Malayala Manorama initiative instills daily newspaper reading habits in students
Ideas Blog | 17 July 2024
Print readership in Kerala is the highest among all states in India. Reading newspapers is such an ingrained habit for most Malayalees that during the COVID-19 lockdown periods, the government of Kerala deemed newspapers an essential service, which enabled them to be home-delivered even during the heights of the pandemic.
But in recent years, print readership among younger audiences has been seeing a gradual decline.
With this as the context, Malayala Manorama, the daily from the biggest media house in Kerala, makes it a mission to bring back the habit of reading among school children. It did this through “Read & Win,” one of the biggest quiz competitions in India for students in grades nine to 12.
What makes the quiz different is that the questions are only found in the newspaper. A whopping prize of Rs 2.5 million (approximately US$29,943) further motivated student participation.
Along with increasing the subscription base of Malayala Manorama daily among school students in Kerala, this was an opportunity to meaningfully engage with the student community on a regular basis and create an offering that makes newspaper reading a necessity for them. Catch them young and watch them grow.

A big launch
The campaign was announced on National Reading Day (June, 19, 2023), encouraging students to read the newspaper every day and participate in the quiz.
The Malayala Manorama group’s media vehicles, which included the daily newspaper, television, radio, and various digital mediums, carried a multimedia campaign announcing the quiz. Schools registered for the quiz using a purpose-made Web site and a WhatsApp chatbot.
The quiz began with a preliminary written test across schools in Kerala. The winners from this test went on to participate in the district-level competitions conducted across all 14 districts of Kerala. The top 30 teams qualified for the state-level grand finale, which was telecast as a TV show. This campaign had a sponsor whose target group were also students.

Attracting young readers
The campaign achieved impressive results and accomplished its goals (and more) in just a few months:
- Read & Win encouraged 1,012 schools in Kerala to subscribe to Malayala Manorama daily, which encouraged schoolchildren to read the newspaper. This resulted in an increase of 10,120 copies of Malayala Manorama daily.
- The Read & Win preliminary round was organised in 1,012 schools. A total of 152,380 students participated in this round, making Read & Win one of the largest quiz competitions in India.
- Read & Win preparatory modules in the Malayala Manorama daily saw an increase in participation over a span of eight weeks, indicating a good engagement level of the campaign. An average of 32,000 students participated consistently across eight weeks in the teaser modules.
- The student community got hooked on the habit of newspaper reading with the promise of a “win” if you “read” the newspaper. Once they see the overall benefits, this will be a habit formed for a lifetime.
The campaign even motivated schools to introduce an hour dedicated to reading the newspaper.