Legacy print media Vs legacy TV news channels

Traditional news media — TV and print — began their digital journey together during the advent of digital, which makes us wonder, ‘Has digital media equalized these traditional news media outlets or do their different roots influence their digital presence?

This session at the latest edition of afaqs! Digipub World revolved around the digital presence of legacy print brands vs legacy TV news brands.

Panelists included Bharat Gupta, CEO, Jagran New Media; Milind Khandekar, digital editor, India – BBC; Puneet Singhvi, president — digital and corporate strategy, Network18 Media and Investments; Sanjay Sindhwani, CEO — digital business, Indian Express. The panel was moderated by Ashwini Gangal, executive editor, afaqs!.

The first point of discussion was how much digital content is sourced from the existing content reservoirs of these brands. Sanjay Sindhwani from Indian Express (IE) started off by saying that 20-25 per cent of IE's digital content is pulled from the print medium. Puneet Singhvi revealed that at Network18, the share was around 15-20 per cent. BBC's Milind Khandekar pointed out that BBC being a digital only platform in India, all of the content was digital first. At Jagran, 90 per cent of content is digital first with only ten per cent being sourced from traditional media, revealed Bharat Gupta.

Pivoting the discussion towards the advantage of legacy news media vs digital, Gupta says, “The advantage of a legacy brand is trust, which is a difficult thing to attain. But digital’s approach has to be more focussed unlike the mass appeal of print. Our recent foray into video without any prior history of video has also been successful.”

Khandekar added, “Legacy, whether print or TV, is an advantage in the digital world. TV has its advantages as it airs 24x7, unlike the print medium which is consumed once in a day. The next media outlet that has a clear advantage is video. Indian viewers like fast-snacking content, say breaking news, and that's exactly how Indian TV newsrooms are wired. This also transcends to the digital.”

Singhvi explained, “Take the case of an election, where the TV is the quickest way to get updates. In this situation, TV leads and digital follows. Consumption on distribution channels such as Facebook is veering towards videos. Therefore, a TV network's existing video framework provides an advantage.”

Sindhwani chimed in, “For traditional print brands, video was a challenge but that has changed over the past couple of years. The digital entities of print brands have cracked the breaking news factor. Another point is — sources. While giving out exclusive stories the usual approach was print first and then go to the others. Eventually, the print folks realised that a story they held onto for hours had gone live on TV. Now, if there is a story that is exclusive but not their personal investigation, they release it to their digital teams. It is a temporary advantage for print brands. The entrenchment of print at the moment is higher.”

From a credibility POV, could legacy print brands be at a disadvantage because of a general notion that due diligence isn’t a priority in their digital arms or is it the opposite. Sindhwani argued, “There is rigour in print since what is printed cannot be undone and this attitude is carried on to digital as well. Unlike TV and digital where changes can be made after a video is aired.”

Jagran's Gupta reminded, “This is a problem being faced by all digital platforms, especially in news. The race to break a story compromises the quality. That's what gives birth to misinformation. As an organisation, laying the right SOPs and right training to maintain pace along with accuracy is a challenge.”

So, do legacy print and legacy TV vary when it comes to trust and credibility?

Singhvi responded, “I think print is a bigger player because of the number of years they’ve been around. Some for several decades and some even a century. TV has been able to catch up really fast and differentiate when it comes to legacy and reach in the regional networks. The access, reach and connect is much deeper.”

The moderator injected the advertising angle to the discussion with the question — do advertisers differentiate between legacy print vs legacy TV. Who is at an advantage?

Indian Express' Sindhwani answered saying, “In the online space, advertisers decide basis the reach, demographics, etc. It also depends on what sort of promotion is happening. If it has to do more with video, they might choose the digital arm of a TV brand, But print would be an option if it were banners or static ads that were being promoted. It depends on the messaging. In the current scenario everybody has strong video capabilities. But the online print brand might have to show it off.”

So, how much can a legacy brand migrate from print to digital when it comes to advertising?

"Migration is a tough one as the way both print and digital media is sold is very different. We have been discussing and trying out various ideas. The buying patterns have shifted from buying a site to buying audiences. Buying audience groups is all about reach, access, delivery and then the ad formats. And this gives an advantage to regional digital media," concludes Singhvi.