India: About 2 new launches a month

Yet another article on Indian Magazine scene!
A special report titled "Magazines lead print sprint" on IndianTelevision, suggests that it is "Guy mags where maximum action is at present". According to this article, about two magazines a month have launched in the past year or there are 24 new magazines in the market today.

Trends: More launches expected this year?

The Outlook group has announced a couple new magazines (on lifestyle) and business. Reed Business Information(RBI) has a announced a tie-up with Infomedia India and Reed Elsevier has a tie up with a Delhi-based publisher. Maxim (inaugural cover shown here) has made a loud entry into the Indian magazine market.
However, The Indian Express Group that last year announced plans to launch special interest magazines has been unusually silent despite having hired some of the best heads from Outlook Group.

Excerpts from a story posted on agencyfaqs

The Indian Express group, which had earlier announced the launch of a few new magazines in the first quarter of 2006, has deferred its plan as of now.
However, in a telephonic conversation with agencyfaqs!, Shekhar Gupta, editor-in-chief and group CEO, Indian Express group asserts that the plan to launch the magazines has not been completely shelved. “The plans are still on, and hopefully we will be ready to announce something pretty soon,” he says.
But the industry is quite abuzz with the rumour that the plans for the magazine have already been abandoned. It may be recalled that the group had hired senior professionals for its new venture. Outllook’s Sandipan Deb was hired to head this division.
Gupta insists that the main reason for this delay in the launch has been logistical problems, but he declines to divulge details.

Media Ads: Hindustan Times epaper

HT has a new advertising campaign headlined 'Spread the news without saying a word'.
Read more about it on agencyfaqs.com

Article: Print proliferation

I'd like to think that I noticed this earlier :)

In the article Print Proliferation in Business Standard, writer Sangeeta Singh wonders if the current frenzy in Indian magazine and newspaper market will last?

Trends: Mags Use New Video Platforms To Become TV Channels

NICHE publishers are utilizing new video platforms -- both broadcast and broadband --to become television producers.
Primedia has unveiled plans to create a new broadcast TV channel based on its popular Motor Trend magazine. The new channel, Motor Trend TV, will take advantage of the new multicast broadcast spectrum that some stations will create by compressing their digital broadcast signals into multiple, lower definition channels. Make magazine, meanwhile, is utilizing broadband video sharing site YouTube.com to achieve a similar end.

Read more in this article by Erik Sass of Media Post at
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=42430&Nid=19891&p=192968
(Registeration required)

Why I don't like Outlook's LS

Mohan, my colleague, was on a trip to Delhi and got back a copy of Outlook with a free L&S issue for me.

First impressions:
I do NOT like the magazine.

Cover story on cocktails features a very predictable headline "CHEERS!". The write-up itself is not very inspiring or fresh and begins with an arduous description of the word 'cocktail'(yawn!). A very forgettable start for a launch issue!
'Decor' article is equally mundane and though the writer tries to play up the uniqueness of the home of Ansals, it reads like a bore.
Footloose destination is 'Venice', 'Cityscape' features Mumbai's 'Irani Cafe' and he Wellness article features 'Ayurveda'. Very, very 'Has-been'!

Other things I really disliked:
a) Bad display 'Section head' typeclusters.
b) Absence of 'end signs' to signify that a article is over.
c) Considering that the magazine mentions products worth Rs 28,000 in its 'shopping' section, the paper quality is poor and fails to do justice to the goodies!

What I liked:
a) Anji's recipe of green mango curry (have yet to make it, though)
b) Interesting expressions like: deity-inspired, Maximalism, 'The Waft, and then the warp'

Verdict:
I hope the next L&S offers something that one takes back from its page.
Till then I shall read the newly introduced column "bluff list" in the Express Sunday Reading to sound 'smart' and 'in' with the Rich and the Snobbish.

Newspapers: From Print to Pixels

Over the last decade, the Internet has disrupted one industry after another. Travel, music, retail, and telecommunications are just a few of the sectors that have been forced to adapt to the new reality of the Web. Now, the newspaper business is starting to feel the full force of fundamental technological change.
Read more on the BusinessWeek site at http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/
mar2006/tc20060320_258417.htm


About the picture
This is a part of the $50 million dollar advertising campaign launched by NAA (Newspaper Association of America) called "Newspaper advertising: a destination, not a distraction". Take a close look at the print and online ads at the following link:
http://www.naa.org/advertiser/ads.html

Redesign: It is 'Outlook' this time!

We have one more redesigned publication in the Indian Magazine market.
Jan 2006 saw Better Photography of Infomedia India being redesigned by Synapse . This year has also seen a spate of redesigned publications from Malayalam Manorama Group: The Week, followed by Sportstar, which changed to a bigger tabloid format, aided by Mario Garcia, CEO of Garcia.Media (the 'chief architect' of the first major redesign of The Wall Street Journal in 77 years in 2002) and Hindu BusinessLine, which became 'Compact' in Feb 2006.

Is the redesigned Frontline out?

Anyway, Outlook has a new look from the April 17, 2006 issue. And it is not very inspiring :(
Will write more in detail later. Till then do keep me posted with your comments on the new look Outlook. And other redesigns...

* Offer available in select cities only!

Well, my bad!
I missed reading the 'fine print' and in excitement went to a bookshop to buy 'Outlook'. Asked about the companion magazine 'Life & Style" and was met with blank stares....
Goa does not qualify as a 'select city' so will have to wait for a friend to send me a copy bought in Mumbai.
Sorry, will post my thoughts on the new magazine later!

But, there seems to be more coming. We will soon see a new business magazine from the OUTLOOK Group: "The Big B is launching on 20th April" (mentions the ad in the current issue).

Editorial: Deciding On A Magazine's Cover: Everyone Has A Different Take

In the article "Cover Clinic: The Elements of a Big Seller" in Circulation Management (a magazine by the same group who publish Folio: ) Jane Zarem sums up the various ways consumer magazine publishers pick their cover subjects.
Some magazines leave the decision almost entirely in the hands of the editorial staff, but most don't. The cover is such an overwhelmingly critical component of newsstand sales that many magazines invite executives from the circulation department(!!) into the final decision-making session. The reasoning is: They have the best handle on what will move product.

Read on...
http://www.circman.com/viewmedia.asp?prmMID=2175&prmID=1

When you have an outlook, life & style comes free.

Outlook Group seems to be getting into fashion, luxury and lifestyle publishing.
Buy their current issue and get one copy of Life& Style FREE!
Will pick up a copy today and write about it later this week...

my first posting...