Navbharat Times launches special edition for National Capital Region

The edition will retain its Delhi and national content, additionally offering state-level news of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

In a bid to strengthen its position further in Delhi and the NCR (National Capital Region), the Times Group's Hindi daily Navbharat Times, has launched a special edition for the NCR. The newspaper has tailored its offering to meet the growing popularity and demand for regional content.

The NCR edition will retain the Delhi and national content, additionally offering further coverage of state-level news of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The edition will be circulated in the five suburbs -- Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Greater Noida, and Noida. The main issue will be accompanied by hyper-local city pullouts in the respective regions.

Navbharat Times looks at this as an important opportunity to steer ahead of competition, identifying the NCR as a booming market, with growth in job opportunities, urban migration, and increased investments being made in infrastructure.

The estimated advertising opportunity in the edition is deemed huge as advertisers are understood to have a keen interest in NCR readers.

Aman Nayar, brand manager, Navbharat Times, says that most advertisers who consume Delhi would also look at the NCR, and given the minimal add-on rate, the daily intends to convert most of its Delhi edition advertising for the NCR edition.

The local advertising will remain a separate stream.

Ranjeet Kate, director, languages, Bennett, Coleman & Co, says, "The media buying behaviour has seen a lot of change recently. Advertisers see language dailies as a medium that provides valuable and sizeable reach in key markets such as the NCR. On the other hand, readers of such fast-paced cosmopolitan cities seek newspapers as a trustworthy guide."

He says that Navbharat Times intends to deliver value with such customised editions to both readers, as well as advertisers, and going forward, will continue to experiment and expand in newer relevant territories.

For the record, according to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) Q3, 2011, Navbharat Times' readership in Delhi-NCR stands at 19.7 lakh.