected business magazines. The BW team
prides itself in spotting key trends in economy and business. It has done this
consistently over decades whether it was spotting the rise of the IT sector in the
90s, the Pharma and telecom industry trends in the late 90s or the Social Media,
healthcare and e- tailing revolution in recent times.

Over the years, BW has also created marquee events including the Most
Respected Companies Award, Magna Awards for Excellence in Banking, BW
Young Entrepreneur Awards, BW Best B-Schools Awards, BW Indias Top 500
Companies, just to name a few.
BW Businessworld magazine is known for its incisive writing and independent
opinions, set out on digital firstroute.

BW has spotted key trends in economy and business for three decades such as,
rise of the IT sector in the 90s or more recently the social media, healthcare and
e-tail boom. BW is a brand that most professionals of today have grown up
reading. The magazine now embarks on a new journey to create an international
standard digital platform that will bring an enriching experience to its readers
and customers across geographies.

They are looking at a digital first strategy with multi-platform presence driving
engagement and conversation. BW must be on par with any international online
media platform.

The digital offering will place Businessworld in a unique position to leverage its
strengths in the midst of the ongoing mobile and digital revolution. The mandate
includes digital strategy, planning, design and execution as BW digitally
revamps and grows & Havas Media will ensure that theyll take all necessary
steps to make BW a meaningful and successful experience for all stakeholders of
this marquee brand.

BW India is one of the largest selling and the highest circulated business
magazine in the country. It is the only business magazine that is in sync with the
way readers consume information. It cuts through the clutter of news & provides
perspective with analytical insight. The corevalues of the magazine are rigorous
& unbiased reporting, a laser-focus on trends and issues that will impact your
business & life. Magazine is divided into three sections: front of the book, well of
the magazine and afterhours. Front of the magazine carries the jottings section
distils the essence & long-term implications of new rules and regulations &
corporate developments. Its a snapshot & a review of all the important things
you need to keep in mind while planning your strategies. Well of the magazine
contains the big in-depth stories & interviews, that focus on the key business
trends and issues that govern your future, or help you navigate the present
better. Whereas, after hours covers your life beyond the office and help
makeyou a well-round executive.