The magazine industry is going through a sketchy phase in India, just like it is in the
rest of the world. While newspapers have added supplements to their main issue and infringed on the content covered by magazines, TV channels have launched different genres that hardly existed until a few years back. With the increased penetration and adoption of the internet in the country, more people are now consuming news and stories
on different platforms. A significant trend that can be noticed is the penetration of English language magazines in metros and urban centers although the smaller cities are also following in close heels. There is little doubt about India’s market potential.
Whatever turmoil the magazine industry may have gone through, The Caravan from Delhi Press has withstood the test of time and continues to stand tall among its space. The Caravan is one of the most critically acclaimed magazines from the stable of Delhi Press, a publishing group that prides itself in its varied portfolio of publications, including family-oriented, political and general interest magazines along with magazines for women, children and rural folk. With 36 magazines in 10 languages, the group enjoys a strong reach in all regions of the country with popular magazines such as Grihshobha, Woman’s Era, Sarita, Saras Salil and Champak.
Delhi Press was established in 1939 by the late Vishva Nath and The Caravan followed a year later. Helming the operations of the magazine, Vinod Jose, executive editor of The Caravan, says that the magazine was first launched as an experiment. Although it
was discontinued in 1988 to start a current affairs magazine, it was resurrected in 2010 under the able vision of Anand Nath, who currently holds the positions of director for the group and editor of The Caravan. Inspired by The Atlantic and The New Yorker, the magazine is India’s first long form narrative journalism magazine. “In 2008 or 2009, when
the presentation of the magazine was being discussed, there was no contemporary magazine dwelling on similar lines. In the West, of course, we see that magazines are mostly divided into three categories— category or trade magazines, weekly news magazines and the long-form narrative journalism magazines. This sort of a model has historically never been tried out in India although we have seen instances of The New Yorker and The Atlantic in the United States.”
The Caravan was revived at a period when Facebook and Twitter were already quite popular in India and content was being adapted to fit 140 characters. So what’s the relevance of a long-form narrative journalism in today’s age, we ask Jose. He says, “Our objective has been to fit in this kind of a space and appeal to readers who can understand and appreciate the nuances of life. During the last 10 years, journalism has become, apparently, quite black & white. Not every story can be condensed into 300 or 400 words with all the complexities that the subject would deserve. So, often journalists who would be at the
forefront and understand the core issue of the story, would find this to be an intellectual and moral dilemma. Word limit or time limit should not be a limiting factor to do a proper story, which a reader can properly relate to or connect with. We wanted to break away from a news weekly form of reporting and come up with something which was more substantial.”
The only point of worry for the team was about the possible readership that the magazine could achieve and that worry has been largely addressed by the consistent response that the magazine has been able to garner since its relaunch. Jose says, “The good thing about
being supported by a huge magazine publishing group such as Delhi Press is that your overall costs get backed up by the organization. Having said that, The Caravan has an objective to reach out to the decision-makers amongst the populace and we are proud to be able to reach out to the cream of the readers. On an average, our circulation is about 50,000 copies a month and for a premium magazine like us who wants to reach a specific
target audience with a stand price of Rs. 100, this is no less feat. The magazine has hit the right spot with the readers’ minds, and it is making money as well. This kind of response
has not instilled confidence in us but has also given hope to a lot of people who believe in good content.”
“The Caravan has an objective to reach out to the decision-makers amongst the populace and we are proud to be able to reach out to the cream of the readers”. The magazine has hit the right spot with the readers’ minds, and it is making money as well. This kind of response has not instilled confidence in us but has also given hope to a lot of people who believe in good content.”
The web extension of the magazine is called Vantage and it focuses on web-specific stories, which readers could access digitally. The print issue also releases its stories through the web in a staggered manner where the story of the month usually comes out at the end of the month. Vantage, comprising a team of five dedicated people, reaches out to around 3 to 4 lakh people in a month. Jose notes, “The digital reach of Vantage is certainly bigger than the print issue but the monetization of this huge audience remains the biggest challenge for us. We have noticed that unlike a newspaper or a news-weekly, the percentage-wise conversion for the people to pay for long-form content is more and for the
niche audience that we aim at, the response should be better.”
Jose feels that the digital platform can bring in a lot of young and fresh readers, which is exciting and the print issue provides with the necessary solidity and heft. “The magazine
industry in India is in trouble, with circulations going down heavily for many. However, if the quality of content is good enough to engage a reader, its readership is bound to increase. There is still demand for high-quality print content and magazines need to deliver on that need to avoid losing market share to other mediums. For magazines which
have good content and are targeting a niche audience, both print and digital readership should increase even in the next few years,” concludes Jose.
