Q. What were the key highlights for the print industry in 2020 in general and for the Dainik Bhaskar Group in particular? 

The entire landscape of the print industry in India has changed, where the publications that were focused on the metros have taken a major beating i.e. English language publications. Meanwhile, the Indian language publications, present in tier-2, tier-3 and tier-4 cities, which we call ‘Real India’ or Bharat, have shown a big resilience (to the slowdown in circulation and revenue from advertisements). Their circulation is back to almost 85 per cent- 90 per cent (of pre-Covid times). The advertising revenue of these Indian language publications touched almost 85-90 per cent (of pre-Covid times numbers) during the Diwali season. So, I think that’s a big-big change in the entire print industry. Indian language newspapers are now the biggest and a dominant force in the entire print industry. 

Q. It was a tough year for the media industry, per se. But if you had to think of any silver linings in the print sector, what would they be? 

I think the silver linings are two. One is that because of the pandemic, all of us had to look at the cost in much more detail and the cost saving that we have done. For example, the Dainik Bhaskar group has saved almost Rs 150 crore. Out of this Rs 150 crore savings annually, I am very confident that at least Rs 80-90 crore plus will be our permanent saving, which we will carry forward every year. 

Q. There has been much talk of print coming under duress in 2021, especially because of the constraints in advertiser and marketer money in the market. How do you see this? How should companies reconstruct their organisation’s DNA to adapt to the new normal? 

I don’t think one has to look at it that way. You need to actually divide the entire print industry into the metros and the rest of India, or Bharat. The print industry will certainly be under pressure in the metropolises, but in the rest of India i.e. Bharat, Indian Language newspapers present in tier-2, tier- 3 and tier-4 cities, will have a much better time going ahead, because the focus of advertisers has now shifted from the metros to Bharat and the advertising inflow is expected to improve in Bharat.

Q. Do you see India bouncing back to normalcy and the media sector recovering to pre-Covid times in 2021? What’s your advice to the fraternity?

Certainly! If you look at the numbers we are already into, we are back to 85 per cent - 87 per cent of our pre-Covid numbers in terms of circulation. And the advertising (in these language publications) during Diwali in October-November was almost 85-90 per cent more than last year. I think we are may be, just a couple of more months away from returning to normalcy. As for my advice to the entire fraternity, especially to all the publications present in Bharat in Hindi, Gujarati, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali – this is the time to put the blinkers on, put your head down and focus on what you are doing.

Let’s not get carried away by the other things happening in the market. Stay positive in your opinion and stay focused in your market. I think all these guys need to understand that this is a good time going ahead for all Indian language publications.