Soon enough, no advertiser’s media plan was complete without the Times as competitors bled, BCCL became the most profitable media company in the country. “Our success lies in offering solutions to the advertiser and not just selling advertising space,” says Dhariwal. “We were the first to offer innovative pricing with packages like Mastermind and Maximiser. In the latest strategy of private treaties, we offer small companies with limited budgets high visibility in exchange for equity.”

Another masterstroke was to charge advertisers on the basis of square centimetres instead of column centimetres. Offered as a precise measure for the changing shapes and sizes of ad insertions, it made the advertiser pay more in the long run.

The Newsmaker Makes News
"The Times is completely consumer-focused; they beat the pants off everybody else, says Meenakshi Madhvani, managing partner of media audit firm Spatial Access. "Take its 'Lead India' Campaign. It understands that people are looking for icons that are not politicians. I don't agree with some of its editorial policies, but Times understands trends first."

Traditional wisdom seeks revenue from both the cover price and ad sales. But BCCL debunked this too. It slashed ET’s price from a high of Rs 5 to Rs 2 in 1992-93 pushing its national circulation to nearly 500,000 and demolishing competition. Similarly, when Times of India took on Delhi market leader Hindustan Times, it created a media scandal by cutting its price to Re 1. Pricing as part of market strategy worked and it finally overtook HT in Delhi by the beginning of 2007. In the process, BCCL turned TOI and ET into unputdownable advertising vehicles.

“With the launch of DNA and other titles, the market has become more competitive. It has also resulted in our products becoming more reader-friendly. The media industry has grown, but we have grown faster than the industry,” says Dhariwal. The Old Lady never looked hotter.