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At the Indian Magazine Congress, industry leaders of print spoke about embracing new-age technology and the importance of adapting with time. In a fireside with Dhaval Gupta of Cyber Media, Manavdeep Singh of PubLive spoke about AI being a helping hand in newsrooms. 

Gupta asked if technology is an enabler, what publishers should keep in mind when it comes to making technology decisions.

“There's a noticeable shift in the creation, consumption, distribution, and monetization of content, prompting a non-linear approach. While the emergence of Gen AI suggests a change in content creation dynamics, relying solely on AI-generated content like ChatGPT is questionable and not advised. However, AI can empower content teams and newsrooms to repurpose content swiftly, enhancing both speed and quality. With evolving content formats and numerous distribution channels such as Google, social media, and push notifications, diversification is key. Monetization strategies should extend beyond traditional methods like sticker ads, embracing diverse revenue streams. The approach underscores the importance of diversification and reducing reliance on a single platform”, Singh answered.

Singh also spoke about the changing of formats and how a piece of content can be re-purposed into various formats using AI. He said, “Repurposing content is not restrictive.” He later spoke about how creating content using AI  without any original content can land publishers in trouble. He gave an example of a US publisher who was using AI and generated 10,000 articles per day and Google flagged it. 

He spoke about PubLive, and said, “We are using AI to power newsrooms. AI can be used in many ways like internal linkings, smart links, SEO Optimization, re-purposing the content, and localization of content.” 

Gupta later asked, “What is the starting point of using AI in newsrooms?” And Singh replied, “Anything in isolation doesn’t work, AI is the important part of the puzzle but other pieces need to be in place for it to work as well. The important question is do you want to build it or do you want to buy it? If you want to build it then you need the right set of people in-house, like data scientists, AI engineers, and the infrastructure, and there is a massive size of investment, you need to take care of. The alternate approach is to buy it.” 

Lastly, Gupta asked him about exciting business models in the current times, Singh said, “It depends on the genre of content that you operate on. You should have multiple revenue streams. Starting direct ads, programmatic display, native, video ads, paywalls, reader revenue, social media amplification, etc. Publishers are influencers themselves, there is a platform called SheThePeople, about 15% of their revenue comes from the website, they run the website in three different languages, Hindi, English and Tamil. 29% is through events and rest everything is from social media. There are 15 different communities they run and brands partner with them.”

Kerin O'Connor, Founder of The Atlas delivered a keynote address on how media businesses can transform into a subscription powerhouse at the Indian Magazine Congress by the Association of Indian Magazines.

He began by saying, “When you are a magazine publisher, there is a temptation to treat your revenues like a hotel buffet- some days you want to pick this and some days that. This makes things go in and out of favour.”

But the thing about subscriptions is that it is a long-term thing to do since they are very technical and allow you to not diversify your revenues, but go very very deep into it.

In many ways, the pursuit of volume was a mistake for the magazine industry. The magazine industry is far more comfortable with communities, with specialisms and that is a joy for the subscription business, he said.

But what is interesting is that publishers are becoming more technical in the way they understand their customers, increasingly understanding more about money and the way that subscriptions give them life. That’s where Atlas has been helping top magazine brands to navigate their way forward.

The entire business model of subscriptions is really only about 11 words and that is, ‘Just execute it over and over again with a great product’, as per Connor.

He said, “The size of the subscription market now is $2 trillion which is a sudden change and has been because the way people consume their goods and services has changed too.”

“This is good news because, as media publishers, you can take advantage of the fact that there is a global shift in terms of the way that people are willing to engage with their content,” he added.

The world’s biggest companies have turbocharged subscriptions and changed consumer expectations. Big businesses like Spotify, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Netflix have taken decades to turn their business around. Disney recently described their subscriptions as the future of the company in terms of how they seek to distribute information. 

But the larger question is, why do subscriptions matter to publishers?

Connor explained via a presentation, “Subscriptions should matter to publishers because the monetization shift favours magazine and content publishers. This is because publishing has a simple aim which is to find customers and serve content to them. During this content exchange, publishers find ways to make money out of consumers.”

Long-term subscription relationships allow profitable monetisation. Subscription income is more consistent than any other monetisation form. 

The key to a successful subscription-based business model should be structured differently from the traditional publishing ‘push’ model. The subscriber’s experience shall now be kept in the middle of all the things offered by a subscription business.

“And you do this because this content is sustainable, is manageable and more importantly it can't be disrupted,” added Connor.

But how to maximise your subscription strategy is where the main key lies. Connor suggests the best way is to take a deep breath and have patience since this process takes time.

His presentation stressed the importance of understanding the customer needs, market size and the need for thorough research. Next, it's crucial to establish your audience and decide who will be the business target.

Deciding how the business will position its offering is important as well. Another thing is to set realistic, timely and challenging objectives. As a marketing tactic, choosing the channels, products and opportunities to achieve growth is of key importance too. 

On Friday, May 3rd, the Indian Magazine Congress took place in Mumbai where many industry leaders spoke about the future of print. One such session was by influencer CA Sarthak Ahuja who spoke about the collaboration between traditional mediums like magazines and influencers in his session titled: ‘Magazine content in the world of influencers’.

Starting his speech he said, “I hate the word ‘influencer’ because it is reductionist from my identity. Despite having run an investment banking firm for the past eight years and raising millions for startups, today most people know me as someone who creates content online. Not realizing that it is not my whole identity. Content is just a top-of-the-funnel marketing exercise to get leads and generate business, for my business which is into investment banking and consulting.”

“If you analyze the semantics of 'influencer' or 'content creator,' they carry positive connotations. I don't view them as derogatory. However, the real issue lies in the low barrier to entry. Once you're thrown into the pool, anyone can start creating content without expertise, credibility, or a background in a particular domain. They share it with an audience, often portraying themselves as self-proclaimed experts. That's where the problem arises. When discussing this with individuals who identify as content creators or influencers, they often acknowledge the issue. Publicly, they may boast about cracking the algorithm, but deep down, they understand their success often hinges on luck. They live with the insecurity that their popularity could vanish as quickly as it appeared, at the mercy of platforms they have no control over”, he continued. 

He went on to speak about the creation of trust and credibility that influencers need through traditional media. He said, “This apparel brand decided to partner with influencers, but instead of paying them, they offered that the pictures taken would be put up as hoarding across the city. So what this says is, despite having the reach and the audience, the influencers need the validation of traditional media to build their credibility, and trust which is built over consistency, background, and depth.”

“If I explain a business model in sixty seconds online, I know what I am purposely leaving out to trigger people to get them to interact. Social media is a game where people play on disclosing information, putting out polarising content, to divide people, which is why when the influencers launch their digital products the audience does not buy because they don’t have credibility”, he explained. He also said that magazines give a platform to influencers to create that credibility and by building trust amongst their audience. 

He concluded his speech by advising magazines to collaborate with influencers and create a revenue funnel. “The right way for publishers and magazine distributors to leverage on what they’ve built is consistency, credibility, and trust. By partnering with content creators who are big on social media, they could find a way to launch digital products, you would be incentivizing the creators to share the magazine on social media and create a top-of-the-funnel with brands like yours.”

In a significant collaboration, Inshorts, a pioneer in short-form informational content also known for crafting bespoke advertising experiences for brands, has partnered with BW Businessworld, a renowned business magazine, to present the cover story for its latest issue focusing on Creativity, Tech and Innovation. This partnership marks a milestone in both entities’ commitment to exploring and understanding the nexus between these vital sectors.

The cover story of BW Businessworld’s issue is part of an ongoing series that delves into emerging sectors, specifically designed to shed light on the dynamic interaction between creativity, technology, and innovation in the current global marketing economy. This issue not only explores these elements but also integrates profound insights from top industry leaders.

Featured in this exclusive story are in-depth interviews with high-profile executives such as Mark Read, CEO of WPP, and CVL Srinivas, Country Manager for India. Additionally, insights from the leadership team across renowned agencies such as GroupM, Ogilvy, VML, Landor, and Grey are included, providing a panoramic view of the industry's direction.

Dr. Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-chief, BW Businessworld and Founder of exchange4media, adds, "This issue is crafted to not only bring a global perspective but also to delve deep into the Indian market, showcasing how local dynamics are influencing global marketing trends."

Anya Luthra, Vice President of Marketing at Inshorts, commented on the collaboration, “In the realm of digital advertising, creativity, technology, and innovation are the cornerstones of success. Just as BW Businessworld explores the fusion of these elements in its latest issue, we at Inshorts leverage these elements to craft compelling narratives, delivering immersive ad experiences that resonate with our users and provide unmatched value to our advertising partners.”

This collaboration promises to offer readers strategic insights into the interplay of creativity, technology and innovation, emphasising their impact on both the global and Indian economic landscapes.

The issue is now available both online and at newsstands.

Post Covid, the print industry has struggled to stay afloat and keep their profits in the green. The magazines especially had to look for ways to reinvent themselves since during this period of slow recovery, brands and advertisers too took a step back as well. 

At the Indian Magazine Congress 2024, by Association of Indian Magazines in Taj Santacruz, Mumbai, Dr Annurag Batra (Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of BW BusinessWorld and exchange4media) moderated a panel with Deepali Nair (Group CMO, CK Birla Group) and Ketan Bharati (marketing expert) on how magazines can reinvent themselves and foster content rejuvenation. 

Nair kicked off the discussion by saying, “What we used to do 15 years earlier in terms of partnerships with magazines, when digital did not exist, is very different from the way we look at partnership with magazines today. From a brand's perspective, one of the things that is emerging today is a magazine and what they do on the digital platforms for themselves.” 

This is because, in today’s world they are not competing for marketing dollars for advertising revenues only with other magazines, they may be competing with digital portals too. 

“For example, if I am doing allocations today then I will look at BusinessWorld and also Moneycontrol in the same genre. The audience is important, the format is not,” she added. 

She is of the opinion that even though the physical magazine readership has definitely shrunk but the digital readership of that brand or the digital consumption of the content from that brand, that's where the growth opportunity is.

Bharati shared his panacea for magazines to grow their revenues. He opines that there are mainly four C’s to follow for resurgence.  

He elaborated, “One is content saturation because in the world of AI, content is everywhere and maybe there's a lot of content duplication. The second is the consumer scepticism which is there because we live in a polarised world now, and either you're left or the right wing. That's how magazines can influence you to some extent.” 

According to him, the third is the constant change in algorithm in the social media era which also influences the readers.

The fourth is the complex consumer journey where the consumer is everywhere. So how you navigate these challenges is possibly the answer. 

Nair suggested to magazine brands that, as publishers, they need to ensure that more and more audiences are reading their content. Second is publishers need to ensure that the advertisers or the business of advertisers, be it the media agencies or be it the people who are taking brand decisions, are aware that audiences are consuming the content.

She said, “You as a publisher may not be doing a great job in telling the brand decision-makers that you're doing a good job. I think that may be a weak link for you to help them get to know what your numbers are, and which audiences you are doing work with.” 

Publications like Harvard Business Review continue to do fantastic content which they charge for, she highlighted. What they have done is, they've created Harvard Business Review snippets for the younger generation, which is in shorter content. Hence, reinvention with changing times is the key. 

Bharati believes it's all about authentic storytelling. And it's about how you engage with your audiences in any form, be it short format or long format. 

“Another aspect is, how do you actually measure? At the end of the day, if I do a full page ad in a magazine, why can't I have a QR code or a response code?,” said Bharati. 

For a marketer, it's the entire funnel journey. They are not only going to say, hey, I reached X number of people. For me, it's also how I converted those X number of people. 

At the recently concluded Indian Magazine Congress 2024, industry experts discussed ‘The Shift From Media Planning To Audience Solutions’. The discussion tackled the critical question of how magazines can remain relevant in a rapidly evolving media landscape. In the past, advertisers relied on media plans with broad reach. Now, the focus is on targeted "audience solutions." This shift leaves magazines, with their loyal readerships, wondering how to stay relevant. Can they adapt and thrive in this new media landscape?

Moderated by Riyad Mathew, Chief Associate Editor & Director, The Week and Malayala Manorama, the panel featured Ambi Parameswaran, Brand Strategist; Shashi Sinha, Chief Executive Officer, IPG Mediabrands India, and Manoj Sharma, Chief Executive Officer - Publishing, India Today Group.

Highlighting the enduring value proposition of magazines, Sharma compared magazines to a fine-dining experience as opposed to snackable digital content. He mentions, "The retention that remains with the magazine that you consume is higher, the content it has is retained with you for a longer period.

The existing challenges were not ignored either. Talking about the challenges for magazines being relevant in media planning, Parameswaran raised how the world of brand marketing and performance marketing do not understand each other. He added, “New age clients see the world through a very narrow space of click-throughs, conversions, cost-per-lead etc and don’t see the bigger picture. I see them both as the Yin and Yang of marketing, wherein both should work together and manage both. There is a whole generation of marketers who do not know how to do brand marketing.”

Sinha further highlighted the issue of measurement beyond readership, stating, “In our early days in the industry, where we wanted to make smaller media relevant and have good engagement for our ad, there were studies that focussed not on the reach of the publication but rather on what is being picked up in terms of my ad. The ‘time-spend’ is the basis of the entire content business. What has happened today, is magazine publishers have not leveraged the power of ‘time-spend’.” He went out to point out a generational shift within media agencies, where younger professionals may not fully appreciate magazines' value due to lack of measurement. “There is merit to evangelising the time-spend aspect because the youngsters today are looking at hardcore data in front of them”, he explained.

Sharma then championed print's unique strengths, highlighting that "The inherent quality of magazines is that it brings in clarity. Today, the media scenario is chaotic. If you look at the News, you are getting bombarded from all sides, social media is giving you the most misinformation. There is no takeaway at the end of the TV debates. While our magazines have become an omnichannel content powerhouse.”

Recognising the existing challenges, the discussion further led to panellists offering a roadmap for magazines to navigate the changing landscape. Parameswaran advocated for a multi-pronged approach - a magazine 360, and added, "You have to evangelise with clients and media planners. Magazines can be print, digital or a magzter-like app format - but someone has to see the bigger picture. I believe magazines have a huge future but magazine publishers have to believe that first."

Sinha further echoed this sentiment, suggesting, "The onus of communication is on the communicator. For any industry, the onus of sorting it out is on the industry. Publishers will have to come together and create ways of improving things - be it measurement. Publishers are selling print and digital separately, they have to integrate it and then it will be huge. The money will come from the physical copy and the proof of demonstration will come from the digital part. The combination is deadly.”

In conclusion, the panellists agreed upon collaboration as an important key takeaway, wherein magazine publishers and media agencies must work together. Collaboration is crucial for developing effective solutions for the industry. Magazines need to present a united front and remind advertisers of the unique value proposition they offer.

Elsa Esparbe Gener, RBA, Spain took the stage at the Indian Magazine Congress 2024 to decode ‘Crafting Quality Content - Leveraging Channels and Formats for Maximum Returns’.

Speaking of RBA, which is a publishing house in Spain, and its business, Gener highlighted how there’s always a battle between Collectibles and Magazines. Collectibles contribute to 50% of RBA’s business, while Magazines contribute 43% to the business. The rest 7% is brought in by Books. “We are especially strong in Europe & Latin America,” she mentioned.

Sharing the secret sauce to the business’ success, Gener said that the company invests millions into ‘evergreen content’, without really thinking about the format.

“When we identify that there is a niche, we analyse it very well by investing in market tests, focus groups etc., and then we produce the content. We will be relaunching or reproducing this content for years, when I say years it can be 20-25 years also,” she added.

Gener shared that RBA sells around half a million magazines worldwide, with a focus on the theme ‘history’.

“When we realised that the magazine was selling very well everywhere, we thought readers are readers at the end of the day. So why not do a collection that would sell at the Kiosks? So we invested more than 2 million euros in creating the National Geographic Historia collection,” she shared. RBA has launched the collection 27 times, translated it in 4 languages, and in 11 countries.

RBA also adapted books into ‘Bookazines’, and sold the same content (a little reduced) to the kiosks. “Readers are not the same. One wants a book, buys a book. One who wants to read an extra, buys the extra,” Gener said.

Lastly, she also highlighted how the same content can be turned into podcasts. “However, we are not monetising the podcast since it is very difficult, however the podcast does redirect our readers to the website, which brings money to us,” she added.

Additionally, RBA has invested over 85 million euros in editorial creation, fully amortising that, each year, forms the backbone of the new editorial production launches. 82% of the revenues are recurrently generated through owned content, Gener further shared. She also said that the royalties paid to third parties represent 1.7% of the total turnover compared to the sector average of 10%.

Throughout the year, RBA generates 20 new bookazines, 200 new books and 60000 pages.