Prabhat Khabar launches from Gaya

Neutral Publishing House has introduced the 10th edition of Prabhat Khabar; it is the first Hindi newspaper to be published from Gaya.

Neutral Publishing House Limited (NPHL), the publisher of Prabhat Khabar, has introduced its 10th edition from Gaya -- the first by any Hindi newspaper with multiple editions.

The new edition will bear a cover price of Rs 3, and the intial print run will be around 40,000 copies. The Gaya edition will have 10 colour pages.

Talking about the new launch, K K Goenka, managing director, NPHL says, "It is the first newspaper from Gaya, and it is indeed a feather in the cap as we have worked very hard for the timely launch of this edition. We are now present across eight locations in Bihar and Jharkhand - two editions more than our closest competitors. This will be an important competitive advantage for us."

Like other major Hindi dailies, Prabhat Khabar, too, reached out to readers in Gaya through its Patna edition. The group has now set up a printing facility there.

On an average, the new edition will have 18-20 pages of the main issue, and there will be three weekly supplements Rang, Ravivar, Avsar. "We have been very aggressive in Bihar in recent times. In fact, we have achieved a circulation of 3.5 lakh in the state within a year's time. We will try and ensure that more local content makes it to the front page, so as to establish that Prabhat Khabar is their local paper," adds Goenka.

Prabhat Khabar had launched its last edition from Bhagalpur in February 2011. With this launch, Prabhat Khabar is in four locations each in Bihar and Jharkhand - Patna, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Gaya, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad and Deoghar, and two in West Bengal -- Kolkata and Siliguri.

R K Dutta, executive director, NPHL says, "The launch in Gaya holds considerable importance to our expansion strategy in Bihar, enabling us to further broaden our presence in Bihar and Jharkhand." The retail advertising potential of the city is not very big and is in the range of Rs 3 crore. The main advertisers are educational institutes.

To promote the new edition, Prabhat Khabar has installed around 40 hoardings across the city along with kiosks, auto branding, and pamphlet distribution.

The group also owns the FM radio station Radio Dhoom, 104.8 FM in Ranchi and Jamshedpur, and an events and brand division Prabhat Buzz.

Hindustan, too, is expected to launch its edition from Gaya within two months.