MUMBAI: Tarun Tejpal's English newspaper has done a 'Tehelka' yet again. The paper, which was launched in January 2004 has crossed a record copies of 100,000 recently and the number is growing daily.
Out of 100,000 copies, around 17,000 are advance paid subscribers with one to 10 years subscription. Around 10,000 copies are sold through street sales (traffic signals in metros), around 3000 through the route of institutional sales - airlines, hotels, etc. Another 40,000 odd sell through residential line drop (like English dailies, direct to home and billed at the end of the month) while the remaining 30,000 are sold via news stand.
Tejpal's "people's paper" is committed to hard investigative, constructive and crusading journalism. It is passionate and it takes stands. It creates opinions and is not a passive vehicle of news.
Tehelka is positioned as a cross between a daily English newspaper and a weekly English news magazine. In terms of formatting, it is more like a newspaper where it follows a half broadsheet format, while in terms of content and frequency it is more like a weekly. The retail price per copy is Rs 10.
Close to 216 Indians have signed on as 'Founder Subscribers' of Tehelka, sending cheques of Rs 100,000 each. Many others have taken advance subscriptions of different denominations.
The total circulation is made up from the following four routes: advance paid subscriptions (20 per cent), institutional sales (5 per cent), newsstand sales (35 per cent) and residential linedrop (40 per cent).
The citywise dispersion is in terms of North, East, West, South is around 30 per cent +/- in North West and South while Kolkata accounts for around eight per cent. Through an in-house research survey, readership per copy is estimated at six numbers per copy, time spent per copy is about 2.5 hours spread over three to four sittings in a week.
Tehelka is also attempting to reach out to the people through the route of music wherein the biggest hit of recent years – Rabbi Shergill ('Bulla Ki Jaana Maen Kaun' fame) was discovered, promoted and launched by Tehelka.
Tehelka also held a press conference on 25 April at Taj Ambassador to felicitate Rabbi and hosted an exclusive private live show performance on 20 April.
While, Tehelka has emerged as India's fastest growing weekly (having grown from 0 to 100,000 in a year), its total circulation is slated to touch 150,000 numbers by September 2005.
The Tehelka website has also been pulling in its share of subscribers. The response from the advertising community has also been heartening with as many as 10 long term annual deals and at least a similar number of deals are in very advanced stages of discussions. Some of the advertisers on board are: TVS, Grasim, Reliance, Nokia, Maruti, Videocon, Pantaloon, China Airlines, General Motors, Sahara Pariwar, Bausch & Lomb, Aria Travel, Base Terminal, Eicher, BPL Mobile, Ansals, Garden, AFL,
ING Vysya, Airtel, Cricket Today, Indian Airlines, Raymonds, Toyota, Ford Enedeavor, South Asia Foundation, Hamdard, Lijjat Group, Seagate, Parx, Cry Foundation, Samsung, Hutch, TVs, Panasonic Base Terminal, Reliance, Delhi Government, LG, Samsung, Metlife, Hindustan Times, Business Standard, Amity, Coca Cola India and HP.
In line with its values of responsible living and good citizenship, Tehelka has also launched another initiative : Tehelka Social Responsibility Initiative – iPartner School Workshops which is an initiative being driven at 52 schools in Delhi. The initiative is co-supported and partnered by Coca-Cola India Limited.
Under the social responsibility initiative, Tehelka is also organizing corporate social responsibility training workshops at corporates such as Pepsi.
