Updated: TOI Crest Edition: Competition Ahead For Newsmagazines?

The Times Of India‘s much anticipated weekend edition–Crest–launched last Saturday. Going by the form of the launch issue, admittedly a flawed parameter, the paper might grow to become competition to weekly newsmagazines.

Crest marks Bennett, Coleman & Co.’s bold attempt to sell a newspaper at a respectable cover price. The 40-page broadsheet sells at an “introductory price” of Rs6–a clear indication that the publisher is leaving room for more experiments with the cover price. It’s worth recalling BCCL CEO Ravi Dhariwal’s comments about pricing at a recent conference. While BCCL reproduces online all of its content from print at no cost, content from Crest (or an ePaper) is not available online at this stage. Crest is available as an epaper, though not from the ePaper homepage at the time of writing.

A newspaper is a matter of personal taste and we think Crest is a robust offering. The paper is divided at the middle–the first half has more newsy content, while the second half takes care of cars, books, music, food, art, games and all the other staples of weekend newspapers (and weekly magazines). Many stories from the first half of the paper belong in a magazine–in fact some would have made the cover. The first issue features a rich and eclectic spread of stories. We wouldn’t read too much into it, however–inaugural issues tend to sparkle. The proof of this concept will be in the consistency of its execution.

The design and layout is understated and classic, and in an ecosystem of slickly designed new magazines and newspapers, fails to stand out. Also, as has been pointed out elsewhere, some design elements bear a stiking resemblance to similar elements in the Sunday edition of The Indian Express.

But if, despite not having dedicated writers (the paper features familiar TOI bylines), Crest manages a good show weekend after exciting weekend, many readers might rethink the wisdom in spending Rs25 to buy a newsmagazine when a lavish 40-page broadsheet is available (and editor Jaideep Bose’s intro note says Crest will be more newsy when necessary) for Rs6. Afterall, how much can one read on the weekend?

contentSutra first reported in March that BCCL was working on a premium weekend newspaper.