The news media world has not just moved from scarcity to abundance or from few media sources in a given geography to many but is witnessing a paradigm shift from print to digital, observed Mr K Balaji, the Managing Director of Kasturi & Sons Ltd, Publishers of The Hindu.

Sharing his thoughts on what this would mean for the news publishing industry and the advertising industry, he said “it is time to take digital more seriously. Though the present does not look dire in so far as India is concerned, we cannot claim surprise or be unprepared.”

He was speaking at the Installation Ceremony of the new team of office bearers (for the year 2012 -13) of the Advertising Club, Coimbatore.

Comparing the global scenario with the happenings in India and with particular reference to the shift from print to digital, he drew the attention of the audience to the dramatic drop in print media revenues. “It proved fatal for many old brands and near fatal for a company such as the New York Times,” he said, adding “only 20 per cent of the estimated advertising spend worldwide has gone into print in 2011, whereas in India, print got 47.4 per cent of the advertising pie. Again, TV has stagnated globally, but has grown in India; and digital is estimated to account for around 16 per cent of the worldwide pie, whereas, it is just one-fourth of this at 4 per cent in India. The numbers don't look so dire for India at present,” he reiterated.

Outgoing President Mr R Swaminathan said that the advertising industry was on a roller-coaster ride. “The print and advertising media is expected to go out of gear with the social media emerging as a powerful tool.”

> lnr@thehindu.co.in

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