In the dynamic media world of India, where consumers have an unprecedented array of choices, Dainik Jagran stands out

as a brand that is the choice of millions of Indians, as they start their day. Dainik Jagran is the largest read and circulated daily in India. Indeed, in December 2005, on the basis of the National Readership Survey (NRS) 2005, the World Association of Newspapers announced that Dainik Jagran was the largest read daily in the world with a readership of 21.2 million. Since 2000, the readership base of Dainik Jagran has grown by 119% from 9.6 million readers recorded in NRS 2000 to 21.2 million readers in 2005. The IRS also throws up a similar story with the readership registering a growth of 124% from 8.5 million readers in IRS 2000 R1 to 19.1 million in IRS 2006 R1. Dainik Jagran sells 2.4 million copies each day recording a stunning 106% growth in the last five years (Source: ABC JD 2005 over ABC JD 2000). Dainik Jagran has one of the widest footprints within the print media in India. It prints 30 editions each day out of eleven states Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir. The Dainik Jagran footprint reveals truly stunning statistics: a population of 500 million and a base of 95 million households (Source: IRS 2006 R1). Of these, 34.2 million own a television set, 11.4 million own refrigerators, 11 million own 2-wheelers and 1.6 million own cars. The footprint accounts for 48% of Indias SEC A households and 52% of Indias entire Rs. 15,000+ income group (Source: IRS 2006 R1). Its a fine indicator of the huge size and potential Dainik Jagran has, to reach this awesome market. Dainik Jagran offers the largest reach amongst newspapers within the socio-economic categories most coveted by advertisers SEC ABC. Dainik Jagran is the largest read publication amongst other important demographic categories such as males, graduates+ and the student segment. Almost every third Hindi newspaper reader in India is a Dainik Jagran reader and every ninth any newspaper reader reads Dainik Jagran. With such outstanding credentials it is easy to see that Dainik Jagran would have several achievements. In May 2006, Dainik Jagran was voted as the most credible source of news within the print media by a BBC-Reuters study. In less than six years, Dainik Jagran has almost doubled its growth on readership and circulation and marked Indias presence on the international media map by becoming the largest read daily in the world. It has been the largest read daily in India for the last six consecutive rounds of the IRS surveys beginning 2002 R2; this is a unique record in the history of Indian media. The publication was also the first daily to cross the 20 million reader mark in India. In a fine show of marketing acumen Dainik Jagran has increased the gap with its nearest competitor from 0.6 million readers in 2002 to 4.5 million readers in 2006 (Source: IRS 2002 R2 and IRS 2001). This remarkable achievement is reflected in the absolute growth the newspaper has managed. While Dainik Jagran added 10.6 million readers between IRS 2000 R1 and

2006 R1, the second, third, fourth and fifth dailies put together have managed just 8.5 million readers between them during the same period. If statistics make a newspapers world go around then Dainik Jagran has other significant achievements, as well: its readership base is greater than the top nine English dailies put together. In terms of revenue growth, too, Dainik Jagran has outscored every other print media house two years in a row. Dainik Jagran was founded in 1942. It was the year when the freedom struggle of India reached its crescendo and found expression in the Quit India movement. Dainik Jagran was launched with the vision of its founder, the late Puran Chand Gupta, to Create a newspaper that would reflect the free voice of the people. This vision was as much a reflection of the time when it was propounded as it is today when Dainik Jagran markets control the political destiny of the largest democracy in the world. The tradition of truth that Puran Chand Gupta heralded was carried forward by literary stalwarts like Narendra Mohan. Apart from strengthening Jagrans editorial stance, he embarked on a drive towards modernising and building interaction between the paper and its readers. In 1942, the first edition of Dainik Jagran was launched from Jhansi. In 1947, the second edition was launched from Kanpur. In a succession of launches and planned expansions Rewa and Bhopal editions were added in 1953 and 1956 respectively. In 1975 came Gorakhpur; in 1979,Varanasi, Allahabad and Lucknow. 1984 saw the Meerut edition being launched followed by Agra in 1986, Bareilly in1989 and Delhi in 1990. Between 1997 and 2006, Dainik Jagran extended itself by adding eighteen new editions one each in Dehradun, Jalandhar, Hissar, Patna, Moradabad, Aligarh, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Bhagalpur, Panipat, Haldwani, Ludhiana, Muzaffarpur, Jammu, Dharamshala, Indore and Siliguri. In June 2005, Dainik Jagran entered into a strategic alliance and partnership with Independent News and Media Plc. Shortly after, the company went public in 2006. Dainik Jagran stands for credibility. Over 64 years of excellence in journalistic standards has seen Dainik Jagran grow from strength to strength. The philosophy has been to build a relationship with its readers. In pursuance of this philosophy, Dainik Jagran has worked towards customising the newspaper.While Dainik Jagran prints out of 30 locations it actually produces 204 sub- editions that adapt the newspaper to reflect the colloquial taste of every distinct market.Thus while the publication has one title it carries different content across its eleven states, 30 editions and 204 sub-editions. This does seem to be a logistical nightmare, but systems and processes have been perfected to handle the inherent complexities. Dainik Jagrans presence in eleven states throws up another challenge: the newspaper has to be relevant to each. To ensure this, Dainik Jagran has done something no other newspaper had done before: it introduced and evolved the concept of a second editorial in

every state. Keeping ahead requires a number of things to be done simultaneously. Perhaps, the most significant is to listen to the voice of the reader. Dainik Jagran has formed Reader Panels across various markets to continuously keep listening to what the readers have to say. A related aspect to this is the creation of Reader Forums whose concerns and questions are addressed by experts in various fields. Dainik Jagran also works to improve civic life. In various residential localities Dainik Jagran has put up action boxes where people can drop in complaints and suggestions. Dainik Jagran takes up the issue editorially, gives a platform to peoples voices and gets the relevant authorities to take notice and act. The product itself offers a huge amount of variety. There are feature pages which talk about economics, sports, spirituality, health, literature, kids, entertainment, etc. There are supplements which go with the newspaper daily on various subjects like film, travel, entertainment, education and career. Special supplements are created for the readers by the readers; Junior Jagran is an example of such a product created by children. Another initiative was the launch of Gramin Jagran a product especially developed for rural markets. Dainik Jagran has explored newer content delivery platforms over the last few years. The e-paper is one such expression. Another content delivery platform that was explored was the Short Code service 57272. Widening the distribution chain has been an important development.Today, Dainik Jagran is being distributed across various hotels, airports, trains and educational institutes. Its news portal Jagran.com is the worlds largest portal amongst the Hindi category. For the next wave, Dainik Jagran is exploring various types of content delivery platforms. At Dainik Jagran, the reader always comes first. The newspaper is, therefore, on a continuous path of evolution, changing with the changing times and the changing requirements of its readers. Because of this, it projects itself in the market as Badalte zamaane ka akhbaar. To the advertisers, Dainik Jagran symbolises a huge market and a one-stop shop which provides complete solutions. With this objective, Dainik Jagran has set up Jagran Solutions which handles below-the-line marketing activities be it events, promotions, roadshows, product launches, etc.Taking this further, in February 2006, Jagran Engage was launched to provide complete out-of-home advertising solutions to advertisers. Dainik Jagran believes and invests in research. All syndicated research across any media is subscribed. In addition, it also commissions research on reader behaviour, content, format, understanding new markets and on developing new columns and products. Apart from this, there is an in-house research centre Jagran Research Centre which does outstanding work in the area of reader research. The vision of Dainik Jagran is verily the vision of India herself.To millions of Indians, Dainik Jagran is not just a newspaper, it is the guiding light of their lives. Dainik Jagran believes it to be its duty to enlighten the Indian citizenry with awakening, education and

empowerment through information. In its endeavour to serve the society in various ways, Dainik Jagran has contributed substantially towards providing education at various levels Puran Chand Vidya Niketan in Kanpur, Jagran Public School in Noida and Jagran Institute of Management and Mass Communications in Kanpur and Noida. The building blocks of success were built upon the basic premise of doing simple things well. The vision was to create a newspaper to reflect the free voice of the people and the guiding philosophy was to build a relationship with its readers. For the last 64 years Dainik Jagran has followed this path as all future initiatives will. The journey of Dainik Jagran has been one of truth, of self belief, of enlightenment, of awakening. It would continue on this path unwaveringly and unflinchingly