"Circulation is growing, though it is important to note here that the growth is from rural areas, and the urban youth are turning to TV, online and mobile," says Mariam Mammen Mathew, chief operating officer of Manorama Online in India, during Friday's Digital session of the Congress.
 
Internet penetration is less than 10 percent, but the country has 519 million mobile subscribers. "Most Indians will first experience the web on their handset, not on PCs," she says. "There are a plethora of platforms vying for the media consumer. We need to innovate to get the eyeballs and retain our customers.
 
"It's all about creating alternate revenue streams. The good news is the markets are slowly recognising the value of content. … We empower our editors, we tell them content is important and there is value to it. "
 
Here are some of her approaches: 

• Subscriptions, particularly to niche online products. "Paid subscriptions work as long as it's compelling content, and not just 'nice to have' content. It’s a print-plus version as long as there is a notional idea of value for the consumer." Subscriptions also raise the reader profile from lower strata to middle-income consumers, attracting higher-quality advertisers.

• Syndication, or the outright sale of content to mobile providers who don't have such content.
• Mobile, which Mathew calls "the Swiss Army knife of consumer electronics." Although a large percentage of Manorama Online customers don't have smartphones, the company uses SMS and voice promotions to drive consumers to connect through paid-for richer media, with the revenue shared with mobile providers.
• Tablets. Although penetration in India is marginal, a new low-cost tablet ($US35) is a "game changer," Mathew says. "The reading experience is very tactile and similar to newspapers. What it means in terms of revenue we haven't quite decided. Seventy percent of Indians have apps on smartphones, but paid apps are miniscule. But in both China and India, it's the news apps that dominate," says Mathew.
• Hyperlocal targeted advertising. Building platforms around communities brings high-level advertising, she says.
• Social media is popular and helps generate what she calls "snack reading.…It helps engage readership and drive traffic. However, it does not give us any money right now," she says.