In a candid chat, Navaneeth LV, CEO, The Hindu Group, delved into the evolving landscape of the media industry with Manifest.

He shared insights on the changes in print media since 2006, emphasing that trust in print brands remains strong.

He shared, "Between 2006 and 2019 (the years he was away from The Hindu Group), the landscape has changed significantly. In the initial years, the internet wasn’t as prevalent, and mobile phones didn’t have cheaply accessible data. Advertising money was also spent differently. Each of these factors influenced consumer behaviour. News is served and consumed in different ways now. What hasn’t changed is the trust in print brands. If anything, it has gotten stronger. The fundamentals of what we do haven’t changed either. We are serving communities – now it’s through more than one media. Earlier, it was only print with a small digital presence. Now, everybody has a significant digital presence."

He also touched upon subscription online, where he highlighted that the first segmentation filter needs to be areas of interest and not geography.

"In the digital ecosystem, if one wants to ensure people see value and are willing to pay for it, there are areas of interest. For digital subscriptions, publications have to write for the highest common denominator. If we can do the hygiene right, which is what the print business teaches us, and if we can mount areas of expertise around what people are willing to pay for, that’s the way to grow. The subscription business success we have seen so far is based on those assumptions. And it will grow exponentially when more publishers go behind a paywall. Currently, we have a sizeable reader base under our paid subscribers, but it’s a small amount of our audience that consumes our digital assets," he explained.

For more on the discussion surrounding the growth of the print business, strategies for digital subscriptions, the nostalgia surrounding Sportstar, and much more get the August issue of Manifest here.