From print to the internet, Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL) spans multiple mediums and technologies. But a common thread runs through these disparate businesses: high quality of content. In conjunction with the group's relentless pursuit of innovation, this has catapulted it to the position of India’s largest media conglomerate.
Building on its traditional strength in print media, namely newspapers and magazines, BCCL has diversified into new, emerging areas and rapidly emerged as a market leader in each case. The vast Bennett portfolio today comprises The Times of India, The Economic Times, Navbharat Times, Maharashtra Times, Sandhya Times and the recently-launched Mumbai Mirror (newspapers); Times Retail, Times Music and Times Multimedia (entertainment and retail); Timesjobs.com and Timesmatri.com (online ventures); Radio Mirchi (radio entertainment); 360 Degrees (infotainment media); Indiatimes, Timesofmoney and 8888 (internet and mobile media); Zoom (television channel) the soon-to-be launched news channel Times Now; and Femina and Filmfare (magazines published by World Wide Media).
Bennett’s flagship brand,The Times of India, is now the largest-selling English broadsheet newspaper in the world (Source: ABC JJ04, JD04). Over 8.1 million readers pick it up each morning.The Economic Times, with over a million readers, is the second largest circulated English business daily in the world . Navbharat Times, while doing well in Mumbai, is the only Hindi daily with 100% circulation in Delhi and the National Capital Region. That means the paper circulates only amongst its target audience, thus completely cutting out wastage for advertisers. With a nationwide reach of 1.8 million readers, it is a force to be reckoned with.
In West India, Maharashtra Times has become the number one Marathi paper in Mumbai (including Greater Mumbai) with over 1.35 million readers. It is also the second-largest read daily in Mumbai, across languages, after The Times of India. Bennett’s magazines, Femina and Filmfare, are leaders in their categories with readership figures of over 1 million and 4.4 million respectively. Indiatimes.com, its entertainment and search portal, is the preferred option for both Indian netizens and members of the vast diaspora. Radio Mirchi, operating from seven centres across the country, is now established as India’s leading private radio network. Launched in 2002, it is rated number one in listener ship in Delhi and Mumbai. Zoom TV is making waves as a fashion and lifestyle channel.
Bennett measures its achievements in terms of whether its brands have helped their respective audiences succeed in life, while enriching the business of relevant advertisers. That's a stringent benchmark, but Bennett's brands are renowned for their success in measuring up to the challenge.
Apart from commercial success, they've also been rewarded with accolades globally. For instance,The Times of India has been ranked among the world’s six best newspapers by BBC. Perhaps the most visible sign of Bennett’s success at the international level is the string of triumphs notched up in recent years by Femina Miss India winners at beauty pageants such as Miss Universe and Miss World. Its film magazine, Filmfare, has become a blockbuster in itself, with the Filmfare Awards being regarded as the Indian version of the Oscars.
The Times of India, or TOI, as it is universally referred to, is among Asia’s oldest English newspapers. It began life as the bi-weekly Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce in 1838, founded by a British Indian syndicate of eleven firms, two barristers and a doctor. Its stated aim for its colonial readership was ‘securing the earliest possible intelligence upon all subjects of politics, science and literature’. It became a daily in 1850. Absorbing the Bombay Standard in 1859, and another local paper, The Telegraph and Courier in 1861, it finally became The Times of India.
Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited, the paper’s holding company, acquired this name, and its first professional editor, with the arrival of Thomas Bennett in 1892. Bennett also became the proprietor, later offering a partnership to F M Coleman, an accomplished hand at newspaper production, whom he invited from England. The Old Lady of Boribunder – as it was christened by fiercer nineteenth century rivals – remained a stately, if somewhat critical, paper of the Raj right till it passed into Indian hands in 1946. A Delhi edition was launched in 1947, and the paper began to vigorously re-invent itself to better reflect the new aspirations of a nascent nation. In 1988, as the paper celebrated a lavish sesquicentennial, the BBC named it one of the six best newspapers in the world. In a series of launches, Bennett, Coleman launched Navbharat Times in 1947, Filmfare in 1952, Femina in 1959,The Economic Times (ET) in 1961 and Maharashtra Times in 1962. The group also brought out several highly regarded Hindi magazines.
Bennett, Coleman & Co offers its audiences a wide buffet of options that are both informative and entertaining. Over the years, it has demonstrated its understanding of the evolving and growing aspirations of the consumer by diversifying from The Times of India to The Economic Times (Business and Economy news), Navbharat Times (Hindi news), Maharashtra Times (Marathi daily) and now Mumbai Mirror (India’s first true quality morning compact launched in Mumbai). Taking note of changing trends in the consumer’s media habits, it has also launched Femina, Filmfare, Indiatimes.com, Radio Mirchi and Zoom TV and a host of other products – each of which seeks to make the consumer feel empowered.
The Times of India, with its rich and varied content, caters to a rather diverse audience. It also carries daily city-specific and subject-based supplements such as Delhi Times, Education Times (education), Ascent (careers) and Times Property (real estate). With twelve editions, it has achieved a truly national presence.
The Economic Times is acknowledged to be the business barometer of India. Its supplements – Corporate Dossier and Brand Equity – and sections such as Big Bucks and Rural Mural ensure high reader interest. ET prides itself on providing readers the power of knowledge. Its large array of dedicated addicts – who range from stock-brokers to IT professionals, corporate heads to management students – would wholeheartedly endorse this claim.
Navbharat Times (NBT) caters to the ever growing number of Hindi readers, many of whom are entering metros from other parts of India. Its role has been to guide the reader to a better life in a fast-changing metropolis. With interesting supplements like Hello Delhi, NBT brings to the reader all that is most refreshing about the cities.
Maharashtra Times (MT) has been the Bennett response to the needs of the Maharashtrian migrating to Mumbai from the interiors of the state. Using simple language to focus on a reader who is high in ambition but low in resources, MT empowers him with information and knowledge. Bennett’s foray into the world of magazines with Femina and Filmfare has also been rewarding. While both magazines are leaders in their respective categories, the annual Filmfare Awards for excellence in the world of cinema has become an institution in itself.
In keeping with its policy of evolving with the times, Bennett launched Indiatimes.com during the IT boom of the 1990s. In recent years, Bennett has launched Radio Mirchi, India’s leading private radio network; Zoom TV, the fashion and lifestyle channel and most recently, Mumbai Mirror, a compact reflecting the spirit of the always-on the- move Mumbai. Besides these products, Bennett also runs Times Retail – which operates the music retail chain Planet M, now present in more than ten cities; Times Multimedia – which is fast carving out a niche for itself in the world of digitised entertainment with tie-ups with Walt Disney, IBM and the like; and Times Card – an entertainment-focused and internationally usable credit card that is co branded with Citibank and Mastercard.
Bennett is over a century old, but the brand remains fresh, vibrant and speaks to today's consumers in their language and idiom. The secret of its success is simply the brand's willingness to continuously innovate and constantly re-invent itself. While retaining its core values of fairness and objectivity, it has developed several new products to cater to the varying interests of its burgeoning base of consumers. This has resulted in the creation of sections like Times City, Times Nation and Times International in TOI, and the recent launch of new editions of the Times of India in Mangalore, Mysore and Kanpur. It was the same philosophy that led to the introduction of Mumbai Mirror.
Filmfare and Femina, too, have not lagged behind. Both are now part of Worldwide Media, a joint venture between the BBC and Bennett, Coleman. Femina has also brought out Femina Girl – a magazine for the young Indian who stands on the threshold of the exciting new world of womanhood.The magazine is already a success across eight metros. The company is also all set to enter the field of news channels with Times Now – an upcoming 24-hour English news channel by Times Global Broadcasting Co. Limited, in alliance with Reuters.
TOI’s brand advertising has achieved cult status by now. The simple, yet extremely effective formula used is to highlight the idiosyncrasies of Indians, while humouring the audience. Under the broad umbrella of ‘A day in the life of India’ the advertising tickles the audience while capturing the multi-faceted but essentially same Indian-ness on issues as diverse as a cricket match and elections.
One of TOI's innovative steps in promotion, which virtually rewrote the rules of the media game, was the invitation price initiative. Kicked off in 1992, it led to the cover price of the newspaper being almost halved as the result of a conscious decision to pursue revenue from advertising rather than circulation. A spectacular surge in circulation ensued, leaving competitors no option but to follow suit, and justified Bennett's contention that it is a market-driving, not a market-driven organisation. Another major initiative came in the form of 'combo' offers on newspapers. The first step was taken in June 2003 when The Times of India and the Navbharat Times were made available together to consumers at a special price. A similar offer was introduced for a TOI-ET combo as well. Once again, the result was a massive leap in circulation of all the brands involved in the exercise.
With the authority of twelve editions impacting a phenomenal 8.1 million plus readers,The Times of India could have easily taken to grandstanding. Instead it dismantled the podium, and got down to a new primer of 3Rs – a paper that was relevant, refreshing and, above all, real. Media has conventionally portrayed itself as the pompous font of power.
The Times dared to transfer this right to its constituency. It has chosen to empower its readers and, by extension, its advertisers. Instead of the traditional role of moulding public opinion, it provides the choices that enable readers to arrive at their own conclusions. If Bennett, Coleman is number one today, it is because that is how it treats its readers: first among all, above all else.
From TV Trivia
• The name Bennett, Coleman & Co is the result of a partnership between Thomas Bennett, The Times of India’s first professional editor and F M Coleman.
• President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru have graced Bennett’s Filmfare Awards.
• The Bennett-sponsored Times of India Cricket Shield Tournament in Mumbai has had some renowned participants including Vinoo Mankad, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Sachin Tendulkar.
• The Bhartiya Jnanpith was established in 1944 by Shanti Prasad Jain, the then Chairman of Bennett, Coleman. In 1965, his wife Rama Jain helped found the Jnanpith Award for excellence in creative literary writing by an Indian in any Indian language.
• Bennett, Coleman launched the first colour publication in India – the Times of India Weekly edition, which was later called the Illustrated Weekly of India.
