Annus horibilus, the Latin phrase, which means a horrible year, sums up the year 2009 for the kind of returns it yield for the print medium in India. The medium that has till now reigned the ad pie and every media planner's mindscape and the wallet share of brands in the country failed to hold its fort. The slowdown that the Indian economy faced and the reflex action that the marketers exhibited has hurt the print medium's share in the overall ad pie bringing it down to 41.8 per cent from 47.4 in 2008. The medium fell flat from a growth of 16 per cent in 2008 to a de growth of 21 per cent. That means a dismal ad billing of Rs 7,806 crore in 2009, down from Rs 9,825 crore in 2008.

The good news, however, has been that not much titles shut shop. In fact the language press kept up its tempo of geographical expansion through new editions. Benoy Roychoudhary, Executive Director, HT Media says, "The year 2009 was a mixed bag for the Indian print media industry. While the newsprint prices eased, helping us on the cost side, the advertising volumes saw a sharp reduction in the first half of the year."

The 'New Normal'

The print industry in the country got acquainted with the new normal in terms of the fall in advertising revenues that most of the publications pocketed earlier. N Murali, Managing Director, The Hindu says, "One thing the industry needs to get used to is a 'new normal', which means the fall in growth of advertisement revenue to a flat growth or even negative growth in 2009, leading to a moderate growth in 2010 to say around 10 to 12 per cent."

Explaining the setting mood further, Murali remarks, "The advertisement revenues of 2007-2008 will not be reached quickly, if at all. Also the low base effect has to be factored in. In the past twelve months, the average advertisement revenues would have fallen by 15 to 20 per cent. Only, the months of November and

December, in 2009 showed some growth for the first time in 12 months." Sharing the sentiment is Sanjeev Kotnala, Vice President - Marcomm, Dainik Bhaskar, "The days of unhindered growth are definitely over." In a bid to control costs, the newspapers were seen cutting down on the pages being printed. Apart from other internal cost-engineering like "correcting the staff size and temporary deduction of salaries", external factors too helped ease the pressure off the shoulders of publishing houses.

As Basant Rathore, Vice President, Strategic and Brand Development Dainik Jagran says, "Increasing efficiencies across all levels in the industry is a clear theme that emerged in 2009." HT Media's Roychoudhury also feels that the slowdown on ad revenues has led the print medium to focus on the cost side of the business as well. There is a significant focus on improving business efficiencies across the value chain as well as on looking towards rationalisation of expansion plans. One of the biggest reliefs was the softening of the newsprint prices towards the middle of the year. The imported newsprint prices, which hovered around $1,000 per tonne in fall 2008, were down by more than 50 per cent to $460 per tonne in July 2009.

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