mint adds another feather in the cap, strengthens national presence

Mint is the first newspaper in India to be published in the Berliner format and has a 24% readership share in the key markets of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Ahmedabad now becomes Mint's sixth printing location.

Speaking on the occasion of the launch, Vivek Khanna, Publisher and Business Head, Mint, said, "Our pre-launch research has shown that Mint's proposition of 'clarity in business news' finds great favour with business news readers in Gujarat.

"We have used our research inputs to tailor the Mint product for Ahmedabad. Mint in Ahmedabad will be printed as two books with Mint Money, the exclusive section on Markets, Investing and Personal Finance, built as a convenient pull-out.

"Mint Money, with its comprehensive coverage of markets news, in-depth analyses and exhaustive listings of stocks and mutual fund schemes, will serve as a valuable section to our readers in Gujarat who value news and analysis on markets and investing."

Khanna reveals that the reason to launch Mint in Gujarat was to reach out to the corporates in there "Last year we entered two new markets, Kolkata and Chennai, which made us a national product. Ahmadabad has discerning readers in upper SEC hence logical to reach out to this market. We realized that Ahmadabad market will be receptive to our content and journalism and will find takers," he explained.

With Hyderabad too on their radar, Khanna revealed that even though the basic news item would remain the same, they have introduced couple of differentiators especially for Ahmadabad.

"Business news is similar in all the markets, since its business news it will be almost similar in all the markets. However, there is great demand for market tips and stock analysis hence we have introduced a couple of differentiators.

So what is Mint expecting from the Ahmadabad audience? "The idea is to reach out to as many as possible hence we have used Print, OOH and Internet, idea is also to reach a certain core TG which we have reached out through business sites," he said.

According to Sandeep Bhushan, Chief Operating Officer, Mint they are expecting to get a 30 per cent revenue from the launch.

So what potential does Ahmadabad have for mint?

"Ahmadabad is one of the key market areas from the industry point of view. It has high profile readers and has high appetite for consuming a product like ours. Research shows clarity for this market and we have a sound product to offer to the market," Bhushan said.

"Gujarat has advertising potential upwards of Rs 6 Crs. It has top end audience. We have an exclusive readership share of 25 per cent nationally and seek to do the same here," he added. And they are leaving no stone unturned for the launch. "We have a standout product we intent to do extensive sampling of the product.

Our focus is on top end audience hence we will be using Airports, Clubs, and hotels to push our product," Bhushan revealed.