Strategic Analysis of Danik Bhaskar Group

Strategic analysis of Danik Bhaskar Group (DBG)

By Xiang Li

1. SWOT analysis:

  Strengths:

Strong market position and national brand recognition: DBG publishes newspapers in four languages in 65 editions across 13 states of India. With its unrelenting focus on tierⅡmarkets, the group has acquired dominant No.1 position in those markets and No.2 position in readership (Urban + Rural) across India. It is the only group that is No.1 in multiple markets and has publications in multiple languages in India.

High editorial quality: DBG believes in unbiased, credible and courageous journalism. They are committed foremost to their readers.

Innovation: it constantly surprises readers with innovations such as first fragrance (Glulal) newspaper on the festival of Holi and the first 3D newspaper.

Hyper-local model (localization): DBG has a large number of editions and sub-editions, which connect people with what is happening in their neighbour.

Brand building activity: DBG engaged themselves in city development campaigns and corporate social responsibilities, such as “save water”, “livable cities” and “dry Holi.”

Strong distribution channel: DBG capitalizes distributors, vendors and hawkers to ensure timely delivery of the paper.

Weaknesses:

Relatively low advertising revenues: As advertisers prefer to play safe and advertise in established newspapers, DBG’s marketing blitzkrieg makes advertisers suspicious about the group’s readership. Also, advertising expenditures are skewed toward metros while DBG is focused on non-metro tierⅡcities.

Strategy of unrelenting focus on TierⅡ cites: While DBG is boasted for its dominance in tier Ⅱ tier Ⅲ cities, it still lacks a significant presence in metros, which pose more influence on newspaper’s popularity and reputation.

Opportunities:

Expansion into more states: Except the Maharashtra in the west of India, DBG has not set foot in promising states, such as Uttar Pradesh in the North, Tamil Nadu in the South and West Bengal in the East, where exist huge market potential values (MPV) as well.

Expansion into metros: Although per capita income is growing faster in tierⅡand tier Ⅲ cities, which results in higher consumption growth in these markets, metros, like Delhi, still have stronger purchasing power.

Digital distribution: Although DBG has already owned a radio channel and four portals, it still can dig out the potentials of mobile apps and tablets to enlarge its influence.

Government boosting programs: The household income has garnered a faster growth in recent years due to several government programs such as JNNURM which aimed at modernizing urban cities.

Low nationwide newspaper readership: Although 71% of India’s population is literate, only 20.1% read newspapers daily, leaving a huge potential for readership growth in the future.

Threats:

Fierce competition: Including DBG, there are five top newspaper groups, whose publications almost have a neck and neck average issue readership (AIR). Furthermore, the newspaper Danik Jagran that belongs to Dainik Jargan Group tops DBG’s Dainik Bhaskar and gains the No.1 position in the readership of top 20 publications.