national publishing case

7/31/2019 National Publishing Case

1/10

National Publishing Company:Marketing of Children's Fortnightly Magazine

Abraham Koshy

The Marketing Manager of NationalPublishing CompanyMr R Saxenaiscontemplating on the strategies he shouldadopt to increase the sales of Titli, achildren's fortnightly vernacular publishedby the company.

Readers are invited to send their

responses on the case to Vikalpa office.

Abraham Koshy is a member of the faculty in the

Marketing Area of the Indian Institute of

Management, Ahmedabad.

In November 1990, Mr R Saxena, Marketing Managerof National Publishing Company, was considering al-ternative strategies to improve the sales of "Titli," achildren's fortnightly vernacular magazine publishedby the company. Although Titli was the market leaderin the children's periodicals segment, the downwardtrend in its circulation was causing serious concern to

the company. Three factors were particularly worryingfor Saxena. First, the circulation ofTitli had declined byabout 40 per cent after attaining peak sales in 1987.Second, despite an active advertisement campaignwhich coincided with the withdrawal of another lead-ing children's fortnightly named Children's Delightfromthe market, Titli did not register any worthwhile in-crease in its circulation (From the issue which coincidedwith the withdrawal ofChildren's Delight, Titli obtainedlegal rights and started carrying some of the popularcartoon serials which were being carried by Children'sDelightearlier and this was highlighted in all the adver-tisements ofTitli). Third, though as a result of promo-

tional schemes (such as time-table cards, name slips,face-masks of animals and mythological characters, etc.given free with the journal), the circulation of the par-ticular issue increased by approximately 10 per cent,subsequent issues did not retain a significant numberof the additional buyers.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of thesituation and to obtain inputs which would help in thedecision making, the company had commissioned astudy by a professional market research agency. Saxenawas studying the market research report submitted bythe agency carefully so that he could take appropriatedecisions based on a sound diagnosis of the situation.

The Company

The National Publishing Company was a leadingpublishing company with several years of experience inthe printing and publishing industry. The company hadseveral publications which included a daily newspaper

Vol. 19, No. 3, July-September 1994 57

Edited by Foxit ReaderCopyright(C) by Foxit Corporation,2005-2009For Evaluation Only.


2/10

as well as weekly, fortnightly, monthly, and yearlyjournals. Some of the publications were market leadersin its product category. The company had a team ofcompetent editors and managers.

The products (publications) of the National

Publishing Company were distributed through a sys-

tem of agents and sub-agents located in all importantplaces in the state. A high proportion of sales volume of

most of the periodicals was effected through doordelivery at the subscribers' premises and this was doneby the agents and sub-agents. Periodicals were alsodistributed to different shops which, along with otherassorted products, also carried different magazines.These shops (usually,pan-beedi type of shops) catered

mainly to occasional readers. The company had a net-work of more than 3,000 agents and sub-agents cover-ing all parts of the state.

The ProductTitli carried various features interesting to children be-tween the age of about 5 years and 12 years. Typically,Titli carried about two to three short two-page stories,three or four longer stories, one or at the most twoserialized stories, two or three short poems, about sevenor eight regular cartoon features (out of which abouttwo were serialized cartoons), tit-bits, and fun andgames. In order to cater to the young readers who hadjust begun to read, the journal carried one story writtenin simple language and printed in bolder letters. For thepurpose of initiating those who had not yet begun toread properly, Titli carried another "read aloud" shortstory written in rhyming language. The magazine wasprinted in multiple colour and was liberally illustrated.The size of the periodical was 12 cm x 20 cm. By andlarge, most of the other children's periodicals followedthe same structure in form as well as content. Titli waspriced at Rs two per copy. All the competing children'sfortnightly publications were in the same price range.Annexure 1 gives the summary of a typical issue ofTitli

Market and Competition

The number of households in the state where Titli was

published was estimated to be about 52.35 lakh in 1990.The number of households with a household size of 3to 5 members constituted about 68 per cent of the totalhouseholds. Exhibit 1 gives the classification ofhouseholds according to household size in urban andrural areas in the state. A majority of these households(nearly 81 per cent) belonged to the annual income

category of Rs 12,500. The proportion of householdsbelonging to this income category, however, was lowerin urban areas (about 67 per cent) when compared withrural areas. Exhibit 2 gives the classification ofhouseholds into various annual income groups inurban and rural areas in the state.

Though Titli was targeted at children in the agegroup of about 5 years to 12 years, experience indicatedthat children up to the age of 14 years read and enjoyedTitli. The number of children studying in class I toXthe classes corresponding to the age of targetreaders was estimated to be around 60 lakh in 1986-87.Although the number of children was divided some-what equally between various classes, the lower classeshad a slightly higher enrolment than the higher classes.Thus, about 40 per cent of the children belonged to theprimary classes (standards I to IV) and the remaining60 per cent were equally divided between middle(standard V to VII) and high school (standard VIII to X).There was, however, no significant increase in the en-rolment in schools; between 1984 to 1987, the averageincrease was about one per cent per annum.

Initially, there were several publications in thechildren's magazine section. The competitive situation,however, has undergone some changes since the last

few years. For instance, in 1985, there were about 20periodicals/magazines published in the vernacularlanguage and targeted at the children. In 1986, thisnumber increased to 31, but in 1989, there were onlynine publications. These were either fortnightly or

monthly publications. The combined monthly circula-tion of all the children's publications was estimated tobe about 16 lakh copies. In 1986, there was an increaseof about 25 per cent in the total circulation of children's

periodicals. But in 1989, the combined circulationdeclined by about 56 per cent from that of 1986 level.

Titli was the market leader in the children's peri-

odicals segment. In 1985, Titli and Children's Delighthad30 per cent market share each. In 1986, Titli's marketshare was 26 per cent whereas Children's Delighthad ashare of 23 per cent. In 1989, Children's Delightdiscon-tinued publishing and Titli's share rose to 47 per cent.

The closest follower by this time had a share of about14 per cent and the rest of the publications shared theremaining 39 per cent of the market.

All the children's publications were targeted atchildren in the age group of 14 or 15 years and less andfollowed similar format by and largestories, cartoons,

58 Vikalpa



3/10

tit-bits, etc., although some of them concentrated onmythological and historic stories. In addition to such

children's publications, there were other magazinessuch as family magazines, women's magazines, politi-cal magazines, etc. Annexure 2 gives a brief descriptionof the major publications available in the state.

Salient Findings of Market Research Study

The report submitted by the market research agencycontained several important information useful forSaxena. This study carried out by the research agencywas in two phases. The first phase consisted of a surveyto understand the profile and reading habits ofmagazine readers especially that ofTitli readers. The

second phase consisted of a series of focus group dis-cussions to understand the attitudes, needs, and expec-tations of children as well as that of parents with respectto children's magazines.

The survey was conducted among households witha monthly income of above Rs 750 having children inthe age group of 3-14 years. The respondents weremothers or guardians of children. The sample size forthe survey was 3,500 respondents representing variousregions of the state. The focus group consisted of 16groups of children and five groups of parents. Some ofthe major findings of the market research study are

discussed below:

Awareness of Children's Magazines among Parents

There was a high degree of awareness of Titli amongrespondents; about 76 per cent of them mentioned themagazine spontaneously whereas only about 31 percent were spontaneously aware ofPetals, another com-peting publication.Little flower, yet another competitor,received an un-aided awareness level of 19 per centamong the respondents. The aided awareness level ofall these publications including Titli was about 85 percent.

Current Purchase Pattern of Children's Magazines

The study indicated that out of the total households, 51

per cent purchased either a vernacular or an Englishchildren's magazine and 49 per cent of the householdspurchased any one of the vernacular magazines. Ex-hibit 3 gives the percentage of households buying achildren's magazine. (The current buyer of a magazinewas defined as a household which bought at least oneout of the last six issues of a magazine and in the case

ofTitli, it included households which had bought atleast once in the last three months.)

The study indicated that 70 per cent ofTitlibuyers

were regular buyers and the remaining 30 per cent wereoccasional buyers. The regular purchase level of othermagazines ranged from 20 per cent to 60 per cent, the

remaining being occasional buyers. Thus, forPetals, theregular buyers constituted 50 per cent of total users,whereas forChand aur Suraj, it was 32 per cent. Guiding

Light, on the other hand, had only 23 per cent of regularbuyers.

The study revealed that, on an average, 1.7magazines were bought by each buyer household. Thestudy further revealed that about 55 per cent of Titli

buyers did not buy any other magazine whereas amongthe buyers of all other magazines, more than 80 per centalso bought Titli, It was also found that as many as 60per cent of the households which had children in thetarget age group read Titli. This was because, in addi-tion to the 45 per cent who bought the magazine,another 15 per cent borrowed it from neighbours orfriends.

Purchase of Children's Magazine based on Monthly House-

hold Income

The study indicated that about 33 per cent ofhouseholds having monthly income up to Rs 1,000purchased any one of the vernacular magazineswhereas about 61 per cent households with a monthly

income of over Rs 4,000 purchased a vernacularmagazine. The purchase pattern with respect to Englishmagazines, however, was found to vary with differencein income. Thus, only four per cent households with amonthly income up to Rs 1,000 bought any English

magazine whereas about 29 per cent households with amonthly income of more than Rs 4,000 bought anEnglish magazine. Exhibit 4 gives the purchase patternof magazines based on monthly household income.

Profile of Readers of Titli

The children between the age groups of 6 and 11 years

constituted about 50 per cent of the readers of children'smagazines. ForTitli too, this group constituted about 54

per cent of the readers. It was also seen that childrenbetween the age group of 6 and 14 years constitutedabout 75 per cent of the readers while forTitli, this agegroup constituted about 90 per cent of its readers. Ex-hibit 5 gives the constitution of the readership base of

Vol. 19,No. 3, July-September 1994 59



4/10

children's magazine in general as well as that ofTitli.

The study also indicated that the readership base of the

other major competing children's publications was

somewhat similar to that ofTitli.

Lapsed Purchase of Titli

From the study, it was seen that among the past buyersof Titli, about 45 per cent had discontinued themagazine over the last two to three years. This group oflapsed buyers consisted of households which hadchildren belonging to the target age group. Exhibit 6gives the lapsed rate by age of children.

The study revealed that very few lapsed buyers ofTitli were buying other magazines. This meant thatwhen buyers discontinued buying Titli, they had ac-tually given up buying all children's magazines, ratherthan shifting to a competitor's magazine. The majorreasons for this as mentioned by the respondents were

as follows:

Affects studies; busy with school work (50%)

Easy to borrow from neighbours/library (16%)

Expensive (9%)

Not interested/interested in other areas likesports/English magazines (7%)

Outgrown children's magazine (3%)

Availability problems (1%)

Other magazines better than Titli (1%)

Features Most Liked

The survey of parents also provided some insights intothe popular features published in Titli which werepreferred by children belonging to various age groups.According to the parents, picture stories like "FriendlyGhost," "Magic Monkey," and "Detective stories" weremost popular among children. Exhibit 7 gives the rela-tive preference of various features published in Titli asassessed by the parents.

Leisure Habits of Children

About 90 per cent of the children were exposed to the

television medium and this was found to be almostuniform across different age groups. Regular viewingof programmes on the television was found to be about65 per cent, again uniform across different age groups.

It was also noted that the total duration as well as theprogrammes watched by the children were monitoredand controlled by the parents.

In the 3-5 age group, the children's primary activitywas playing with toys. Reading had hardly anyrelevance to them. In the 6-8 years segment, playing and

watching television were the main activities. However,reading as a major activity began at this age although ata lower key. In the 10-14 years segment, reading of

books and magazines was a dominant activity, second

only to watching the television. Exhibit 8 gives the mainleisure activities of children belonging to different agegroups.

Major Findings of Focus Group Discussion

The qualitative research using focus group discussionprovided insights into the attitude of the children andthe parents to reading, expectations from children'smagazines, and predisposition towards children's peri-odicals in general and Titli in particular.

This phase of the study indicated that there were

three stages in the "life cycle" of magazine reading, eachstage characterized by variations in the attitudes, inter-ests, and expectations from reading. These were asfollows:

Stage of Active Promotion

Most children started reading children's magazines ontheir own when they were in class III to V. This was astage when parents actively promoted reading habitsand the purchase of magazines was mostly initiated byparents.

The main interest of the children at this stage wasplaying with other children of their own age, manytimes with their own siblings (since they were not al-lowed to go out of the house). Although the childrenwatched TV, they did not have high interest and invol-vement in this activity. For most children in this agegroup, interest in reading was secondary to that of

playing. Parents, however, encouraged reading habitsas they felt reading would lead to interest in studies.Purchase of magazines, generally left to the parent'sdiscretion, was occasional rather than regular andbrand loyalty among children was low.

Both the children and the parents expected moreentertainment than information from reading. Thechildren, in particular, looked for picture stories, shortstories, games, colouring, etc. The appeal of themagazine was as much through its "window dressing"as through its contents; purchase was heavily influ-

enced by offers of gifts, prizes, posters, etc.

60 Vikalpa



5/10

Stage of Passive Approval

This stage was characterized by a high interest in read-ing on the part of the children. In general, the childrenin this group studied in class VI to VIII (age of about10-12 years). Parental attitude towards reading by thisstagehad "cooled down" to that of passive approval, butit was not yet discouraging. Purchase of a magazine atthis stage was mainly guided by the children's insis-tence and the children's choice. The children in this agegroup also purchased magazines more regularly andwere more loyal to specific magazines. Some children,in addition to children's magazines, also started read-ing science magazines. Although this was due toprompting by the parents and the teachers, they beganto genuinely like science magazines.

Despite the fact that playing continued to be of

great interest to the children, there was a distinctpreference towards reading as this was becoming the

most enjoyable activity. The parents at the same timewere careful to see that reading magazines did notdistract the children from studies. Watching oftelevision too was of considerable interest to the

children in this age group. Many of them also startedsome hobbies like collecting stamps, coins, match-boxlabels, car/motorcycle posters, keeping a pet, etc. Thus,the children in this group had varied interests andactivities.

Due to a relatively high level of interest in reading,the children in this group exchanged magazines andbooks between them and even discussed popular

stories and features published. The main features inmagazines interesting to the children were stories,general knowledge, sports information, etc. The parentsexpected the children to read stories which would pro-

vide moral values and articles which gave scientific andgeneral information/knowledge. There was a markedimprovement in the attitude of the parents whenchildren displayed information picked up throughreading.

Stage of Active Control

This was the stage when the children were in classes IXand X. The children in this age group derived a highlevel of enjoyment from reading; this was an activity'relished' even more than TV though they had lesseramount of leisure time at their disposal due to increasedstudy load and tuition. This was also a stage marked bya high tendency on the part of the parents to control allthe leisure activities of the children. This control as-

sumed dimensions such as enforcing ban on watchingTV, restricting time for playing/reading, etc. Theparents were concerned about the children's studies aswell as character building at this stage and hence kepta close watch over what the child saw, read, and didduring his/her spare time.

The children in this age group started exhibitingvariations in preferences of features in magazines. Theypreferred stories which inspired and motivated them;stories which made them "think about the deeper mean-ings." They were also interested in "thought provoking"articles on general or social issues. The children in thisgroup had a greater desire to seek exposure to the adultworld and look for "realistic" values. Parents expectedreading to inculcate values of responsibility anddevelop personality and self-confidence. Reading hada high impact on character and behaviour at this age.

The main reading materials for children belonging

to this age group were magazines like Titli and sciencemagazines. This was also an age group which indicateda growing penetration of general interest magazinestargeted at grown ups likeIndia Today. Such magazineswere highly favoured by parents as suitable readingmaterial for children belonging to this group. There waslow readership of story books /novels (like Enid Ely ton,Nancy Drew) during this phase. The children regularly'scanned' headlines, sports, etc. in the newspaper.

Image Perceptions of Titli

The focus group discussions also indicated that Titli

was perceived to be a superior magazine by the childrenbecause of elements such as more interesting anddiverse stories, more picture stories, more colour, etc.In general, Titli was perceived as a magazine appealingmore to 8-12 year old children and, to a lesser extent,13-14 year old children. Although the younger childrenwere eager to associate themselves with Titli, a few ofthe older children were embarrassed to be seen readingit as if they were doing something "childish" for theirage.

Among the parents, the image ofTitli was that of asource of "good, harmless entertainment." While someparents were appreciative of the usefulness/informa-tive value of the magazine, the general tendency was todismiss it as 'light reading.' This tendency, however,was less pronounced among the parents who read Titliand, therefore, knew the contents of the magazine. Theparents of older children in particular looked down onTitli as they felt that it was meant for younger childrenand had no great value for older children. This was one

Vol. 19, No. 3, July-September 1994 61



6/10

of the reasons for discontinuing the magazine when

their children were a little older.

It was also seen that the children who seldombought Titli or any other similar magazine had relative-ly low exposure to all types of reading. They oftenbelonged to households where the parents did not buyor read any magazines for themselves. These parents

were generally passive or unconcerned about readingsince they attached little value to reading.

Marketing Manager's Concerns

Saxena was aware that as the leader in the market, Titlihad a significant role to play in the children's publish-

ing market segment. Should Titli be re-positioned? If so,how? Should the target segment for this publication beredefined? If so, which segment should he concentrateon?

Saxena was wondering whether he could increasethe sales ofTitli by taking recourse to such strategiesor whether he should consider other courses of action

which would be more effective from a long-termstrategic perspective. He, however, was certain that anydecision taken now would have major implications onthe current as well as the future fortunes of the com-pany.


7/10



8/10


9/10


10/10

66 Vikalpa

national publishing case

Documents