Tabloids tick with the people more than the biggies because they write on what you care about

Every Sunday a resident of Besant Nagar or a colony in Adyar would see young cyclists dressed in light blue uniforms, distributing the “Adyar Times” tabloid from apartment to apartment. In Adyar alone, their circulation is over 40,000 copies.

Welcome to the world of local community newspapers and how Chennai was the first city that set this trend. What started as a small idea in the mid-1990s between two retired men Mr. SP Ambrose and Mr. KS Ramakrishna, for keeping themselves occupied during the day, soon changed the media dynamics of Chennai.

The nineties was the days when ‘The Hindu’ reigned supreme with maximum circulation and here was ‘Adyar Times’, almost apologetic in tabloid format, giving out free handouts in the neighbourhood pharmacies and supermarkets.

The displays and the classifieds beat the editorial and feature columns. This the neighbourhood embraced with open arms because it offered them information on events closer to them. If a resident was to look out for a guitar instructor or yoga teacher or hang out with friends over a Mexican meal at a new restaurant, he would seek out “Adyar Times” for information.

Slowly the retail crowd too found value in advertising in these  tabloids for the audience was nearer home and the cost of advertising easy on the purse when compared to the main papers.

By the year 2,000,  the success of “Adyar Times” (they spawned out Mylapore Times, Arcot Times, Anna Nagar Times almost simultaneously) had created a new space for community tabloids.

Apollo Times, Adyar Talk, Besant nagar Times and so many me-too products crowded in the same media space. By now even media giants like “The Hindu” and “Times of India” launched their neighbourhood specials but those did not fetch the level of success these pioneers managed.

One cannot solely depend on advertisers to hold the interest of the reader. “Adyar Times” was also involved in ‘keeping the beach clean’ initiatives or hiring life-guards on the beach when the spate of accidental deaths rose among visitors and for their involvement in the December music festival season.

So whether it is judging rangoli competitions or the best decorations for navaratri, it was a concerted effort to keep the content localized and relatable to the community.

The chief clientele of these tabloids are still those looking for rentals or caterers for morning breakfast or new restaurants or gyms opening in the area. Besides, a reader would like to see familiar faces in tabloids besides pictures of those perennial municipal issues discussed in a neighbourhood space.

What started as an 8 page weekly is now 24 pages and is growing stronger with residents keen on grabbing the free handouts. Finally, every major locality in Chennai has found its own unique voice and is content to fill those idle Sunday mornings, with what has got both the your people and retail on the same page.

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