Four news publishers in Southern India have formed an alliance to increase their share of the digital advertising market.

In an INMA blog, Eenadu Group marketing general manager Sushil Kumar Tyagi says the strategic partnership has empowered the media houses and helped advertisers leverage their reach.

South Premium Publishers is a strategic alliance between:

Dinamalar (the world's leading Tamil daily news publication company founded by Thiru. T.V. Ramasubbaiyer);

Eenadu (the world's leading Telugu daily news publication company founded by Shri Ramoji Rao);

ManoramaOnline (the 23-year-old digital arm of Malayala Manorama Group with a global monthly reach of 36 million); and

Prajavani (one of the most trusted and credible news brands across Karnataka).

SPP enables advertisers to reach their target audience "in one go," he says. "Advertisers can execute their targeted campaigns in southern India through a single point of contact and a single RO."

He says the alliance offers a robust value proposition and therefore, "makes good business sense" for advertisers.

"It offers a customised solution to advertisers based on the mature and deep understanding of the market of the publishers constituting it

Sushil Kumar Tyagi says SPP is an example of blue ocean strategy with open-market innovation. "The cutthroat competition is avoided to a large extent, and a regional language advertising option is provided to advertisers, an innovation not previously available."

He says Indian news publishers need a new ad strategy in the wake of COVID-19, and believes the blue ocean strategy is "the way forward".

Surveys had shown the importance of the credibility of news and its source, and with huge potential for business, every media house wants to tap this opportunity.

The four leading digital news publishers of the southern states have created India's first prominent digital advertising package offering digital advertising solutions to advertisers collectively as a group of renowned publishers.

According to the GA report on combined monthly averages from April 2020-September 2020, the group collectively offers 37 million unique views, 715 million pageviews and an average time spent of 3.36-8.09 minutes.