How print engine chugs along

Why is the India chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) launching a coffee table book on the efficacy and versatility of print as a medium on September 19?

The answer is fairly simple.

Print as a medium was kissed goodbye on several occasions.

When radio was born. When television spread it's mighty wings, and more recently, when digital was seen as the most important big thing that media had ever seen.

And to be fair, television has grown at a very impressive pace. And digital too seems to be omnipresent.

But the wonderful thing is that good old print has more than held its own in the face of these young and worthy competitors.

Actually, I personally feel it is wrong to refer to these media as competition to print.

A look at the space TV channels occupy as advertisers in newspapers would be revealing.

And that's why I prefer to speak about different media complementing one another at least in this phase in the life of India as a nation.

And that's the key point to bear in mind.

India is becoming not just more literate but also more educated.

And as this happens please note that it is not automatically English that is being learnt.

Our amazing range of languages are also coming into their own. And people are discovering the joys of reading.

North India is leading the charge with a rollicking growth of around 7.83% in terms of copies sold per annum.

And the rest of India is not ignoring this trend.

Riding on the growth in overall education on the one hand and the increasing trend in nuclear families on the other, publishers have been active as well. They have added on publishing centres and editions to meet this fascinating growth.

Between 2006 and 2016, the number of publishing centres grew from 659 to 910.

And the average number of copies sold increased by more than 2.18 crore. A staggering 56% growth.

Newspapers have realised that readers have evolved and they do not really want plain vanilla news any more.

And the different sections created for different interests has been very well received.

Most readers are happy to get a glimpse of news on their hand held devices and on TV.

They are happy to see the pretty predictable verbal duels on TV news channels. And they are equally happy to read a more detailed version of the news that is relevant to them or what particularly interests them in the newspapers the next morning.

So after Hindi in the lead, we have English holding its own with 8.5 million copies and Malayalam trotting along smartly with 4.5 million copies a day. I'm personally happy to see Marathi at 4.3 million copies a day.

So all these positive factors led to the IAA compiling a collector's item called the Gutenberg Galaxy. A unique coffee table book with 24 case studies which encapsulate the power of print in terms of brand building and 14 articles written by leaders in the media and marketing industry on what print means to them. The launch will see a discussion on print by three leaders representing advertising, marketing and the creative part of this industry. There will also be a presentation which highlights the point of view of the Audit Bureau of Circulation.

The writer is president of the India Chapter of International Advertising Association (IAA)