How E-paper subscription flopped in India…

There was a time when leading English dailies of India went ballistic and boasted of having an e-paper in addition to their regular online presence. To rub salt to the wound, they began charging for the e-paper services, aping the success of their counterparts in Europe and US. That was the time when India was, slowly but steadily, getting into the ‘e-mode’ with faster connectivity and broadband access in major cities. People were still uncomfortable reading news online, forget even subscribing to e-paper by way of nominal fee.

Soon, the media houses realized their mistake, and threw open the e-paper services free of charge. Only requirement was to register with a username and password. As of now, the e-paper culture is picking up with a lot of people showing keen interest to read and feel the print-edition flavour wrapped in an online format. Advertisers are happy too – they get their ads on the print as well on the e-paper, and they get two platforms at the cost of one. Now, a majority of newspapers – both national and regional ­­­­-- have their e-papers up and running. It’s being dished out as a value edition to the readers rather than eyeing it as a revenue model. Only time will tell if India goes the US way or not.