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CHAPTER 1 -

INTRODUCTION


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The present study is carried out to understand how the readers perceive The Week

magazine to other General Interest English Magazines. The Week magazine is currently

ranked as third in the GIEM (General Interest English Magazines) category. The whole

category is in a decline on readership and is shrinking. The study also intends to determine

the key factors that can create a change in the outlook of the magazine as a whole to survive

the competition and the decline in readership. The key objectives included the study of

readers perception, competitors and analysing the content of the magazine.

The targeted population studied is the readers of General Interest English Magazines

confined to Ernakulam District. They were interviewed with the help of a self developed

questionnaire and that helped in analyzing how they perceive the magazine compared to its

competitors such as India Today and the Outlook. A content analysis is also done in order to

analyse the genre of news published by the magazine as compared to its competitors and

thereby competitor analysis was done. With the help of secondary data and primary data

collected through the questionnaire, a study was conducted on how to reposition the

magazine such as to improve its quality and to make it more acceptable among the readers.

The magazine gives more importance to the off beat general stories rather than themainstream stories. The Week magazine is in business for past 30 years and is perceived as

South Indian magazine. The magazines in pitted against strong competitors like India

Today and The Outlook who are in the 1st and 2nd position respectively. The study also

emphasized on the various factors which affects the readership and what measures can be

taken to overcome this crisis faced by all the General Interest English Magazines and how to

drive the sales and boost subscription.


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1.1 INTRODUCTION

The project was undertaken to find out the readership of general interest English

magazines among youngsters and consumer perception towards The Week magazine. The

media industry has evolved considerably to an extent in the last decade creating news for

people. Media in general and magazines in particular are often cited as major forces

shaping the drive toward globalization. Readers of magazines often developa sense ofattachment to brands when they perceive them as reinforcing their identity. Attachment to

a magazine brand was said to often lead to imagined communities, whereby readers

perceive themselves as belonging to a collective group of readers who all share in a

passion and interest for the magazine. This study will review the basics of the readership

interest and the relationship between readers and how the consumer experiences the

magazine. The study also will focus on ideas that will help you I improve the experience

of the consumers have with The Week magazine.

The Week has been in the market for many years and has been growingwell. Considering the

current scenario with respect to magazines like India Today & Outlook, The Week would like

to benchmark itself versus competition in terms of its editorial content. Prior to conducting an

Editorial Continuous Track study, asmall qualitative dipstick into what the Current Affairs

genre is, what the varied reader segments desire and what is the competitive edge for The

Week was conducted and it helped in drawing a good consumer/marketing understanding

base before going microscopic into article content on the track. Since there is a considerable

decline in readership, studies suggest that that the General Interest English Magazines as a

category is shrinking. The readership is declining and the circulation is becoming stagnant.

This is due to the fact that the TV channels are infringing into the GIEM territory time and

the newspapers publishing thick supplements especially in the weekends. Reading is taking a

strategic direction recently. Definition of news over the years has changed, from politics to

business, fashion to bollywood; everything has been affecting the reader. As a consequence

of these changes, all of the magazine producers are being forced to look for fresh and

innovative ways to attract and retain readers.

The study is conducted based on the current situation faced by the General Interest English

Magazine Categories. The GIEMs are considerably declining in readership. The studies

suggest that that the General Interest English Magazines as a category is shrinking. The

readership is declining and the circulation is becoming stagnant. This is due to the fact that

the TV channels are infringing into the GIEM territory time and the newspapers publishing


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thick supplements especially in The Weekends. Thus, magazines have many competitors.

Work creeps into life and in turn time spend on office is on the upswing and the ever

increasing dependence on internet is the fallout.

The major players in the category of GIEMs are

India Today Outlook The Week Open (launched in Mar 09) Tehelka

The India Today magazine is the key player and number one in the category. It gives more

importance to political news and current affairs. It has well researched analysis of facts and it

is perceived as a complete news magazine despite its political orientation. On the other hand

the Outlook magazine is in the second position. The outlook magazine is young,

contemporary and stylish with and international image. As far as The Week magazine is

concerned, its holds the third position after India Today and the Outlook. It has a simple and

lucid writing and contains more of off-beat topics in contrast to the top contenders. In a

category which is declining, being the number three magazine, The Week will be mostaffected in all means. Pitted against its strong competitors, the study is to find out suggestions

for the magazine to improve its image in the media industry. The readership of The Week

magazine is 5.2 lakhs as compared to India Today with 26.3 lakhs and Outlook with 8.2 lakhs

of copies according to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS). The IRS also proves that Kerala

is the 2nd biggest subscription market for The Week magazine. When reading takes a strategic

direction in the lives of the consumers, The Week has moved with time and has covered

stories that have affected its readers. The magazine is more oriented towards social issues

than political stories.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the study is to find out how the readers of the general interest

English magazines perceive The Week as a magazine. It is mainly known for its simple

and lucid style of writing. For finding the key issues faced by the magazines, of which

The Week is affected being the 3rd player after India Today and Outlook, there are 4 key


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objectives set for the study. They include

1. Studying the readership of General Interest English Weekly Magazines amongyoungsters.

2. Studying on the sources of their readership and extend of their dependency ondigital sources.

3. Analyzing the cover stories, contents etc of the magazines. For this, the last sixmonth editions are studied and a content analysis is done.

4. Competitor analysis- this objective is to compare the content of the competitors,viz. India Today and Outlook to that of The Week magazine.

The study also involves finding solutions to pitch the magazine into a bold and credible

magazine that covers story that others wouldnt dare to. There are also attempts to enhance

the visibility and perception among the readers and thereby creating a positive disposition.

The objective includes steps to differentiate it The Week as an aggressive magazine in the

General Interest English Magazine Segment. This empowers the readers with answers to a

relevant question and lends clarity in the complex world. Research Inputs to help client get an

understanding of the current status of English news magazines and provide directions for the

brand.


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CHAPTER 2 -

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY


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2.1 INDUSTRY PROFILE - Advertising Industry

Advertising is one of the oldest forms of public announcement and occupies a vital position

in an organization's product mix. According to the American Marketing Association,

Chicago, "Advertising is any paid form of non personal presentation of ideas, goods and

services by an identified sponsor."

To advertise means to inform (seen as the flow of information about a product or service

from the seller to the buyer). However, advertising does not end with the flow of information

alone. It goes further to influence and persuades people to take a desired action - like placing

an order to buy a product. The consumer market has become highly competitive with a new

brand being born almost every day. Naturally it is the prime concern of every marketer to

promote their brand as a shade better than the competitors. Advertising comes in handy here.

Firms in the advertising and public relations services industry prepare advertisements for

other companies and organisations and design campaigns to promote the interests and image

of their clients. This industry also includes media representatives-firms that sell advertising

space for publications, radio, television, and the Internet; display advertisers-businesses

engaged in creating and designing public display ads for use in shopping malls, on billboards,

or in similar media; and direct mail advertisers.

Advertising is a service industry geared towards the communication of information and ideas

to and on behalf of others. It is the main arm of marketing, involved in the communication of

information and ideas to and on behalf of others for promoting goods and services in order to

optimize sales or levels of awareness. Advertising plays a significant role in todays highly

competitive world. A career in advertisement is quite glamorous and at the same time

challenging with more and more agencies opening up every day. Whether its brands,

companies, personalities or even voluntary or religious organizations, all of them use some

form of advertising in order to be able to communicate with the target audience. The salary

structure in advertising is quite high and if a person has the knack for it one can reach the top.

It is an ideal profession for a creative individual who can handle work-pressure.

The primary functions of advertising agencies are planning and creating advertising

campaigns for clients and placing advertisements in various media. Planning consists of

researching the market for a given product or service, assessing alternative methods of

distribution and choosing the most effective way to reach the market. The agency thencreates the advertising campaign and contracts for time and space with selected media. The


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ultimate objectives of advertising agencies include helping advertisers attain sales objectives,

market share and long-term profitability.

2.1.1 Television advertising

The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-market advertising

format, as it is reflected by the high prices for commercial airtime during popular TV events

in popular TV networks.

2.1.2 Infomercials

An infomercial is a long-format television commercial, typically five minutes or longer. The

word "infomercial" is combining the words "information" & "commercial". The main

objective in an infomercial is to create an impulse purchase, so that the consumer sees the

presentation and then immediately buys the product through the advertised toll-free telephone

number or website. Infomercials describe, display, and often demonstrate products and their

features, and commonly have testimonials from consumers and industry professionals.

2.1.3 Press advertising

Press advertising describes advertising in a printed medium such as a newspaper, magazine,

or trade journal. This encompasses everything from media with a very broad readership base,

such as a major national newspaper or magazine, to more narrowly targeted media such as

local newspapers and trade journals on very specialized topics. A form of press advertising is

classified advertising, which allows private individuals or companies to purchase a small,

narrowly targeted ad for a low fee advertising a product or service. Another form of press

advertising is the Display Ad, which is a larger ad (can include art) that typically run in an

article section of a newspaper.

2.1.4 Radio advertising

Radio advertising is a form of advertising via the medium of radio. Radio advertisements are

broadcast as radio waves to the air from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving

device. Airtime is purchased from a station or network in exchange for airing the

commercials. While radio has the limitation of being restricted to sound, proponents of radio

advertising often cite this as an advantage.


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2.1.5 Product placements

Covert advertising, also known as guerrilla advertising, is when a product or brand is

embedded in entertainment and media

2.1.6 Online advertising

Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web for the

expressed purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract customers. Online ads are

delivered by an ad server. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads that appear

on search engine results pages, banner ads, in text ads, Rich Media Ads, Social network

advertising, online classified advertising, advertising networks and e-mail marketing,

including e-mail spam.

2.1.7 Billboard advertising

Billboards are large structures located in public places which display advertisements to

passing pedestrians and motorists. Most often, they are located on main roads with a large

amount of passing motor and pedestrian traffic; however, they can be placed in any location

with large amounts of viewers, such as on mass transit vehicles and in stations, in shopping

malls or office buildings, and in stadiums.

2.1.8 Mobile billboard advertising

Mobile billboards are generally vehicle mounted billboards or digital screens. These can be

on dedicated vehicles built solely for carrying advertisements along routes preselected by

clients, they can also be specially equipped cargo trucks or, in some cases, large banners

strewn from planes. The billboards are often lighted; some being backlit, and others

employing spotlights. Some billboard displays are static, while others change; for example,

continuously or periodically rotating among a set of advertisements. Mobile displays are used

for various situations in metropolitan areas throughout the world, including: Target

advertising, one-day, and long-term campaigns, Conventions, Sporting events, Store openings

and similar promotional events, and big advertisements from smaller companies.

2.1.9 In-store advertising

In-store advertising is any advertisement placed in a retail store. It includes placement of a

product in visible locations in a store, such as at eye level, at the ends of aisles and near


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checkout counters (Point Of Purchase display), eye-catching displays promoting a specific

product, and advertisements in such places as shopping carts and in-store video displays.

2.1.10 Street advertising

This type of advertising first came to prominence in the UK by Street Advertising Services to

create outdoor advertising on street furniture and pavements. Working with products such as

Reverse Graffiti, air dancer's and 3D pavement advertising, the media became an affordable

and effective tool for getting brand messages out into public spaces. [1]

2.1.11Indian Advertising Industry

The Indian advertising industry has evolved from being a small-scale business to a full-

fledged industry. It has emerged as one of the major industries and tertiary sectors and has

broadened its horizons be it the creative aspect, the capital employed or the number of

personnel involved. Indian advertising industry in very little time has carved a niche for itself

and placed itself on the global map.

Indian economy is on a boom and the market is on a continuous trail of expansion. With the

market gaining grounds Indian advertising has every reason to celebrate. Businesses are

looking up to advertising as a tool to cash in on lucrative business opportunities. Growth in

business has lead to a consecutive boom in the advertising industry as well.

The Indian advertising today handles both national and international projects. This is

primarily because of the reason that the industry offers a host of functions to its clients that

include everything from start to finish that include client servicing, media planning, media

buying, creative conceptualization, pre and post campaign analysis, market research,

marketing, branding, and public relation services.


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2.2 COMPANY PROFILE : THE LOCAL NETWORK

The Local Network is one of the fastest growing advertising agencies in Kerala with its base

at Ernakulam. It was founded by Mr. Paul Philip along with three others who were well

experienced in the field of advertising. Mr. Paul Philip had earlier associated with

organizations as McCann Erickson. The Local Networks customized and collaborative

approach helps its clients build valuable and enduring brands. Capability span of DDB

Mudra Groups are Advertising, Media, Digital & Data marketing, Youth marketing and

Brand Strategy & Design consultancy.

With about 17 employees and 3 offices at Ernakulam, Bangalore and Dubai, the agency was

founded on 2012. The client list of the agency include Jairaj builders, Radio Mango,

Hawalker Chappals, Silky, Ventura securities, Akshaya Gold and Diamonds of the Prince

Group etc to name a few.

2.3 NEWS MEDIA INDUSTRY:

The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the

general public or a target public. These include print media (newspapers, newsmagazines),

broadcast news (radio and television), and more recently the Internet (online newspapers,

news blogs, etc.).

A medium is a carrier of something. Common things carried by media include information,

art, or physical objects. A medium may provide transmission or storage of information or

both. The industries which produce news and entertainment content for the mass media are

often called "the media" (in much the same way the newspaper industry is called "the press").

In the late 20th century it became commonplace for this usage to be construed as singular("The media is...") rather than as the traditional plural.

2.3.1 Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video signals (programs) to a number of

recipients ("listeners" or "viewers") that belong to a large group. This group may be the

public in general, or a relatively large audience within the public. Thus, an Internet channel

may distribute text or music worldwide, while apublic address system in (for example) a

workplace may broadcast very limited ad hoc soundbites to a small population within its


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range. The sequencing of content in a broadcast is called a schedule.Television and radio

programs are distributed through radio broadcasting or cable, often both simultaneously. By

coding signals and having decoding equipment in homes, the latter also enables subscription-

based channels and pay-per-view services. A broadcasting organization may broadcast

several programs at the same time, through several channels (frequencies), for example BBC

One and Two. On the other hand, two or more organizations may share a channel and each

use it during a fixed part of the day. Digital radio and digital television may also transmit

multiplexed programming, with several channels compressed into one ensemble. When

broadcasting is done via the Internet the term webcasting is often used.Broadcasting forms a

very large segment of the mass media.Broadcasting to a very narrow range of audience is

called narrowcasting.

2.3.2 Television

In a broadcast system (television), journalists or reporters are also involved with editing the

video material that has been shot alongside their research, and in working on the visual

narrative of the story. Broadcast journalists often make an appearance in the news story at the

beginning or end of the video clip. In television or broadcast journalism, news analysts (also

called news-casters or news anchors) examine, interpret, and broadcast news received from

various sources of information. Anchors present this as news, either videotaped or live,

through transmissions from on-the-scene reporters (news correspondents).

News films ("clips") can vary in length; there are some which may be as long as ten minutes,

others that need to fit in all the relevant information and material in two or three minutes.

News channels these days have also begun to host special documentary films that stretch for

much longer durations and are able to explore a news subject or issue in greater detail.

2.3.3 Newspapers

A newspaper is a lightweight and disposable publication (more specifically, a periodical),

usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. It may be general or special interest, and

may be published daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly. General-interest

newspapers are usually journals of current news on a variety of topics. Those can include

political events, crime, business, sports, and opinions ( either editorials, columns, or political

cartoons).Many also include weather news and forecasts. Newspapers increasingly use


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photographs to illustrate stories; they also often include comic strips and other entertainment,

such as crosswords.

A story is a single article, news item or feature, usually concerning a single event, issue,

theme, or profile of a person. Correspondents report news occurring in the main, locally, from

their own country, or from foreign cities where they are stationed. Most reporters file

information or write their stories electronically from remote locations. In many cases,

breaking stories are written by staff members, through information collected and submitted

by other reporters who are out on the field gathering information for an event that has just

occurred and needs to be broadcast instantly. Radio and television reporters often compose

stories and report "live" from the scene. Some journalists also interpret the news or offer

opinions and analysis to readers, viewers, or listeners. In this role, they are called

commentators or columnists. Reporters take notes and also take photographs or shoot videos,

either on their own, or through a photographer or camera person. In the second phase, they

organize the material, determine the focus or emphasis (identify the peg), and finally write

their stories. The story is then edited by news or copy-editors (US style) or sub-editors in

Europe, who function from the news desk. The headline of the story is decided by the news

desk, and practically never by the reporter or the writer of the piece. Often, the news desk

also heavily re-writes or changes the style and tone of the first draft prepared by the reporter /

writer originally. Finally, a collection of stories that have been picked for the newspaper or

magazine edition, are laid out on dummy (trial) pages, and after the chief editor has approved

the content, style and language in the material, it is sent for publishing. The writer is given a

byline for the piece that is published; his or her name appears alongside the article. This

process takes place according to the frequency of the publication. News can be published in a

variety of formats ( broad sheet, tabloid, magazine and periodical publications ) as well as

periods ( daily, weekly, semi-weekly, fortnightly or monthly ).

2.3.4 Newsmagazines

A newsmagazine is a usually weekly magazine featuring articles on current events. News

magazines generally go a little more in-depth into stories than newspapers, trying to give the

reader an understanding of the context surrounding important events, rather than just the

facts. Magazines are traditional media with unique features. They attract specialized

audiences and reach precise demographic, occupational, interest, political, geographic, or

other specific groups. For example. Vogue caters to people interested in fashion. Magazines


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are well- versed with social, demographic, and economic trends of society and publish

content related to the corresponding trends. For example, magazines previously never

featured pornographic content, but in todays era there are a lot of magazines featuring it.

Furthermore, magazines influence social trends. For instance, the Playboy magazine fueled

the 'sexual revolution in the 1950s and the fashion magazines today set a lot of fashion

trends. Also magazines involve more long-form writing, are published at intervals of time,

and are made of higher quality paper stock than newspapers.

The functions of magazines include surveillance but instead of specializing by reporting on

local geographic communities like newspapers, they specialize by subject matter covering

narrow topics such as science, health etc. Another function of magazines is correlation which

they do by interpreting aspects of the content for their readers. Magazines also perform the

entertainment function as they usually contain a lot of entertaining content. For example,

Reader's Digest has small sections of jokes and riddles. Magazines also serve the function of

marketing goods and services. In fact, often readers spend more time looking at ads than

reading editorial content as they browse some magazines.

2.3.5 Online journalism

Online journalism is reporting and other journalism produced or distributed via the Internet.

The Internet has allowed the formal and informal publication of news stories through

mainstream media outlets as well as blogs and other self-published news stories. Journalists

working on the Internet have been referred to as J-Bloggers, a term coined by Australian

Media Academic Dr Nicola Goc to describe journalists who [blog] and [blog]gers who

produce journalism. "J-Bloggers: Internet bloggers acting in the role of journalists

disseminating newsworthy information, who subscribe to the journalistic ideals of an

obligation to the truth and the public's right to know"

Many news organizations based in other media also distribute news online. How much they

take advantage of the medium varies. Some news organizations, such as the Gongwer News

Service, use the web only or primarily. The Internet challenges traditional news organizations

in several ways. They may be losing classified ads to Web sites, which are often targeted by

interest instead of geography. The advertising on news web sites is sometimes insufficient to

support the investment. Even before the Internet, technology and perhaps other factors were

dividing people's attention, leading to more but narrower media outlets. Online journalism


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also leads to the spread of independent online media such as open Democracy and the UK,

Wiki news as well as allowing smaller news organizations to publish to a broad audience,

such as media strike.

2.4 CLIENT PROFILE: The Week Magazine

The Week is an Indian weekly newsmagazine published by The Malayala Manorama Co.

Ltd. The magazine is published from Kochi and is currently printed in Delhi, Mumbai,

Bangalore and Kottayam. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it is the largest

selling English newsmagazine in India. The Week's competitors, India Today and Outlook,

have opted out of the ABC audit.

The Week was launched by The Malayala Manorama Co. Ltd in December, 1982, and has

had two chief editors, before the designation was discontinued. K.M. Mathew (Padma

Bhushan,1998), the founder chief editor, remained in office until 25 December 1988.

Popularly known as Mathukuttychayan, he was chairman of the Press Trust of India,

president of the Indian Newspaper Society and chairman of the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

He died on 1 August 2010. The obit which appeared in The Times of India said, "The highly

acclaimed English news magazine-The Week-was his brainchild". K.M. Mathew's eldest

son, Mammen Mathew, (Padma Shri, 2005), took over on 1 January 1989, and continued

until 9 December 2007. He is currently chief editor of the Malayala Manorama daily, the

group's flagship publication. Currently, The Week does not have a chief editor. K.M.

Mathew's second son, Philip Mathew, managing editor since 1 January 1989, is the highest-

ranked editor. Publishers are Philip Mathew, the first publisher of the magazine, held the post

until December 1988. Jacob Mathew: 1 January 1989 till date. K.M. Mathew's third son, he iscurrently president of WAN-IFRA. He is the second Asian and the first Indian to hold the

post.

The magazine was initially designed in-house, and was periodically redesigned. A major

content overhaul was led by Peter Lim, author and former editor-in-chief of The Straits

Times/Singapore Press Holdings. He authored the book Chronicle of Singapore: Fifty Years

of Headline News. The two major redesigns were led by: Peter Ong on 8 November 1998.

And Dr Mario R. Garcia on 20 February 2005.


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Based in Sydney, Australia, Ong was formerly Picture & Graphics Editor of The Straits

Times. He is principal consultant at Checkout Australia, and was regional director for the

Society of News Design. Garcia owns the premier newspaper design firm, Garcia Media.

Both of them also helped redesign the Malayala Manorama. In the early years, cartoonist

Mario Miranda designed many covers for The Week. He also had a regular pocket cartoon in

the magazine. The Week does not have published stylebook, but generally follows the down

style for capitalisation. Its dateline carries the pull date, not the date of issue.

Supplements and Standalones: Two supplements go free with The Week: Health, a

fortnightly on health and fitness.Wallet, a monthly guide to personal finance and

investment.The standalone magazines are The Man:A monthly lifestyle magazine, THE

MAN is published from New Delhi and is edited by K. Sunil Thomas. WatchTime India: A

quarterly magazine on luxury watches, it is published from New Delhi and is edited by Neha

S. Bajpai.

The Week was the title sponsor, of the inaugural Hay Festival in India. Held in

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, from 12 to 14 November 2010, the festival was held at

Kanakakunnu Palace, the former summer retreat of the Travancore royal family.Writers and

speakers likeMani Shankar Aiyar, Rosie Boycott, Gillian Clarke, William Dalrymple etc

were included for the event. The event closed with a concert by Bob Geldof, where Sting

made a surprise appearance.


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CHAPTER 3 -

METHOD OF STUDY


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3.1 METHODOLOGY

The study involves in determining the key factors that can create a change in the outlook of

the magazine as a whole to survive the competition and the decline in readership. For this, the

readers are directly interviewed and data is collected with the help of a questionnaire. The

population studied are the readers of GIEMs. A sample of 100 readers are selected and

directly interviewed with the help of a self developed questionnaire. The data collected

through the questionnaire was analyzed and the readership of the GIEMs among youngsters

are measured, also the source of their readership, to what extend they depends on the digital

sources, and also perception of the readers with respect to The Week magazine as well as its

competitors are measured. A content analysis is also conducted with regard to the Week

magazine as well as it competitors. For this, the editions of last 6 months magazine copies

were studied. Content analysis helps in knowing the orientation of the magazines with respect

to news articles. For this the cover page analysis is also conducted as a part of the content

analysis. Thus the analysis part was divided into two parts; the analysis of primary data

captured from the questionnaire and the content analysis. Findings are suggested based on the

analysis of questionnaire and content analysis. The suggestions for improving the magazine

are stated based on the study.

3.2 DEFINING THE POPULATION

The study follows a qualitative approach. The targeted populations to be studied are the

readers of General Interest English Magazines in Ernakulam district which comes within the

age group of 18-30 years. They were interviewed with the help of a self developed

questionnaire and that helps in analyzing how they perceive the magazine compared to other

competitors such as India Today and the Outlook. The interactions with the target groups are

conducted through direct interaction, through online survey as well as through the telephone.

3.3 SAMPLING PATTERN

The sampling method used in this study is Convenience Sampling. The populations selected

for the study are the readers of GIEMs across the Emakulam District. Sampling was done

based on reading habits. Of the population defined, regular readers of General Interest

English Magazines were selected. The sample selected for the study was within the age group

of 18-60 years. The sample size was restricted to 100 numbers. There is no classification


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done within the age group (as youth, middle aged or old aged) in this study as the perception

of all the readers are taken into account.

3.4 TOOLS USED IN DATA COLLECTION

The main tool used for data collection was the self developed questionnaire. The

questionnaire is prepared in such a way that the readership of the youngsters, their

dependency on the digital sources of magazines, their buying patterns, perception of the

customer regarding a particular magazine is analysed. May be the consumer will not be a

subscriber of The Week magazine, but then also it will help in knowing it competitors better.

When such a study is conducted, the key factors which differentiate The Week from another

magazine can be easily distinguished. Questions were set in such a way that to understand

how much a customer is loyal to a particular magazine brand and how much it is different

from other magazines. The factors which measure the brand loyalty and how each preferred

magazine of every customer affects their life can be found out easily. The primary data

collected from the target group with the help of the questionnaire along with the analysis of

the content of the magazine clearly states the orientation of magazine with respect to its

subject matter.

3.5 TOOLS USED IN DATA ANALYSIS

The primary data collected from the questionnaire were analysed by percentage analysis

method. Percentage analysis helps to determine how much an attribute is accepted by the

sample. The simplicity of presenting the data by percentage analysis also helps in easy

understanding.

3.5.1 Content analysis

A content analysis of editions of General Interest English magazines compares the extent of

standardization in execution elements (advertising copy, models) across product nationality

(multinational, domestic) and category. The content of a magazine is divided into genres viz.

offbeat, sports, politics, entertainment, business and economy. The cover page content and

also the number of advertisements are also taken into consideration. The competitor analysis

is done with the help of content analysis as well as from the secondary data collected from

the surveys like IRS (Indian Readership Survey). The content analysis is done by counting


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the number of news articles and dividing them into categories and tallying them using

Microsoft Excel sheet. Bar charts were drawn using the data analysed with the help of MS

excel sheet to know the extent of each genre of articles in the magazine as well its

competitors. The content of the magazine differentiates it from its competitors, This in fact

creates a personality for the magazine among its readers. Percentage analysis method is used

to find out the genre of news published in the last 6 months editions of the magazines. The

cover pages are also analysed in the content analysis and a cover page analysis is also done to

know the orientation of the magazine towards a particular issue. The number of

advertisements is also taken into consideration and the average number of advertisements in

an edition is also found out.

3.6 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS

1) The research only examines one type of magazine, that is the General Interest English

Magazines, and not on others.

2) The type of audience is also selected in such a way that the eligibility to be a part of the

study is to be a regular reader or a subscriber of The Week, India Today or Outlook

magazines.

3) The place of study was restricted to Emakulam district alone and no other places are

considered for collection of primary data.


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CHAPTER 4 -

ANALYSIS OF DATA


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ANALYSIS

The analysis includes the presentation of data that is captured from the questionnaire based

on the variables that has to be measured. The tool used to present and analysis the data is

Percentage Analysis. This enables easy understanding of the data and presentation also

becomes simple. Given below is the analysis to find out the extend of readership of General

Interest English Magazines among youngsters. The percentage of readership of magazines is

found out easily in this case.

Fig 4.1 PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION WHO READS MAGAZINES

It is obvious from the figure 4.1 that only 37% of the studied sample reads general Interest

English Magazines. About 63% of sample doesnt read magazines, and the major reasons

found for their non readership are no time to read, not interested, no access to magazines and

other reasons respectively.

63%

37%

Yes No


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Fig 4.2 READER'S REASONS FOR SUBSCRIBING TO NEWS MAGAZINES

About 37.50 % of studied sample believes that News Magazines gives significant news,

62.50 % of them likes magazines because of creative delivery of news. 25 % says that

magazines provides complete news and 37.50 % of people believes that magazines are the

credible source of news.

37.50%

25%

62.50%

37.50%

0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00%

It is a credible source of news

It gives complete news

News Creatively delivered

It gives significant news


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Fig 4.3 SOURCES OF READING MAGAZINES

About 9.77% of the youngsters buy their general interest magazines from stands and

33.33% relies on subscription for magazine source. Other majority group (33.33 %) depends

on digital sources for their reading and about 20.22 % reads from libraries. The rest of the

people i.e. 3.33 % rely on other sources for magazine readership.

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

Subscription Stands Libraries Digital sources Other sources


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Fig 4.4 FAVOURITE GENERAL INTEREST ENGLISH WEEKLY MAGAZINE

It is obvious from the figure that 39 % of studied sample prefers Outlook as their favourite

magazine. India today is found to be in the second position with 31% and The Week in thethird place followed by Open magazine. Tehelka magazine was not preferred by anyone as

the magazine is not much common in Kerala.

India Today

31%

Outlook

39%

The Week

26%

Open

4%

Tehelka

0%


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Fig 4.5 BASIS OF CHOOSING MAGAZINES

About 56.67 % of sample, choose their magazines from the stands on the basis of cover page,

16.67 % of them give preference to their favourite brands and only 10% are influenced by

advertisements while buying. Availability of magazine is another basis for choosing for

16.67% of the sample.

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

Cover page Brand name Advertisements Availability


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Fig 4.6 DIGITAL READERSHIP OF INDIA TODAY MAGAZINE

Extend of dependency of India Today readers on its official website is 24% and only 2% uses

India Today Magazine Application on their phone. About 13% of the readers visit the

facebook pages and 10% of them follow the magazine in Twitter.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Official Website Mobile Apps Facebook Twitter


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Fig 4.7 DIGITAL READERSHIP OF OUTLOOK MAGAZINE

About 35% of the studied sample visits Outlook magazines official website, 16% of the

readers visit their Facebook pages and 15% of people follow the magazine in Twitter. Only

4% of the readers use Outlook magazine Application on their phones.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40



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Fig 4.8 DIGITAL READERSHIP OF THE WEEK MAGAZINE

The main digital source of The Week magazine its official website and about 30% readers

visits the site and 13% readers likes their facebook pages. The Week does not have mobile

Apps and Twitter pages.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35



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4.1 CONTENT ANALYSIS

The content analysis is done for the last18 months editions of The Week Magazine, India

Today and Outlook of 2012- 2013. This is done to analyse the content and genre of news

presented and to know the orientation of the magazine towards a particular issue. The content

analysis includes factors like number of advertisements in each issue, the analysis of cover

story and the weightage of each news according to the genre.

4.1.1 No. of Advertisements

The average number of advertisements in each issue is calculated as a part of the content

analysis in order to check out the weightage of the advertisements in each magazine. The data

analyzed is found to be;

THE WEEK- 14

INDIA TODAY- 16

OUTLOOK- 19

Clearly, Outlook has the most number of ads per week as per the study. The penetration of

advertisements among news makes the Outlook, the magazine with most number of pages

with respect to the other two. The average number of advertisements is less for The Weekmagazine compared to its competitors.


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4.2 COVER STORY ANALYSIS

Fig 4.9 THE WEEK COVER STORY ANALYSIS

The Week magazine generally concerned with current affair news more, thus it conserves the

perception as off - beat magazine as compared to its competitors. It has more of offbeat

general cover stories which arouse reader interest. The content analysis revealed the fact that

28% of the cover stories were political nature.. Also, it is noted from the study that it has

given more importance to news related to culture, business & economy, entertainment

respectively. The orientation towards Sports, Technology, Fashion are 6%, 3%, 5%

respectively.

28%

12%

3%

6%15%

2%

5%

10%

19%

Politics Business & Economy Technology

Sports Culture Society

Fashion Entertainement Miscellaneous


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Fig 4.10 INDIA TODAY COVER STORY ANALYSIS

Saffron ideology of India Today makes the magazine to deliver more news concerned with

BJP, So from the study, it is clear that about 36% of cover stories were based on politics.Also, one fourth of the stories were offbeat as far as cover stories are concerned. Least

importance is given to technology, fashion, entertainment etc.

36%

9%

1%

5%7%

12%2%

4%

24%





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Fig 4.11 OUTLOOK COVER STORY ANALYSIS

Outlook magazine is considered as one of the contemporary magazine among the existing

ones in the category of General Interest English Magazines. Oulook shows the political

orientation in its cover stories by publishing 30% of political stories. 11% of the news were

based on business & economy, 12% importance were given to entertainment. Weightage

given to culture, sports, technology, fashion genres were 8%, 4%, 5%. 2% respectively.

30%

11%

5%4%8%

3%2%

12%

25%





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4.3 ARTICLES ANALYSIS:

The cover story analysis gives the orientation of news genre of the above mentioned

magazines viz. India Today, The Week and Oulook. This does not give an entire idea about

the whole magazine content. For this, the study analaysed each and every editions of last six

months (January - June) of the year 2013 and listed out the number of stories based on each

genre. The comparison shows how much orientation is given to each genre with respect to the

whole magazine. The below analysed data also include the one which is published as the

cover story, but is confined to the whole magazine, not the cover story alone. The stories are

divided into 5 genres i.e. Politics, Sports, Business and Economy, Science & Technology,

Current Affairs and Offbeat stories.

Fig 4.12 POLITICAL ARTICLES

India Today take the first place as far as Political stories are concerned, Outlook with second

place, India Today had 54 stories each on Political issues. Outlook had 46 stories and The

Week is third after them with 40 stories on the same genre. This proves that the political

orientation has increased recently as analysed from the study. Although from the above

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

The Week India Today Outlook


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inferences, The Week magazine has more of offbeat cover stories, the importance given to

Politics is also to be noted to be in par with the competitors.

Fig 4.13 OFFBEAT ARTICLES

The above figure shows why The Week magazine is perceived as an offbeat magazine. It has

covered 51 stories on general issues. Whereas India Today and Outlook lag behind with 41

and 39 stories respectively. This approach of The Week magazine clearly states how it likes

to position itself in the market.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60



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Fig 4.14 SPORTS ARTICLES

Again The Week magazine tops in case of most sports stories reported in the last 6 months

according to the content analysis. The number of sports stories is 12 for The Week compared

to 8 and 5 for India Today and Outlook respectively. This shows the initiative of The Week

magazine towards sports when compared to its competitors.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14



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Fig 4.15 BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

The Outlook and India Today stands equal and surpasses The Week magazine in terms of the

number of Business articles published with 17 articles to their credit each against the 14

articles by the latter. This proves that the recent scenario demands more of business and

economy related news in GIEMs. There are a lot of readers who are too much oriented

towards business articles. The new advancements in the field of business may either increase

readership to these magazines.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18



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Fig 4.16 CURRENT AFFAIRS ARTICLES

Outlook had published around 39 articles against the 26 and 28 articles of The Week and

India Today respectively. This might be the reason why Outlook magazine is of high demand

and is considered and the most preferred magazine across the readers.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45



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Fig 4.17 READERS RATING FOR THE WEEK MAGAZINE

72% of the sample studied commented that The Week as a magazine is good. 9% people

rated it as excellent when compared to others and 19% thinks that is an average magazine.

There is no one within the sample who thinks that the magazine is poor.

Excellent

9%

Good

72%

Average

19%

Poor

0%


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Fig 4.18 READERS RATING FOR INDIA TODAY MAGAZINE

11% of the sample studied commented India Today is an excellent magazine that 73% people

rated it as good and 16% thinks that is an average magazine. There is no one within the

sample who thinks that the magazine is poor.

Excellent11%

Good

73%

Average16%

Poor

0%


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Fig 4.19 READERS RATING FOR OUTLOOK MAGAZINE

About 16% of the readers thinks Outlook as excellent magazine and it is the favourite

magazine of the readers as per the study. 74% of sample says that it is good and only 10%

rate it as average.

Excellent16%

Good

74%

Average

10%

Poor

0%


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4.4 MERITS AND DEMERITS MAGAZINES STUDIED

The data analysed gave the following merits and demerits regarding the magazine with

respect to the readers and how they perceive it.

THE WEEK

MERITS

Cover Page is striking

Impressive quality with respect to coverage of news

In-depth and un-biased view about the current happenings

Real news supported by proper research

Specialists comments adds more weightage

Relevant topics like human interest stories, upliftment of common man, higher pursuits

in engineering, science etc.

Informative and useful supplements

Unbiased views towards political affairs

Does not indulge in sensationalism

Simple, easy to understand language

Attractive subscription offers, with respect to monetary savings + merchandise

From the price to the content it is a good buy for the average Indian

DEMERITS

Informative + Entertaining, but not Investigative.

READER PROFILE

South Indian magazine

20-30


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Middle Class

Light reader

Graduate, MBA aspirants

INDIA TODAY

MERITS

Good mix of regional + national + international topics

Investigative journalism is the key

Good write-ups by journalists

Good coverage of scoops like Tehelka, cricket-match fixing scandal, PSUs investment

Cover stories are well researched+ in-depth studies + neutral, decision is left to the

readers

India Today covers India like no one does DEMERITS

DEMERITS

Leftist in their ideology

More of commercialization and sensationalism

Magazine cover made scandalous

More adverts than content

Service factor is very low

Low quality subscription offerings

Lack of behind-the-scene stories, deep-seated investigative stories


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READER PROFILE

Old, 40+

Mass + Local - 70%

Middle and Upper Class

Serious

Traditional

Seniors, Professors, IAS, Bureaucrats MERITS

OUTLOOK

MERITS

Serious magazine that has re-established ones faith in journalism

Distinguished columnists are an important factor

Strong editorial team

Helps develop a perspective of our own

Extra supplements give a sense of added advantage.

Good reporting of rural issues

Attracted by dual subscription offer (cross-selling of 2 in-house magazines)

Subscription-based strategy on the rise

DEMERITS

Earlier many investigative stories like cricket scandal, kargill etc, now its no:s are very

less

Investigative stories are too short


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Poorly researched articles

Low on journalistic content

Biased political views

Low cost/unimpressive subscription offers

Movie reviews non-impressive

More of a product that a source of real information

it covers things which are hot and would sell rather then what is healthy and real or

more important

READER PROFILE

30,40+

Middle + Upper Middle Class

Serious, Businessman

IT people


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CHAPTER 5 -

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS


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5.1 FINDINGS

1. The Week magazine is the third favourite General Interest English Magazine. Outlook

is the most preferred magazine followed by India Today.

2. Offbeat topics are the most favourite category of news for the readers. Current affairs,

regular coloumns and entertainment together share the second position.

3. India Today is perceived as a Political Magazine by the readers.

4. Outlook magazine gives more emphasis to Politics and current affairs

5. The Week magazine is perceived as an offbeat magazine as different from its

competitors.

6. The Week magazine has a very good rating among the GIEMs and has got a very good

brand recall.

7. Majority of the readers has not visited the Week magazine website.

8. 48% of the readers think that the recent changes made with respect to the Week

magazine is good.

9. The number of advertisements in the Week magazine is less compared to its

competitors viz. India Today and Outlook. Clearly, Outlook magazine has the most

number of advertisements per week.

10. The Week magazine has had majority of its cover stories based on offbeat topics as

inferred from the content analysis.

11. The competitors of The Week magazine are known for its political biasing and

orientation.

12. The drawback of The Week magazine is that it doesnt give much importance in

publishing news related to Sports, Business and Economy and current affairs.

13. The Week magazine is not perceived as a modem and interesting in its presentation of

articles. The magazine is too monotonous and not informative at times.


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5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS

The suggestions and recommendation stated is based on the study which would help in

improving the outlook of the magazine among the customers and helps in right pitching in the

industry.

The positioning of the magazine is in such a way that it contains more of offbeatcontent. Moreover, considering it as an offbeat magazine is not going to change the

status of the magazine. It should include more of stories based on sports, business and

economy and current affairs in order to provide news and make it more appealing

among the customers.

The magazine should demonstrate the courage and integrity which journalism is allabout and should narrate stories that are untold rather than be a showman among the

magazines.

The Week should continue its strategy of fearless journalism in publishing stories thatothers dont dare narrating.

The Week is perceived as a South magazine with offbeat content. This has to bechanged. Efforts should be made to pitch it as a national magazine and has to be more

ambitious towards progress.

The magazine should help the customers in taking a peek to the future today andevocate tomorrows conversations.

There are plenty of channels and magazines that can tell the customer what hashappened and why it has happened; but in these uncertain times the magazine should

go beyond reporting and analysis and tell me what to expect tomorrow.

The brand should improve reader engagement and try to improve its readership. Itsaim should be to surpass the No. 1 i. e. Outlook magazine.


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CHAPTER 6-

REFERENCES


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REFERENCES

1. Kotler, Keller, Koshy, Marketing management, Pearson education.13th edn India.

2. http://www.training-management.info/market-research/questions.htm3. http://www.hostedsurvey.com/survey-form-samples.html4. L.R. Potti, Research methodology, Yamuna Publications5. Last 6 months editions of The Week, Outlook, India Today magazines6. en.wikipedia.org/media industry7. the-week.com8. Documents from Local Network company regarding The Week magazine9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Week10.http://www.outlookindia.com/11.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/

12.Indian readership surveys.
http://www.training-management.info/market-research/questions.htmhttp://www.hostedsurvey.com/survey-form-samples.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weekhttp://www.outlookindia.com/http://www.outlookindia.com/http://www.outlookindia.com/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/http://www.outlookindia.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weekhttp://www.hostedsurvey.com/survey-form-samples.htmlhttp://www.training-management.info/market-research/questions.htm


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QUESTIONNAIRETHE GIEMs READERSHIP SURVEY

1] According to you which medium is more credible for news?

a) Internet b) Newspaper c) Magazine d) Television

2] Do you read general interest magazines and journals?

a) Yes

b) No

3] If the answer to the above question is no, please mention the reason

a) No access to magazines

b) No time to read magazines

c) No interest to read magazines

d) Other ______________________________________________

If the answer to Q2 is yes....

4] Why do you read news magazines ?

a) It is a credible source of news

b) It gives complete news

c) News Creatively delivered

d) It gives significant news

e) Other reasons _________________

5] What is your primary source of reading magazines ?

a) Subscription b) Stands c) Libraries d) Digital sources

e) Other sources


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6] Which is your favourite general interest weekly magazine ?

a)India Today b) Outlook c) The week d) Open e) Tehelka

7] On what basis you choose magazines ?

a) Cover page b) Brand name c) Advertisements d) Availability

8] Rate the factors while you buy a General Interest English magazine

1=very important 2=important 3=average importance 4=less

important 5=not at all important

Cover page Brand equity Subscription Offers Price

9] Have you subscribed to any general interest magazines for specific timeduration?

a) Yes

b) No

If yes, please mention the name of the magazine(s)

______________________________

10] Do you visit any of these magazine websites ?

=yes =No

India today The week Outlook Open Tehelka

If yes how often you visit ?

a) Daily b) Weekly c) Monthly d) Randomly

11] Do you have these magazine Apps on your Phone ?

=yes =No



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12] Do you follow these magazines in facebook?

=yes =No

India today The week Outlook Open tehelka

13] Do you follow these magazines in twitter ?

=yes =No

India today The week Outlook Open tehelka

14] Rate the magazines

1=Excellent 2=Good 3=Average 4=Bad 5=Very bad


15] Do you want to suggest any improvements in THE WEEK magazine ingeneral

________________________________________________________