In India, the spiritual route has always been an easy way to make money. Now, the Times Group wants to cash in on this trend by launching a weekly newspaper based on ‘The Speaking Tree’, a spiritual column that is published in the inside pages of the Times of India (TOI).
According to sources, Narayani Ganesh, a senior editor at TOI, will be editing the newspaper. Moneylife contacted the management of Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd, the publishers of TOI, but they were not willing to comment on this development.
Spirituality is a booming business in India. The Times Group won’t be starved for content as there are enough spiritual and religious entities spread across the country which lean on the media for publicity.
Sources say that the TOI Crest edition, which was recently launched by the company, has not taken off. However, supplements which are clubbed along with TOI like Bombay Times or motoring magazine Zigwheels are doing good business, as they are propped up by expensive advertorials.
“Crest is now given away free at most Crossword outlets. This means that they (the Times Group) will eventually give it away free of cost as a weekend supplement (to TOI),” said PK Ravindranath, a senior journalist. “I read three issues of Crest very carefully and found that it is as good or as bad as TOI itself. It has shallow content and mostly paid advertorials,” he added.
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