A few weeks ago, I decided to do some preparation for our annual FIPP World Media Congress, which takes place in Portugal in June, by writing my opening remarks. Normally, I would stand up and say a few words about the state of the industry and FIPP’s achievements over the past year.

Given all of the noise and attention around the raft of new AI writing tools that have seemingly emerged from nowhere all at once, I thought I would put ChatGPT to the test, and give it the task of writing my speech for me. 

Having prompted it, there followed a short period of deep thought, then a sudden rapid regurgitation of text. The speech, amounting to some 350 words was, at first glance quite well-written, containing phrases like “change is the only constant”, “we believe in the power of publishing” and “let us seize this opportunity to be bold”. I sat back thinking “task completed” and felt quite proud of myself. 

But then I started to re-read what the computer had written, and doubt crept into my mind. Were there too many clichés? Could these words actually apply to any event, not just a publishing conference? And, most of all, did it really sound like me? In the end, I’ve decided not to use it, realising that the text was somehow less than the sum of its parts. With a clean piece of paper, I’ve written it again, only this time it sounds more like me.

Amidst all the hype about AI-driven journalism, and the idea that it is going to come and steal our jobs, perhaps here is a dose of realism. AI is undoubtedly a very clever tool and, for many routine jobs, even routine journalism, it will perhaps prove to be a significant time-saver. But we must never delude ourselves into thinking that it is human, or that it is able to think and produce like a human. 

It is only ever the sum of its parts, in this case whatever limited information about FIPP, our industry and the event that it was able to scrape from the internet. (Incidentally, much of its learning is enabled by content that we ourselves have produced, without any compensation to us for taking these fruits of our labours to build a new product, but that’s another story…)

Only humans are able to provide that intuitive leap of the imagination, to forge the seemingly invisible connection or to come up with a wonderful, original turn of phrase that lingers in the mind. We must remain confident in our ability to out-smart the computers and, as in my case, pick up our metaphorical paper and pen and get back to the business of doing the thing only we can do – making compelling content.

James Hewes – President & CEO, FIPP, will be speaking at the Indian Magazine Congress. IMC is all set for a comeback as the flagship event of the Association of Indian Magazines. It is slated to be organised on March 24th, at the Oberoi, New Delhi.

The conference agenda is live at https://aim.org.in/imc12/

Ever since I took on the responsibility of the President of AIM at the peak of the pandemic in Sep 2020, it has been my dream to showcase the strength and significance of magazines in the media landscape. 

Having spent over three decades of my life in the pursuit of keeping myself relevant, I am patently biased towards the magazine media industry, but here goes! 

The magazine is a unique medium that has always driven perspective and enabled its communities to draw insights, rather than simply reporting and provoking audiences like most other media. We thrive in digging deep, and then digging wide in our coverage of happenings around us. We groom thinking and discerning communities and that has traditionally attracted our utility as an ideal brand building platform for compelling brand stories. 

Yet, in India, magazines are a small fraction of the print media industry- in single digits percentage- while our counterparts in the west, are almost equal the size of newspaper sector! What were the building blocks that enabled this mega size in West, and ones that we have seemingly missed in India. What could we learn from our international peers? 

My intrigue was enhanced by the approach of the west when digital became centre stage to our future. They had adapted and adopted best practices by experimenting and chiselling their way through consistently creating engaging communities. 

Whilst the typical magazine brands of yesteryear was successful when it was ‘broad-based’, of ‘general interest’ and meant ‘something for everyone in the family’, the magazine brands that succeed now are ones that cater to specific interests of a communities, are utilitarian to their readers and subscribers, represent value not just for money, but more important, for the only irreplaceable component of our daily lives – time!  

I had to unlearn and relearn everything I thought I knew about my industry. 

All this came to me from my partaking in international seminars like AIM’s Indian Magazine Congress, FIPP’s World Magazine Congress, FIPP-DZW Digital Innovators’ Summit, and so many more. Learnings in these events came not just from the deeply insightful presentations that these world class speakers showcased, but from heated debates and interactions I had on the side-lines of these events. 

In a world where readers have also become our competition (influencers), fake news has overtaken relevance over fact checking, ChatGPT has almost crossed the Rubicon of human reportage with machine language (AI/ML), when big tech and governments in vibrant democracies decide what is content ripe for take-down, it is ever so important that we discuss our concerns around policy, technology, distribution, client needs, and most importantly, what our communities expect of us. 

That is what we have been fostering under the hood for 6 months now. We are proud to present AIM’s 12^th Indian Magazine Congress – Building Engaged Communities 

The road has been anything but straight and narrow. For starters, we all took giant leaps of faith! 

Faith that we could actually pull off such an international event when the market was still bearish, faith that we would make up the costs and contribute to AIM’s corpus when we then had no sponsors in sight, faith in our moonlighting skills - agonising over the agenda, curating the best of speakers, getting sponsors to commit, fixing the venue and ensuring that policymakers, clients, agencies, tech partners, international speakers and delegates. 

One look at the agenda (aim.org.in/imc12) and any publisher will realise that we are addressing magazines in the post pandemic new reality. 

The magazine industry took a crippling hit during the pandemic.   

• Distributors were crushed under the weight of holding fort their last mile to the customer, while the country was convulsing under unpredictable, successive lockdowns. 
• Advertisers lost hope that people would ever return to buy goods and services ‘the good old way’ – while online was clearly becoming a ‘tiger by the tail’ – more and more opaque, expensive, unrelenting.
• Readers, viewers, surfers – communities were creating their own content like never before, opinion makers being hailed as truth tellers, and big media being relegated to ungracious truants.
• Our own people were losing morale with the grapevine of losses and job/ salary cuts. 

Yet, I can say that in these past 3 years, in this new normal – we have come out stronger, more efficient, more willing to adapt and adopt, constantly growing our revenue streams, listening to our communities, creating engaging content around what matters most, having the guts to go behind a paywall, empathising with advertiser needs and creating marketing opportunities that suit client need and community fulfilment rather than force fitting what we have on offer – in short, we survive by transformation to stay relevant. 

The scenario is painfully the same world over, and the answers we have come up with are unique, yet similar.  

Please join us for AIM’s 12^th Indian Magazine Congress, to be held at The Oberoi on Friday, 24^th March, 2023 and learn how publishers are pulling up their socks, shedding their weight and transforming to stay relevant with only one commitment – to Building Engaged Communities. 

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.com

The media landscape is constantly evolving, and publishers are facing increasingly complex challenges. However, there are some key fundamentals that can help publishers not only survive but thrive in this dynamic environment. As a small B2B publisher in the Dutch agricultural landscape, we have found success by focussing on the following fundamentals that are likely to be effective for other publishers as well.

360֯ Ecosystem: Creating a comprehensive experience for readers is crucial. This includes providing content through various channels, like events, magazines, newsletters, and more. By creating an ecosystem that caters to the diverse needs of their audience, publishers can keep their readers engaged and loyal.

Right time, right content, right channel: Identifying the right channels to reach readers is equally important. With so many channels available today, publishers must identify which channels their readers prefer and optimize content for those channels.

Content worth a subscription: To ensure that content is worth a subscription, publishers must focus on creating high-quality, valuable content that readers are willing to pay for. This can be achieved by investing in editorial talent, conducting thorough research, and ensuring that content is fact-checked and verified.

Expanding audiences: Identifying, reaching, engaging, and expanding the target audience is another crucial aspect of success for publishers. This can be accomplished through various marketing strategies, including paid advertising, social media, and SEO.

Collecting first-party data: Building a database with information about each user is essential for publishers. By collecting data about their audience, publishers can understand their interests and develop relevant products. This data can also be used to create targeted campaigns and personalized content.

Keep advertisers aligned: Developing commercial propositions that match the publisher's mission statement, add value for readers and advertisers, and meet market demand is important. By creating commercial propositions that align with their brand and mission, publishers can build a loyal following of readers and advertisers.

Customer service: Optimizing customer service is critical for publishers. Providing personal contact, good accessibility, real-time access to content, accessible content on multiple devices, and easy-to-use platforms are essential for publishers to compete with other companies that set the standard for excellent customer service.

These fundamentals have helped AgriMedia to succeed in the challenging media landscape. By employing editors who know our target group very well and providing relevant daily content that resonates with our readers, we have been able to build a strong reputation and a loyal base of subscribers.

We have also expanded our target audience through targeted campaigns. Collecting data about our audience allows us to create personalized content and newsletters that increase engagement and build loyalty.

We also decided to open our website for commercial content while maintaining respect for our readers. We have clearly indicated which content has been created by our editorial team and which content has been created by our partners. Our primary business model is based on subscriptions, making independent journalism a valuable asset.

By opening our website for commercial content, we had to keep in mind that we must guide our partners to create relevant and high-quality content to maintain the standard of our own product. Collaborating with partners provides us with an opportunity to ensure that the quality of their content aligns with our standards. This not only benefits our readers but also enhances the reputation and credibility of our brand. Besides this, it’s also generating extra revenue stream.

In conclusion, being a successful publisher today requires a focus on several fundamentals. By creating a comprehensive experience for readers, focussing on added value for readers and advertisers, producing high-quality content, expanding the target audience, collecting data, aligning with advertisers, and diversifying business models, publishers can thrive in today's challenging media landscape.

Jean Paul Reparon, Managing Director of Dutch B2B Publisher AgriMedia BV (www.agrimedia.nl), will be speaking at the Indian Magazine Congress about these fundamentals and how AgriMedia is “striking gold with nurturing nano communities” (of a few thousand each).  IMC is all set for a comeback as the flagship event of the Association of Indian Magazines. It is slated to be organised on March 24th at the Oberoi, New Delhi.

In 2023, more than 7,500 magazines are listed in the American advertising industry’s reference source, SRDS — 2,839 consumer magazines and 3,814 business publications.   Magazines produced by associations may fall into either category.  The Elliott Company sells advertising and sponsorships for publishers in all three of these categories.  We are reminded daily that no one sales approach can work for all of them.

Today, in the US, and I suspect around the world, selling advertising and sponsorship has become much more complicated than ever before, requiring more skills and more knowledge than just a few years ago.  The proliferation of advertising vehicles can be overwhelming to advertising sales teams unless they are constantly learning and evolving. 

Competitors are no longer limited to similar media and categories.  Magazine publishers must compete for dollars not only with other magazines but also with other mediums; newsletters, podcasts, video, social media, other digital products, and in-person events such as exhibitions, conferences, and summits. 

There are many ways to reach a buyer of goods and services today, and astute salespeople learn as much as they can about all of them.  Many publishers have broadened their offerings to include additional opportunities.  Of course, sellers need to understand how to compete against elements introduced by other media brands. Sellers must know how all the opportunities created by publishers they represent can work together to maximize value to advertisers and sponsors. 

There are so many ways to reach buyers — and so many different sellers representing them — that potential advertisers can be overwhelmed and distracted. Sellers must ask questions and listen so that they fully understand exactly the marketer’s goals and the best vehicles to help them reach those goals.  

One of the most effective approaches our sales teams offer is brand studio work.  Advertising is tailored to fit the content in which it appears.  Some publishers allow their editorial staff to work with advertisers; others have different writers.  The key is for the marketing product developed in the brand studio to mesh with the editorial. 

Selling advertising has gotten more complicated, and it promises to become even more so.  Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, just now becoming popular, will allow mass customization of outreach.  A recent white paper by the data company MediaRadar points out that artificial intelligence will dramatically multiply the number of advertisers a sales team can contact.  The benefit is that AI will reduce the time required by ad sellers to do their preparation for marketers and agencies.  The downside is that every competitor will have access to similar tools and the volume of “relevant” messages aimed at each marketer and agency will grow exponentially.

Successful sales organizations will need to find answers to challenges like artificial intelligence, just as they are finding solutions to the problem of proliferation of advertising and sponsorship opportunities.  Publishers will need to hire salespeople with the curiosity and motivation to stay abreast of constant innovation and the skill sets that enable them to sell in the changing environment. 

As Rishad Tobaccowala, Senior Advisor to Publicis Groupe says, “the future will not fit the containers of the past”.  Nothing could be truer in the world of advertising sales.

Jim Elliott, President, James G Elliott & Co., will be speaking at the Indian Magazine Congress. IMC is all set for a comeback as the flagship event of the Association of Indian Magazines. It is slated to be organised on March 24th at the Oberoi, New Delhi.

There is a reason why you became a publisher, an editor, or a reporter. You want to publish quality content and take pride in creating the best possible articles about your specific subject. You are committed to producing quality content, and this is why we are in this business.

Over the years, I have seen first-hand the potential and possibilities of online publishing. However, the struggle for profitability and growth can lead to bad journalism - journalism with only one source, with zero sources, or journalism that is under attack from social media, fake news, and synthetic content. I call it disposable journalism. But there are ways to combat this and ensure that you produce quality content that stands out in the crowded online space.

You don't need traffic peaks; you can commercialize them. Sales cannot sell on peaks; they sell predictable ad inventory. Peaks don't retain paid users either. You might convert a few, but they won't stay with you if you baited them in.

At a recent INMA Subscription event in Stockholm, former Chief Economist of Spotify, Will Page, warned publishers against only looking at their own metrics when they optimize their websites. Young people spend most of their time watching videos on their social media, not reading your publication. Your metrics don't know what they see on their mobile, and you don't even know what they read at your competitors. If you optimize for what you already have, you might miss the largest opportunities that you haven't gotten yet.

Firstly, award quality instead of clicks. Traffic will come from direct, social, and search. Instead of focusing solely on clicks, produce quality content that offers real value to your readers. This will not only increase reader loyalty but also attract new readers. Teach your reporters to produce at lower frequencies but better.

Secondly, employ responsible leadership. Keep your eyes on the noble cause of providing quality journalism from your publication. Help reporters, data scientists, and your developers to solve the real problems, how to increase the retention of free and paid users by delivering surprisingly good content. Hold your employees accountable for delivering better. Your readers rely on you to do that.

Thirdly, trust your niche. Your language, geographic location, subject, and expertise have high value for your readers. Embrace it. By focusing on your niche, you can manifest your role as an expert and build a loyal following.

Fourthly, remember that your site is a playlist, not an album. You sell single stories, and people end up on your page from Google or Facebook. They are snacking on your content. Make sure your production quality is visible in a single story. This will ensure that readers know what they can expect from your publication.

Finally, get rid of your 2017 tech stack. In 2023, newspapers and magazines are hosted from the cloud, and the paywall isn't home-built anymore. It's delivered by professionals. That applies to your data tracking, personalization, newsletter, video players, and content management systems as well. We don't build everything in-house anymore, not even in large media groups. What we build is the stuff on top. The shiny stuff that differentiates you from your competitors. That is unique to you.

In Labrador CMS, we spent 13 years fine-tuning our CMS together with hundreds of clients. The basic stuff in publishing is rather complicated and expensive. Our goal is to help editorial publishers gain core functionality quickly, enabling them to grow faster than their competitors. We call it beyond headless.

Jan Thoresen will be speaking at the Indian Magazine Congress. IMC is all set for a comeback as the flagship event of the Association of Indian Magazines. It is slated to be organised on March 24th at the Oberoi, New Delhi.

The Indian Magazine Congress (IMC) is all set for a comeback as the flagship event of the Association of Indian Magazines (AIM) is slated to be organised on March 24th, at the Oberoi, New Delhi.

The Congress has been an annual affair since 2006, one that brings together the entire magazine publishing fraternity including editors, publishers, digital heads of media houses, policymakers, media owners, marketers, media planners, as well as researchers and industry analysts. It is the forum that connects the Who’s Who of the Publishing fraternity.

The association is organising the event after a gap of four years, and at a time when magazine publishing has adopted new paradigms to remain ever more relevant to its readers in the post-Covid era.

This year’s Congress theme is how even in the digital age, magazines are the most effective medium for “Building Engaged Communities”. The theme is rooted in the empirical evidence that in the digital age, marred by information overload and cluttered digital spaces, the need for highly engaged and involved communities is becoming ever more important, as users feel the urge to break away from the clutter of social media lead content deluge, and find solace and comfort in spaces that align with their interests and with like-minded peers. Magazine brands are uniquely poised to nurture such engaged communities.

The Congress will bring together an exciting line-up of speakers from India and around the world:

• Minette Ferriera, Media 24, South Africa
• James Elliott, USA
• Jean-Paul Reparon, Agrimedia, Netherlands
• Jan Thoreson, Aller X, Norway
• James Hewes, President, FIPP
• Acharya Balakrishnan, Patanjali
• Shashi Sinha, IPG Mediabrands
• Tarun Rai, Wunderman Thompson
• Prasanth Kumar, Group M
• Ram Suresh Akella, Maruti Suzuki
• Kalli Purie, India Today
• Jayant Shriram, Innovation Media Consulting
• B Srinivasan, Ananda Vikatan
• Anant Nath, Delhi Press
• Manoj Sharma, India Today
• Dhaval Gupta, Cyber Media
• Annurag Batra, Business World

Speaking on the Congress, the president of AIM, B Srinivasan, said: “The magazine is a unique device that has always driven perspective and enabled its communities to draw insights, rather than simply reporting and provoking audiences like most other media. We thrive in digging deep, then digging wide in our coverage of happenings around us, rather than rely on the length and breadth our coverage. In the world where readers have become our competition (influencers), fake news has overtaken relevance over fact checking, ChatGPT has almost crossed the Rubicon of human reportage with machine language (AI/ML), when big tech and governments in vibrant democracies decide what content is ripe for take-down, it is ever so important that we discuss our concerns around policy, technology, distribution, client needs, and most importantly, what our communities expect of us.  That is what we have been fostering under the hood for 6 months now, and so we are proud to present AIM’s 12th Indian Magazine Congress – Building Engaged Communities.”

HT Media reported total revenue for Q3 FY23 of Rs 488 crores, a 2% decrease from the same period last year. EBITDA was Rs 28 crores, a 74% decrease year on year, with negative PBT at Rs 30 crores and a  6% negative PBT margin. 

During the earnings call of Q3FY23,  Group CFO Piyush Gupta shared that total revenue is down y-o-y basis, primarily on account of a relatively muted macro and festive season. “To expand, sitting in the base is the political revenue which came in last year consequent to elections in UP. And also, there were eight days short in this festive season because Diwali timing was altered between the second and third quarters.” Net cash as on 31st December was at Rs 854 crores. 

Speaking on the Print performance, Gupta said that ad revenue tracking was at Rs 284 crores as against Rs 323 crores last year and operating revenue including circulation revenue was at Rs 368 crores against Rs 396 crores last year, showcasing a decline of 7%. Sequentially that’s a growth of 7%. Operating EBITDA came in negative at Rs 4 crores against y-o-y Rs  87 crores. 

Highlighting the key factors, Gupta said ad revenue declined on a y-o-y basis led by volume.  “Circulation revenue has improved on a y-o-y and sequential basis led by increase in realization per copy, while operating EBITDA loss on account of higher newsprint prices," he said.

For English print business, ad revenue was at Rs 160 crores as against Rs 176 crores last year, showcasing a decline of 9% and versus previous quarter it is a growth of 9% with Q2 being Rs 147 crores. Circulation revenue at Rs 15 crores vs Rs 7 crores which is a gain of 122% and sequentially a gain of 18%. In key highlights, he shared that Retail, Auto, BFSI grew while Real Estate, FMCG and Education remained muted. Circulation revenue improved on the back of better realization per copy and higher number of copies. 

Moving onto Hindi, he said 16% y-o-y decline with ad revenue coming in at Rs 123 crores and sequentially it is a growth of 1% where ad revenue nearly remained flat. On circulation revenue, again it is almost flat at Rs 45 crores both sequentially and on a y-o-y basis. In key highlights, Auto, Healthcare and Durables grew while Retail, Education and FMCG remained muted. 

According to Gupta, revenues for radio business grew handsomely at 21% to Rs 42 crores from Rs 34 crores in the same period last year. And on a sequential basis, it is a growth of 27%. Operating EBITDA came at Rs 7 crores, which is a y-o-y growth of 50% and operating EBITDA margin came in at 17%. Meanwhile, digital business revenue was at Rs 28 crores as against Rs 36 crores last year, a decline of 23% and margins were negative with Rs 4 crores operating EBITDA.

When asked about the  fall in newsprint prices and rationalization in expenses in the coming quarters if HT media can come back to profitability, Gupta said, “Yes, for sure”. 

He added that newsprint prices in a normal situation would have fallen much more sharply than they are falling right now given this whole geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine. "Because if you go back to the commodity cycle of 2017-18, what went up in two quarters came down in two quarters also. Right now, it is coming down a little gradually. We are very sure of the direction that the newsprint prices will only soften from here on. But will the gradient be as sharp as it was when it was going up? We don’t think so. We are seeing it continuously come down and in the next two quarters we are very sure that it will be another 10-20% down from here on. Of course, there is some inventory we always carry in the business and those things are adjusted on a weighted average basis," Gupta explained.

Speaking about the rise in expenses, Gupta said: “One part is the investment in HT Labs that we are doing, which is giving rise to some increased spends we are seeing here. Secondly with the Covid restrictions opening up and on-ground events happening, there are certain events that we are conducting, giving rise to certain expenses. But they have a corresponding revenue which is also sitting up there.”