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Guwahati, May 2: The crisis of Newspaper industry has now become a national story. Choked out by online mediums like Facebook, Google, social media and other digital giants for advertising check, consolidated by profit-seeking corporations, and ultimately closing up shop as the community watchdogs and drivers of civic engagement, the struggle of print media – especially legacy newspapers – are not unfamiliar with the citizens of the country.
Last couple of years, with the spread of the COVID-19 virus, country’s print media has faced many challenges from economical to circulation and distribution. Media houses and groups have slashed production costs and showed exit doors to their employees due to a lack of revenue sources. Print media faced huge financial trouble due to a shortage of income which comes from advertising.
All major newspaper groups showed exit doors to their employees and slashed the salaries due to the Covid-19 financial crisis. The Times Group announced salary cuts of its print publication employees. The Hindu announced pay cuts for those employees whose earning were above Rs. 6 lakh per annum. English daily DNA, run by Essel Group, had stopped printing. Another English daily Star of Mysore has stopped publishing since the COVID.
According to the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN), Indian publishers are fighting for revenues and drowning their publication houses. Direct ad sales have been affected because of social and physical distancing.
Newspaper delivery boys or hawkers refused to step out due to fear of the local authority stopped on roads. According to the tweet of Saching Kalbag (senior journalist) in 2020, there was no physical edition of the daily Hindustan Times in Mumbai because of tough restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of the contagious Coronavirus and that made it difficult for delivery of newspapers along with their distribution partners.
The coronavirus induced lockdown globally saw the unprecedented rise of digital news consumption across all classes of life and ages.
In a report recently published by the PricewaterhouseCoopers, it stated that India is growing strongly in digital segments while traditional media like newspaper remain resilient.
Statista, a statistical giant specialising in market and consumer data, stated that in the Print Newspaper & Magazine segment, the number of readers is expected to go down to 219.40m users by 2027. User penetration will be 17.7% in 2023 and is expected to shrink to 14.9% by 2027.
With a population of 1.42 billion people and counting, India is now the most populous country in the world and boasts one of the fastest growing economies on the planet. In other words, it is a fertile ground for social media marketers, who are always on the lookout for new ways to reach out to consumers of all stripes and sizes.
With the print industry facing an existential crisis, the Indian population has taken to social media like duck to water. Indians, on average, spend about 2.36 hours on social media daily. In India, the numbers of social media users have been growing in 2023 at a steady rate of 467 million due to deep penetration of internet connectivity among people. The number of Internet users in India has grown to a whopping 692 million, which is roughly 48.7% of the total population of India, as stated by the Global Stastics.
Meanwhile, according to Statista, the number of internet users had increased over the years in rural as well as urban areas. India has 574 million active Internet users as of 2019 as compared to 258.88 million in 2015. India is the second-largest online market, behind China.
With the ease of internet access, the number of active social media users in India stood at 330 million in 2019 and it is expected to reach 448 million by 2023.
Digital media as of now has advanced by providing last mile connection where the newspapers have even failed to deliver. In its 12th year in 2023, Digital Media is gaining popularity all over the country.
Meanwhile, the Government of India has created the Digital India program in order to leverage information technology to modernize the entire ecosystem of public services, with the objective of transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. Opportunities can now be found not just in big cities, but also in little towns.
According to the Daily Guardian, the digital media segment grew 29% in 2021 and it is expected to contribute 38% to the overall advertising industry in India, or pan with television.
"India is one of the strongest mobile focused markets in our global survey, with 73% accessing news through smartphones and just 37% via computer. India has more than 600 million active internet users, many of whom access the internet only through mobile phones – aided by low data charges and cheap devices,” the Reuters reported.
"News aggregator platforms and apps such as Google News (53%), Daily Hunt (25%), InShorts (19%), and NewsPoint (17%) have become an important way to access news and are valued for convenience," stated a survey report conducted in India and published by the Reuters and the University of Oxford.
As the newer generations have been brought up with access to computers and other digital media devices, they are accustomed to getting all of their information and much of their entertainment at the touch of a key or screen. Traditional newspapers do not offer the immediacy these generations have come to expect.
It’s not only the new generation that prefers getting news from online sources. As most adult population gains easier access to internet capable devices, they quickly discover the convenience of reading breaking news as it happens rather than wait a whole day to read the newspaper. By the time the standard newspaper lands at the front door the next morning, the headlines have already been covered online by multiple digital media outlets.
The printing industry is currently and will continue to experience many transitions. The only way newspaper can compete with this speed is to integrate digital techniques with old-school tactics along with embracing digital media and walk hand-in-hand in the coming days.