DNA, the newspaper from Zee Group, has shut its Jaipur edition, days after it shut its Delhi edition.
There will no DNA newspaper printed and circulated in Jaipur from tomorrow, Diligent Media Corporation, which publishes the paper, said.
The decision was taken to “optimise cost and cut-down losses,” it added.
It did not say whether the move will impact any of its employees. According to Newslaundry, the company laid off 15 people when it shut off its Delhi edition, mostly in the circulation and marketing team.
Diligent Media is held under Zee Media Corp, the news broadcasting arm of Zee Group, which itself is part of the Essel Group, which has interests in construction and infrastructure and runs a water park in Mumbai.
DNA Jaipur contributed Rs 7.49 crores, or around 6%, of the total revenue of Diligent Media Corp in the year ended March 2018.
For the first nine months of the current financial year, it has fallen to Rs 2.77 crore, or 3%, of the total revenue of the company.
DNA was launched in 2005 in Mumbai as a joint venture of the Dainik Bhaskar group and the Zee Group, at a time when India was flush with money and new ventures.
However, the young newspaper soon found the going tough in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008-09.
Like most of the Indian print media sector, DNA never fully recovered from the impact of the financial downturn that affected advertising spends.
Designed like a traditional newspaper with high newsprint and circulation costs, the paper was ill-prepared to adapt to the digital-dominated world, where costs of the print operations have to be kept under control and focus has to be shifted to a multi-media mode involving a lean print operation supplemented by online and video.
As a result, the paper never managed to turn profitable.
Zee Media management faced some tough questions from investors in a conference call earlier this month. The management maintained that brand DNA will be maintained as it has a presence that goes beyond print and complements the other, broadcast-oriented brands of the group.