CONSUMER PREFERENCES TOWARDS ONLINE SOURCES AND PRINT MEDIA: A STUDY OF HARYANA

This paper focuses on various factors which affect the reading pattern of the readers in India. In developing countries like India, where newspapers are delivered at door step, print media still has its scope in near future. Purpose- This paper aims to understand the switching of consumers from print media to online sources in the present era. Research Methodology- Exploratory research has been used as to get more insight to this topic and primary methods have been used to obtain substantial data from the consumers. Research Limitations- The small size of the sample, questions the generalizability of the findings.

The first newspaper published in India was Hicky's Bengal Gazette in Jan 29, 1780 in Kolkata. Now Dainik Bhaskar is on the top of the list of newspapers circulation figures. In English language 'The Times of India' is rank first in terms of circulation. According to the Registrar of Newspapers for India, there are 1,10,851 registered publications as at March 31, 2016. In the era of globalization, the way ofdoing things has been changed. After the pioneering of the internet in 1995, the way of interacting has changed. It has not only changed the way of doing business, but also the source of getting information. Print media which is the most easy and approachable source of getting news is now getting its competition from online news sources.
Hence, the print media industry is shrinking worldwide, but India is one of the few countries where print media has not lost its identity, rather it has grown to a certain level in term of circulation, readership and sales. Print media in India have seen a high growth in revenues, making it one of the largest global markets in India. From around 200 dailies published in post-independence time to around 1,00,000 registered newspapers and journals, print media in India has shown a high growth. Focus on regional language publication has also increased the interests of public towards printed newspapers. In India newspapers are recycled and also get support by Government subsidies which makes the print media industry cheaper and newspapers affordable. Additionally, the facility of newspapers at door step and habit of reading newspapers daily has also maintained the aura of print media and contributed to the industry.
On the other side online sources of news are convenient and accessible. They are updated much faster than print ISSN: 2320-5407 Int. J. Adv. Res. 8(08), 1257-1263 1258 media, as printed media is materialized once in 24 hours. For whom, who is information ravenous cannot survive without exploring the internet. So, for the internet savvy, newspaper is may be just a paper which has cost. The internet emancipates people. People have access to abundant information.

How come Indian Print media is still safe from online news media?
There are many factors. First, the internet penetration in India is still low in rural India. According to the report of Economic times, internet users in India to reach 627 million in 2019 pegged at 566 million driven by rural internet growth. Internet penetration in India is 40% and global internet penetration is 45%. Internet usage in rural India is still low. Secondly, in India the newspaper is delivered at home. This practice is not followed in western countries. Hence, Indians are habitual of reading newspaper daily. The third important factor is newspapers are available in vernacular languages. All work In India is done in English language.But people in India still refer to read newspaper in English language. So, availability of newspaper in vernacular language made the circulation of newspaper in India wider. in his paper 'Print vs Online Journalism: Are believability and accuracy affected by where readers find information?' studied the believability and accuracy of print and online newspaper readers in Taxes. He concluded that those who read online news considered it more accurate than local paper as online news update faster.

N Ram (2011):
Highlighted that while in America, print media circulation has reduced by 17 percent between 2006 and 2010 it has improved by 16 percent in Asia region. He said that India and China are observed as the leaders in the newspaper industry. This review gives another topic of research which must cover the exclusivity of Indian print media industry.

Shikha Rai and Pramod K. Jena (2012):
In their research paper titled 'Marketing and Communication strategies for customer retention by leading Hindi newspaper: A study of Dainik Jagran and Dainik Bhaskar' by using Content Analysis, Interview and survey. They studied the market strategies of both the papers. This research paper stated that there is huge competition within the media to capture target audience.

Kohli-Khandekar (2013):
A media researcher in her work 'Indian Media business'highlights data, out by Indian readership survey (IRS) and Hansa research. The day-to-day time consumed reading print media has reduced from 35 minutes in 2005 to 28 minutes in 2012 while the day-to-day time spend on online media has increased from 60 minutes in 2005 to 79 minutes in 2012. She has enlightened the impact of education on print media consumption also about the lawful and marketable aspects of the print industry .

C.P. Chandrasekhar (2013):
In his book "Business of news in the age of internet" explored the worldwide situation of threatening newspaper industry. He believes that the progress of internet media will continue around the globe and will have same impact on the Indian print media industry.

Price Waterhouse Coopers (2014):
In Global entertainment Media -India summary explored that online promotion profits have been increased from $113 million to $341 million from 2009 to 2013. It stated a rise in internet penetration from 7.7% in 2013 to forecasted 11.3% in 2018. It stated that there was lack of information in local newspapers but it still seems to have its fixed target. With a 7.5% rise in circulation it is said that Print media industry in India is still in run.

Pradeep Tiwari (2016):
In his article "Is Print readers declining? A survey of Indian online Newspaper readers" conducted online study with around 3,000 news netizens in India. The study infers that majority of the online news readers were still reading the printed version. He concluded that regardless of growth of internet in India, the print media industry is still in the business.

Ernst and Young LLP (2016):
In his article 8 Key trends in digital content consumption concluded that The Indian digital media is expected to grow to Rs 20,000 crores by 2020 and also expected an increase in advertisement investment from 23% to 28%. India has a vast population consisting of mostly young internet users with increased income. The cost of internet is also slowing down which leads to increase in demand for more digital content.

Clemant Mulenga Sinyangwe (2017):
In 'Impact of Online Media on Print Media Newspaper Sales: A case of Zambia daily mail Limited' says that knowledge of ICT and devices have not shown much positive result in paper sales. High cost of internet in Zambia is also a factor which hindrances the growth of e-paper.

Parveen (2017):
In his paper 'A comparative Analysis of Print vs Online News Media' collected data using Structured questionnaire from 400 respondents and were asked about timings and use of both media. He concluded that majority of the respondents prefer printed version of newspapers whether they were highly educated or not.

Dr. K.R. Subramanian (2018):
In his research paper titled 'the scope of newspaper as a futuristic medium for publicity' investigates the reasons of low growth of online newspaper in India by adopting desk research method. Main reason were low price and accessibility that lead to exponential growth of newspaper medium for publicity.

Research Methodology:-
Quantitative analysis was done by collecting data using questionnaire filled by the individuals who read news from print media or online news or both. Questionnaire was designed to know the behaviour of news netizens, their preferences and how internet is affecting their news consumption habits. A survey of 100 respondents was conducted and data was collected and Qualitative analysis was done by research analysis.

Research and Data Analysis:
Now internet has become a platform for almost every business. Indian media is also indulging in this internet market. 'The Hindu' was the first media concern which started e-newspaper in 1996. Most of the media concerns had an idea of rise of the internet media, and only few could help it. After hitting west printed newspaper market, it was invading India's market.
Data was also collected by conducting a survey for the better conclusion to the research problem. Respondents were of different age groups and demographics. Questionnaire was structured and questions were related to reading habit of respondents. It helped to get the conclusion in a better way.

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Respondents were asked whether they go for internet news or not. 59% of the respondents said yes and 23% of the respondents said no, 18% of the respondents said they go sometimes for internet news.In this survey, 84% of the net users said that they browse net on their mobile phones, 6% on Home PC and 10% on work place. High proportion of reading internet news on phone is due to increased internet penetration in Urban as well as rural areas. Increased internet usage has made India second largest internet usage country after China.
Respondents were asked their nature of reading online news. 31% of the respondents said they go quickly and lightly through the headlines of the newspaper. 20% of the respondents claim that they thoroughly read the newspaper and 26% of the respondents read in detail the story which grab their interest.24% of the respondents do not go for internet news.
Respondents were asked the reason behind studying the print media. 15% of the respondents said they find printed media economical as newspapers in India are printed with recycled paper making it low-priced. 29% of the respondents said they find it convenient as printed media is available in almost all vernacular languages. 7% of the respondents said that they find it easily accessible as there is tradition of door-step newspaper delivery. 22% of the respondents claim they are habitual of reading newspaper daily. So, they go printed media. 27% of the respondents said they don't go for printed media.

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Respondents were also asked reasons for reading internet news. The responses were as follows. 21% of the respondents said online news is in detail. 11% of the respondents held that internet media has connected stories which build up their interests more. 9% of the respondents claim that online media is interactive in nature. 14% of the respondents said it is fashionable and 25% of the respondents said it is updated faster than printed media. 20% of the respondents said they don't go for online media.
Readers were asked whether their reading newspaper habit has gone down after browsing net. 4% of the respondents said they are strongly agreed. 49% of the respondents said they agree with the statement, 31% of the respondents are neither agree nor disagree with the statement.14% of the respondents declined the statement and 2% of the respondents are strongly disagree with the statement.
Respondents were asked about their perception of future of print media industry. 7% of the respondents were strongly agreed with the statement. 43% agreed with the statement. 33% of the respondents were neither agree nor disagree. 15% of the respondents were not agree with the statement and Only 2% of the respondents were strongly disagree with the respondents.

Findings and Conclusion:-
To find out whether Indian Print media is at threat from online media. This research paper sought to analyse how internet media is impacting on the Indian print media industry. The print media business is shrinking worldwide. It has lost its subscribers and advertisement earnings to internet media. However, print media in India is very different from these developed regions. Not only it has survived the difficult times, but it is also continuously growing.Although the Indian print media industry has tackled many breezes, particularly in the past two to three years, because ofGST, Demonetization and the speedy development of internet, it has still an important place. According to the EY-FICCIreport, Indian print media industry is expected to cross $33.6 billion by 2021, which was $23.9 billion in 2018.

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These are the factors which contribute to the development of print media industry in India: Growth drivers: There are some important influences that have facilitated the Indian print media industry to pull the falling trend in western countries and grow regardless of the rise of internet penetration.
First the print media industry has the cost advantage. That is, the price of newspaper in India is very low and affordable for most of the people. According to the FICCI-EY report, newspaper cost in India is not more than Rs. 200 a month (about $ 3) which is roughly equal to the cost of one newspaper per day in the United States.
Second, the media's integrity and the practice of morning reading contributed to the support and development of the media. Though young people are morefascinated to digital technology, but mostly nudge readers still go with print media as it is more reliable.
Third, India has an exceptional circulation model. Newspapers are presented door to door at their cover prices which is very low as compared to the world market. This is because low labor cost in India as compared to cost in western countries.
Finally, availability of newspaper in vernacular language attracts readers more. In India, local languages are more preferred than English newspapers and magazines. Many regional newspaper editions help to serve a large (local) audience.This also gives the opportunity to the local businesses to place advertisement which will hit the target market. India has a relatively low level of literacy as compared to the developed countries, and hence has more advantage to print than the global average. Refined education system and improving income levels is a good factorfor more printing and for more readers.

Ad revenue dominates:
Print media is a major source of revenue about 18% of the national media and entertainment industry. Almost 70% of the revenue comes from advertising. As a result of GST stabilization, sectors such as consumer goods and automotive are increasing advertising spending.In 2018, these two sectors in total accounted for 28 percent of total print advertising revenue.Although real demand is frail, real estate accounts for 6 percent, and education for 10 percent.

Regional play:
Apart from the cost, the availability of regional newspapers plays an important role in increasing revenues and advertising volume. Dainik Bhaskar's Hindi newspaper edition is published in 11 states, while Jagran Prakashan is in 12 states across the country.According to the FICCI-EY report, Hindi newspaper advertisements account for 37 percent of total advertisement volumes in 2018, after that English newspaper advertisements 25 percent, with the remains coming from Marathi, Kannada, Telugu and Assamese newspapers.

Digital onslaught:
While India's print media industry has opportunity for growth, the industry is still not safefrom challenges. Revenues are affected by the variations in newspapers prices and are continuously under threat from hasty digitalization. To survive, publishers must adapt to the dynamic environment to retain the readers. Due to increase in internet penetration, most newspaper publishers have established online platforms and establishing digital content. For example, Dainik Bhaskar alsohas a mobile application. Although the digital content has not yet brought considerable revenue to these companies, it can grow a lot in the long run.

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To find out whether age, and educational qualification are factors of reading pattern. This study was conducted to study the impact of age and educational qualification on the reading habits of the respondents. Age, educational qualification and reading pattern are statistics of attributes. From this graph analysis we concluded that age group between 15 to 25 are most likely to agree with the statement that their habit of reading newspaper has gone down when they started browsing net and respondents who are aged are least agree with the fact that their habits are changed after online news have come into trend. Further, respondents were asked about if they anticipate that print media is going to lose its strength after internet news coming up. Results are quite same as youngest age group respondents agreed to this statement but aged group respondents are least agreed to this statement.
To qualitatively understood the future of Print Media Industry: After reviewing the literature and understanding the reading pattern, this paper comes into conclusion that print media still has its stand in the near future. It is not going to fade away. But print media industry must also focus on the increasing internet penetration. So it must go simultaneously to online platform also to have their hand on internet media.