In a conversation with Manifest (full interview in the November issue) Abhishek Karnani, owner and director, Free Press Journal Group discusses the 96-year-old publication’s efforts to balance its offerings in a digital era, while adapting to changing reader preferences. He also weighs in upon cracking the ‘entry barrier’ created by national publications, and citing 'credible circulation numbers', unlike many of its competitors that still cite 2019 figures. 

Karnani highlights that while print remains crucial for advertisers, and in upholding credibility and readers’ trust in a digital era, digital has helped the legacy newspaper house evolve with the times. 

“Digital has only helped us to grow. During the pandemic, when newspapers couldn’t be delivered, many publications put their e-papers behind paywalls. We chose to keep ours free to combat the surge of fake news. Instead of just replicating our physical edition, we made the e-paper interactive, allowing readers to click on it to go directly to sections like city news, sports, markets, or games. These innovations helped us get an edge over competitors and helped increase our physical newspaper circulation when things returned to normal,” Karnani shared.

The newspaper hit a peak last year with 2023 being the best year for FPJ in terms of circulation numbers. 

The publication addressed the issue of any disconnect with a younger demographic by aligning its editorial approach with the changing expectations of a modern audience.

Says Karnani, “We have realised that the consumption of news is no longer restricted to a single format. Whether it is available in newspaper print format, PDF format on your phone, or online in digital format, we realised that ultimately it's about the ‘FPJ brand’. We want our readers to have a credible source of information, regardless of the platform. So we are present on almost all formats of news aggregators including Josh, Dailyhunt, InShorts and MSN. We don’t wish to confine ourselves, such that readers can only find us on our website.”

He further shared, “A recent survey that we did showed that young people trust newspaper brands and are willing to engage with them if it is available to them in a digital format. Trust in the brand carries across all formats, creating a ‘magnet effect’.”

“We want to democratise news. So today we are thinking not even digital-first, but video-first, because everyone's consuming so much audio-visual,” Karnani added.

He also delved upon the group’s advertising strategy to attract digital-first brands and businesses. “Today advertisers are looking for leads and impact. And the impact comes on multiple platforms. One has to accept that everyone’s consuming news on different platforms, and we have to be available there. I believe we are selling the brand FPJ, not just the print. And that’s what we tell the advertisers also - to bundle the print along with digital and e-paper for greater reach.”

The FPJ owner and director further pointed out that it is the only English newspaper in Mumbai with an ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation) certification, ensuring transparency for advertisers. "Unlike others still referencing outdated 2019 IRS (Indian Readership Survey) data, FPJ updates its circulation figures bi-annually on our masthead for our readers and advertisers. Our goal is to be a credible, independent voice in the city, reflected in our tagline: ‘Free Press for a Better Mumbai’," Karnani stated.

Read the full chat in the November issue of Manifest. Get your copy here.