The magazine industry in India seemsto be looking at a crisis. The mainstream news magazinesin English such asIndia Today, Outlook, The Week and Frontline have lost circulation as well as advertisers.Itseemsthat the audience has migrated to the web and even to the mobile appsthat these publications have had to come up with, although the revenues may not be commensurate. Television news channels and the increasingly magazine-like flavour of newspaper supplements have also taken away some of the big advertisers. Stand-alone magazine publishers also face the historically challenging problem of distribution — as new titles have proliferated newsstand space is at a premium.
The front cover of Evo India published byGolden Sparrow Media Works
Niche magazines are also facing a shake-out. In after July 2013, Hathway Publications, the publishers of Outlook stopped publishing the Indian editions of international magazines People, Geo and Marie Claire whose license renewals were due in August 2013. “We are not renewing our licences for these three international titles,” said Indranil Roy, president of Outlook Group. However, Roy was quick to mention at the time that Outlook, its promoters and management, remained fully committed to all other Outlook Group magazines, which will continue to be published in the normal course. Till now Roy has kept his word
Automobiles comprise one of the most crowded niche magazine segments. Of the two dozen titlesin this space, the clear leader is AutocarIndia. While some auto and bike titles are aligning themselves with television shows, most are losing readership to a combination of television, newspaper supplements and the internet. Nevertheless, there are still fresh startupsin thisspace such asthe recently launched Evo which isstill attempting to establish itself on newsstands across the country.
Beyond B2C or niche magazines, there isthe business-to-business (B2B) publishing space generally consisting ofsmall specialized publishers. In the past 20 years, larger organized players such as the Indian Express group and Tata PressInfomedia have cultivated this space by multiplying the number of titles in their stable. The Indian Express trade titles faced some of challenges emanating from the division of the group after RN Goenka’s demise, and Tata-Infomedia — which became Infomedia 18 — seems to have become a somewhat submerged part of the larger TV18 group and its investors. However, out of TataInfomedia came the NexGen group founded by its erstwhile managing director Hoshang Billimoria which currently publishes seven niche magazines and two B2B magazines that are in the main doing well.
Trade publications have elicited interest over the yearsfrom industry segmentsthat need to reach a particular or focused set of customers. Often these readers cannot be targeted easily by businessto consumer (B2C) publications which have a wider readership and consequently demand higher advertising rates. Moreover many Indian industries or verticals are still not ready to support B2B magazines and especially those from large publishers who do notseem to have a committed connection with the domainsthat they cover. The past couple of years have raised questions on the operational viability of trade magazines aslong term prospectsfor large media groups.
A few discontinued B2Bmagazines from Network 18 Publishing
In July 2012, Network 18 announced the de-merger of Infomedia 18’s publishing business. The publishing business was demerged and consolidated within Network 18 under ‘Network 18 Publishing.’ Nihir Jha, formerly business development manager of rival Nextgen Publishing, had predicted this move earlier and was not surprised. “Network 18 Publishing has a complex form of ownership and investments. While individual business units have been steady contributors in terms of revenue, streamlining these have long been a problem.”
Network 18 Publishing again made news in mid 2013 as the group went ahead with its ‘massive downsizing’ plans. This essentially saw almost 130 employees being shown the door within a surprisingly short span of three days. “All the B2B publications of the group were shut down abruptly. While the TV18 group, also part of the Raghav Bahl-owned Network 18 conglomerate, saw similar number of employees across departments being fired earlier last year due to restructuring of activities, shutting down all B2B titles was a surprise,” says Surendra Aggarwal, former assistant general manager, sales, north for Network 18 Publishing. An employee for five years with the company, Aggarwal had not envisaged a shutdown as many of the titles appeared to be generating healthy revenues.
The shutdowns also contradicted Network 18’s CEO B Sai Kumar’s statement during the group’s de-merger in July 2012 when he said that B2B publications will be one of the key drivers for publishing in India, both in print and new media. “With Network 18 Publishing, we have aligned our assets to capitalize on this trend both from a community building as well as a commercial perspective. Going forward, as publishing models develop, this alignment will significantly enhance our market proposition,” Sai Kumar said at the time
Network 18 owned and published ten monthly, bi-monthly and fortnightly magazines altogether along with special supplements. “The company now plans to relaunch their B2B portfolio, albeit online only. However, our existing clients have not taken this move positively as it
has created blocks in payment and non-realization of commitments,” said Ritesh Verma, former business development manager for the company’s B2B brands in August 2013. While some employees were retained to manage the exhibitions organized by the company, they are sceptical. Irwin Kainth, assistant manager, north, Network 18 Publishing, says, “Currently the expos, exhibitions and B2C events are doing well across the country, but we are not clear regarding their long-term feasibility. The northern markets of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana have seen a slight decline.”
Other large B2B media groups have not thus far downsized their magazines. Indian Express continues to do well with Express Pharma, Express Healthcare, Express Computer, Food and Hospitality World and Express Travel Word. Elets Technomedia has three magazines — eGovernance, eHealth and Digital Learning that are available both in print and on the web and continue to do well.
Images Multimedia vicepresident – Beauty & Wellness, Rajeev Chopra says that the Delhibased group currently publishes 8 to 10 magazines including Images Retail, Images Retail ME, Business of Fashion, Shopping Centre News, Progressive Grocer, Salon International, Food Service and Shoes and Accessories. However, reliable sources say that the group had 13 magazines in early 2013 of which at least two have been closed. u
