India is not doing too badly on the magazine front. According to the Indian Readership Survey, about 68 million people read the 6,000-odd magazines that India has. At Rs 2,100 crore in revenues (ad plus circulation), magazines are a healthy 10-15 per cent of the overall print industry in India. Little wonder then that the last few years have seen every major publisher visit India. Vanita Kohli-Khandekar met Duncan Edwards, president and CEO, Hearst Magazines International, on one such visit, last week. Hearst, which publishes about 250 titles in 60 countries, has a licensing arrangement with the Rs 1,200-crore The India Today Group, which publishes Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar and Good Housekeeping for Hearst in India. Edited excerpts:
You worked in the UK and US markets for Hearst. How are they different?
The US is totally a subscription-driven market. So, you are trying to sell the magazine for 12 months or a certain number of copies at one go. The UK, on the other hand, is driven by single-copy sales. So, the cover becomes very important — there is more aggressive newsstand marketing. The stories, the design, the graphics are all designed to sell the magazine on stands. Content-wise, long form journalism still sells in the US.
Does it?
In some magazines, it is very important. For example, Esquire. Though, over time, magazines have reduced the length of their articles, just like newspapers.
But I thought newspapers are becoming more like magazines (feature driven)...
Newspapers are becoming more like magazines, TV is becoming more like magazines. All the modern trends on TV are all derived from magazines.
Which are your best markets for Cosmo?
The US, of course, is the largest and most profitable. Then there is the UK, Russia and Brazil.
Is there a pattern?
From an editorial perspective, it is very dangerous to think that one country is like another.
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So, our approach is very different compared with many of our competitors (such as Conde Nast, which publishes Vogue and GQ). We have very powerful brands that stand for something. For example, Cosmo is about empowering young women. So, the theme is common, but the interpretation has to be local. Therefore, we choose partners we can trust. We have no wholly-owned businesses, but instead a large number of joint ventures and lots of licencees. We do share learnings from the editorial and commercial front.
Everybody thinks that the future of magazines is bleak. Your take...
I feel very strongly that the paper product has a great future. We launched Harper’s Bazaar here, in Vietnam. We have been launching our titles in various parts of the world. I have sat in research groups and see women fondle the pages of these magazines. They are so beautiful, well shot and produced. So, I am very optimistic. Sure, the teenage magazine segment is a little challenged. But copy sales have been pretty resilient. More magazines were sold across the world in 2009 than in history.
Why is everybody in the print industry so defensive?
Newspapers have been written about in a very negative way. The four pillars of newspaper classified advertising — jobs, cars, homes and personal — have been attacked by the net. Magazines are not in the same position. Display advertising, the mainstay of magazines, has not migrated to the net. That is because the categories of advertising (luxury and lifestyle products), need the right environment.
Do you look at magazines as only the print product or a 360-degree experience for the reader and, therefore, a more holistic revenue opportunity?
In the US, each magazine brand of ours has three revenue streams — advertising, circulation and others, of which digital forms the biggest chunk. Yet, digital is less than 5 per cent of total revenues. In some countries, though, it is increasing. Most print companies find that in digital, revenues are lower and the costs are high — it is a bad combination. We have learnt that you can’t just put your magazine on the net.
Internationally, Hearst has a dedicated digital specialist who advises us on what works and what doesn’t. What I think will really work are digital devices like iPad, because the format is very much like a magazine. Kindle or devices like it are great for books, not for magazines. The new devices, like iPad, are more publishing products. But honestly, we haven’t found a commercial success on our online iterations.