Newspapers are thriving in India

The Los Angeles Times has a story about how well newspapers are doing in India.

The article says: From 2005 to 2006, nearly 2,100 newspapers made their debut in India, joining 60,000 already circulating. Here in the capital, a bustling megalopolis with 15 million residents, two new dailies have hit the streets in the last four months, angling for their share of a market already divided among more than a dozen competitors.

Among the reasons responsible for the growth of newspapers are an expanding middle class, a booming economy, lower penetration of the Internet, and an upwardly mobile young population that seems to view newspaper reading as a sign of prestige, says the story.

I agree with all of that. But there's more.

Newspapers in India have their logistics around distribution right. Getting a newspaper is easy. Getting it to your door is even easier.

Growing up we subscribed to The Times of India, now the largest English-language newspaper in the country.

We lived on the second floor in an apartment complex yet the newspaper delivery boy would ensure we got our papers right outside our doorstep every morning between 6.15 p.m and 6.30 p.m.

And if the newspaper boy missed us on his rounds, it was so easy to get out and get another copy. There are newspaper vendors in every corner and sometimes you can strike up a nice deal with them to get the day's paper at the end of the day for a discounted price!

It worked like that for magazines too. If you bought a month old copy of the magazine you could get it for much cheaper.

And if you want to cancel your subscription just let your newspaper boy or the guy at the kiosk which is the distributor for your area know. Everything gets done easily, quickly and with little to no hassle.

That's completely different from my experience here in the Bay Area. Getting a newspaper to our door in San Francisco has been a nightmare. There not enough kiosks and you just can't get old copies for a discount anywhere!

Distribution seems to be a big problem in this country from what I can see.

Coming next: Our attempts to get a newspaper subscription in San Francisco.