The Times of India group has launched a subscription product ET Prime, which it is positioning as a "members-only business storytelling platform." The positioning, in terms of focusing on "members" instead of "subscribers" is an important one here, since it allows the platform to provide additional services, including members-only access to events, and "Great conversations among an elite community of opinion leaders ", and an opportunity to become a contributor". The service is priced at Rs 2499 for a year, and Rs 799 for 3 months, with a 15 day free trial: between Rs 208.25-266.33 per month. What's a bit odd is that even the "Welcome to ET Prime" post is behind a paywall. Facepalm. This is the Times of India group's second foray into a niche/subscription product in recent times, with the first being Times Crest, launched as a weekend newspaper in 2009, and shuttered in 2013. Anant Rangaswami had raised some questions about Crest then. The initiative has 21 people on board, led by Editor Shishir Prasad, and Associate Editor Tanmoy Goswami, and its areas of focus include Consumer Markets, Media and Communications, Corporate Governance, Economy and Policy, Fintech and BFSI, and Pharma and Healthcare. In terms of a subscriptions business, ET Prime would compete with The Ken, which is largely backed by execs from the Internet industry, and reports on technology and healthcare; I noticed a potential dig at The Ken in the description for ET Prime, where it says that "We are biased towards depth, not…
