Mid-Day, Mumbai's afternoon tabloid, is exploring the possibility of launching editions outside the metropolis, managing director, Tariq Ansari, said in New Delhi at the annual Ifra conference on Wednesday.
"We know that there are certain markets outside Mumbai for afternoon papers. We are looking at them and the opportunities there," Ansari said. He, however, did not specify the cities or regions that the publishing company would look at.
According to Ansari, the success of an afternoon paper depends not just on editorial content but also a readers' market. "Success of an afternoon paper depends on a number of factors. We have to see all these before taking a decision," he said.
On the recent influx of publications in Mumbai, Ansari said that Mid-Day Multimedia had taken precautions to meet tough market conditions. "We had to take some tough decisions. We closed down some business and realigned the others," he said.
According to Ansari, as a part of this, the company had hived off its FM radio business into a separate company. "Radio was hived off into a separate company with a separate management team. It was essential for us as we had to focus our efforts on the other business," Ansari said.
He also said as a part of this, the company has also decided to close down its morning paper Quick, as it was taking much of the company's management and editorial resources.
Besides, Mid-Day Multimedia also exited its outdoor advertising business completely. Ansari also said Mid-Day Multimedia decided to close down its tele helpdesk business, Hello Media, owing to this reason.
"We decided to make this business into a customer resources management business as a result of this. We realised that to meet the competition in the Mumbai market we needed to concentrate on the core business," Ansari said.