The impact of disruptions are always over or under emphasised.
One has to judge which applies here.
If u look at the presentation post q2 fy 16, management has given a bar chart depicting growth in hindi newspaper revenues including circulation and ad revenues. From 2010 till 2019, it is shown as 9 % cagr growth.
About the 25 years logic and impact of disruptions due to internet penetration, I dont look that far ahead. At current juncture I find jagran attractive in the medium term.
If one looks at figures of growth in hindi and english newspaper growth its easy to make out where the max impact of disruption is felt. Thats not to say that jagran also will not be affected. But that scenario looks a few years away.
About freebies provided by gujarat samachar and sandesh it was to mitigate the impact of a new player dainik bhaskar. It had nothing to do with internet impact. And after a brief spell it all stopped. In fact a few months back gujarat samachar has raised its prices.
For newspapers to raise prices its not a very difficult thing. Just think about a scenario where a 2 rupee newspaper costs 2.50. How much is it going to impact the reader of the newspaper? For the newspaper company it makes a huge impact but on the reader's wallet it makes a change of only 15-20 Rs per month.
And about radio, just look at the story of ENIL and you will see the impact of radio. As long as internet data charges dont reach abysmally low levels, radio seems to be there to stay.
I like the characteristics of the business. Growth will not be explosive. But some amount of growth from new ventures like radio, and digital plus turnaround of subsidiary newspapers (which seems to have started looking at last two quarters results) could provide decent profit growth.