fipp.com Q4 2008 | Magazine World | 29
A recent online publishing study shows about one national, international – successfully.
B2B and specialist titles are
third (35 per cent) of Indian publishers are engaged in The future will also witness different revenue streams
booming in India.
digital publishing, with a further 20 per cent likely to coming from alternative advertising routes. It will
start over the next three years. The main reasons for not include the creation of publishing products around the
introducing digital publishing before, has been lack of magazine brand, like CDs and DVDs.
awareness about new technology and lack of interest Brand positioning will be the great strength of
among users. the magazine industry in India. Conventional ways
The industry clearly has to take the magazine business of generating revenues will disappear. Over a period
online and mobile to keep pace with consumer demand. of time, other income revenues will supersede the
Magazines have demonstrated they are unique and conventional streams by leaps and bounds. The
have a high level of involvement with their audience. magazine business will move towards enabling
However, these audiences are increasingly consuming advertisers to achieve more and more quantifiable
content digitally, and therefore monetising these digital objectives, while determining the reach and impact of an
customers is the next big challenge. integrated association.
"B2B and specialist magazines in India have the edge over
newspaper and TV, as far as rich content is concerned..."
Another important concern for the industry is whether The future of the Indian magazine industry is
to build its own home-grown brands, or be the licensee clearly moving towards digitalisation. That said, I
of international titles. We know there is an obvious see the resurgence of content and readers will force
advantage of brand recall with global advertisers. publications, whether print or digital, to come up
Although there is a huge global influence in India, this with quality material. The regional magazine industry
runs parallel with a new local trend. Viewer preference will grow, but the niche magazine segment will shine
for local content is continuously increasing - we are and dominate the Indian magazine industry. Content
already witnessing rapid proliferation of regional and convergence and customisation will define the way
city specific magazines. But even as the viewer leans magazines will move forward.
towards local events, he still remains hungry for the
wider national and international perspective. The
Anurag Batra is chairman and editor-in-chief of
media needs to straddle these different worlds – local,
exchange4media Group
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