CHAPTER. 7 FINDINGS & CONCLUSIONS Ph.D. Thesis of Mr. Rahul Shiledar CHAPTER 7 FINDINGS & CONCLUSIONS 7.0 Findings The researcher has classified the findings into two sections; one on the basis of quantitative data collected through survey and another is the qualitative data collected through unstructured interviews. For the quantitative data structured questionnaires were used to conduct the survey and the sampling was stratified random sampling. For collecting the qualitative data interviews of experts were conducted to fulfil the findings of the research. The second classification is thus on the basis of the qualitative data. 7.1 Findings on the basis of quantitative data: 1. It can be observed that among the 2000 respondents age of readers is from 13 years onwards. Maximum 41.60% of readers are between the age group of 25-35 years. Average age is 32.32 years. 2. Out of the total number of respondents 63.80% of readers are males and 34.20% of the respondents are females. 3. About 79% of the readers are having an annual household income between 5 to 12 lacs. Average annual household income is Rs. 9.426 lacs. 7.8% of the total respondents were from the annual household income group of below 5 lacs. 4. 27.40% readers are having zero work experience. 23.60% of readers have a work experience between 5-10 years, while 19.15% readers have 2-5 years of work experience. 79.50% of the total respondents are having a work experience ranging from 0 to 10 years. 20.50% of the total respondents are having a work experience of 10 years and more. 5. 28.10% of the total readers were students followed by 21.85% of the readers who are into the career of education. 13.9% of the total respondents are having their own business. 165 Ph.D. Thesis of Mr. Rahul Shiledar 6. It can be observed that The Times of India is the number one newspaper in Mumbai with 72.60% of total readers, followed by Mid Day with 62.40% of readers and Mumbai Mirror with 58.30% of total readers. It is important to note that Mumbai Mirror was offered free of cost along with The Times of India in the initial stages. Mid Day reaches the market around noon and is not a morning daily. The Economic Times is read by 32.70% of the total respondents but is a financial morning daily. Other than that 22.25% of the total respondents were the readers of DNA. 7. It can be observed that 36.40% of the total readers are reading their newspaper for more than 10 years. 31.35% of the total respondents have started reading the newspaper in the last 3 years; 16.20% in the last one year and 15.15% in between land 3 years. These 31.35% readers can be termed as new readers. 8. It can be observed that on Sundays, The Times of India shows an increase of 5.70% in the number of readers while Mumbai Mirror shows an increase of 3.70% in readers. However on Sundays Mid Day shows a decrease in the number of readers by 31.50%. Several other newspapers like DNA, Hindustan Times, Mint, Indian Express and The Economic Times showed a drop in readership on Sundays. 9. Out of the total number of readers it can be observed that 1562 readers that mean 78.10% subscribe the newspaper while 438 readers do not subscribe. 13.05% of the total readers said they buy the newspaper daily. The main reason to not subscribe for the newspaper is regular travelling. It can also be observed that 7.53% of the total readers do not buy the newspaper daily as they do not get time to read. 5.48% of the total readers do not read a newspaper regularly. 166 Ph.D. Thesis of Mr. Rahul Shiledar 10. The main reasons to buy a particular newspaper are Good articles 75.30% Good news 72.40% Brand loyalty 43.45% 11. It can be observed that 41.65% of the total readers also responded that they buy a particular newspaper because of availability. Upon further questioning, some respondents said that the earlier newspapers did not reach their doorstep on time. 12. 26.60% of the total respondents said they purchased a particular newspaper because it was a habit for them to read that newspaper. 13. It can be obsen/ed that the most favourite and preferred columns/ supplements are political, international news, front page and sports news. The appointment section has received the least rating 17.75% in the category of the most favourite and preferred supplement or section of the newspaper. 14. 57.60% of the total readers responded that they were reading a different newspaper before reading the existing one. 42.40% of the readers are reading the same newspaper and have not changed. 15. It can be observed that 80.47% readers who started reading a new newspaper were reading The Times of India while 19.53% readers were reading The Indian Express before reading the existing newspaper. 16. It can be observed that 83.77% of the total 1152 readers who have started reading a new newspaper are still reading the previous newspaper. 7.3% readers who have started reading the new newspaper have stopped reading the previous newspaper. 17. 58.34% of the total readers who started reading an additional newspaper, started due to an attractive scheme. 29.64% of the total readers who started 167 Ph.D. Thesis of Mr. Rahul Shiledar reading an additional newspaper said they wanted another opinion or views for the news. 18. The research shows that 67.86% of the total 84 readers who stopped reading the previous newspaper, stopped due to the lack of content. Another main reason to stop reading the previous newspaper was also the poor language in the newspaper. 32.14% readers said the language in the previous newspaper was poor in quality. 19. It can be observed that the dominating factor to start reading the particular newspaper is parents. 73.50% people answered that their parents were the influential factor to decide which newspaper they should be reading. 32.85% readers said that the newspaper campaigns were the influencing factor to start reading a particular newspaper. 20. The research shows that The Times of India readers have highest satisfaction levels, followed by Mumbai Mirror. 21. Out of 2000 respondents, 1148 respondents purchased or subscribed the newspaper. Out of these 1148 respondents 612 i.e. 53.31% of respondents preferred DNA than Hindustan Times. 22. It was observed that 38.10% people feel they can’t say about the importance of newspapers in the years to come, with the advent of increasing number of news channels and free to view news on the web. 29.8% of the respondents feel that the newspapers will no longer be important. 23. It was observed that 75.50% of the total respondents prefer to read The Times of India first. 24. The research shows that 90.90% of the total respondents said that their loyalty towards their newspaper changed due to the advertising campaigns by the newspapers. However upon further questioning it was found that they 168 Ph.D. Thesis of Mr. Rahul Shiledar bought the additional newspaper but most of them also maintained the existing newspaper. 25. All respondents responded that newspaper reading is important, while 833 i.e. 41.65% of these respondents also said that newspaper reading is a habit. 26. It was observed that 91.20% of the respondents replied that outdoor advertising was done by newspapers to promote themselves during the launch period. More than 70% of the respondents also recalled that activities like door to door campaigning, discount schemes, gifts, events and street campaigns were implemented as strategies to promote the newspapers. The research shows that 57.10% of the total respondents think that the subscriptions had a somewhat impact on the leading newspapers at that time. It was observed that 77.30% of the total respondents are of the opinion that the promotion campaign of Mint failed the most, followed by Hindustan Times. According to the respondents, DNA had the least failure rate with only 36.6% of the total respondents replying that the campaign of DNA failed. 27. It is observed from percentages that the reasons behind the failure of newspapers according to the order are as follows: 1) Newspapers advertising and marketing failed to convey what they would offer to the readers. 2) Newspapers advertising and marketing focused on speaking badly about other newspapers. 3) Over campaigning, too much follow up led to losing interest. 28. In the second phase too, the respondents felt campaign by Mint failed the most with 79.35% failure rate, followed by Hindustan Times at 59.65%. The main reasons behind the failure of the campaign in the second phase were that: 1) The newspaper did not deliver what it had promised in terms of news, article content and quality. 169 Ph.D. Thesis of Mr. Rahul Shiledar 2) Newspapers advertising and marketing focused on speaking badly about other newspapers. 29. Out of the total respondents, 1879 people felt that The Times of India ranked number 1 in position followed by DNA and then Hindustan Times. As per the respondents feedback to the survey, Indian Express ranked 4'^ in the rankings. 7.2 Findings on the basis of tlie qualitative data: The qualitative data is collected through personal and telephonic interviews with the experts in the field of media, advertising, marketing and strategy.