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Ebela takes off in India

ABP, one of the leading multimedia groups in India, launched a new daily paid newspaper, Ebela, in 2012 and in just 10 weeks, the paper vaulted to become the No. 2 Bengali-language circulated paper in the country.

by WAN-IFRA Staff executivenews@wan-ifra.org | June 5, 2013

It is second only to the group’s flagship title, Anandabazar Patrika.

“If you make a product that is relevant, vibrant and targeted, it will work,” said D.D. Purkayastha, Managing Director and CEO, during “The resilience of print” session at the World Newspaper Congress.

Impressively, Ebela, targeting a younger audience, hit the streets just 3.5 months after conception. The reasons behind its success were simple, says Purkayastha.

  1. Convenient, smart tabloid format: It was the first tabloid format in this broadsheet market and features very short news.
  2. Wide variety of content: featuring international news, sports, an entertainment pullout, 3 full pages of graphics comic novels, celebrity interviews, and a Sunday culture and literature edition.
  3. A colourful and attractive design: meaning lots of photos.
  4. Pricing: the single copy and subscription prices are lowest on the market, but he says the value is “undeniable.”
  5. Innovative marketing: This is where ABP’s multimedia might really came into play as the company rolled out numerous TV promo ads, radio spots, handed out free papers on launch day, made branded sweets in a number of shops, and held fashion shows, concerts and more.

Besides the success in sales and circulation, the paper has accumulated 150,000 likes on Facebook. Fifty-six percent of Ebela readers are completely new, not reading the flagship title. And advertising is expanding as customers who place an ad in the flagship daily tend take a package offer with Ebela gaining 18% more reach.

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