MxMIndia

Category: MARKETING

  • Direct Marketing Association: India has appointed Mr Vatsal Asher as its Chief Executive Officer.

    Vatsal Asher is DMA chief

    By A Correspondent

    Direct Marketing Association: India has appointed Mr Vatsal Asher as its Chief Executive Officer. In his new role at DMA: India, Mr Asher will be responsible for strengthening DMA: India’s presence as an apex body for advocacy of direct marketing practices.

    On his new role, Mr Asher said, “With multitude of choices, Indian consumers are becoming more discerning about their brand preferences and where they spend money. Considering this consumer behavior and the increasing media clutter, it is imperative for marketers to create data driven customer centric campaigns. From traditionally being defined as ‘response generating’ domain, direct marketing is now used for ongoing customer engagement. By emphasizing on global best practices for marketing services providers and marketers, I aim to carry forward DMA: India’s vision of establishing industry standards and promote the direct marketing community.”

    Mr Sanjiv Swarup, Member of DMA: India Board of Directors, said, “In 2010 spends on direct marketing accounted for more than 50 percent of overall ad spends in the United States. Similar trend is also witnessed in India where marketers using data, backed with analytics are focusing on creating campaigns that generate interest, measure customer response and continuously engage with their customers. Considering this trend, onus is on us at DMA: India to increase member interaction and provide them with access to the latest information in domain of direct marketing. Vatsal’s depth of experience will help drive our agenda to advocate direct marketing and provide networking opportunities that will help the marketing industry to reach the customers more effectively.”

    Direct marketing has gained immense popularity in past few years with emphasis not just being laid on measuring the returns on marketing spends but also campaigns being created to initiate a dialogue with the customer. With advent of new media and innovative usage of technology to engage with customers, spends on direct marketing have also increased significantly.

    Mr Asher was associated with Deepak Fertilisers’ consumer facing VARE division as Vice President before joining DMA: India. Prior to Deepak Fertilisers, Vatsal has worked with Reliance Retail, Tata Teleservices and RPG group.

    He brings with him more than 15 years of rich and varied experience in domain of marketing communications across brand management, sales and promotions, loyalty and customer experience.

    Direct Marketing Association: India (DMA: India) is registered as a public limited company and has been adjudged as a non-profit organization. DMA: India is an active member of the International Federation of Direct Marketing Association (IFDMA). DMA: India’s members include national and international firms engaged in various activities of Direct Marketing. DMA: India connects businesses using and supporting all forms of direct marketing.

  • What’s-On-India’s distribution reaches 40 million, with 15 million homes added in October.

    What’s-On-India reaches its 40 million target

    By A Correspondent

    The What’s-On-India Channel – India’s premier TV guide and preview channel – is continuing to steadily strengthen its audience reach nationwide. With a view to further expand its horizons; the channel has now announced its launch on two of India’s most reputed DTH platfoms, DD Direct, Channel No 34, Reliance DTH Channel No 101 along with other reputed analog operators across India. The current addition with its existing distribution on Airtel DTH, DISH TV, Hathway, Digicable, and 1200+ cable operators now totals close to 40 million homes across India.

    Commenting on the development, Abrar Shaikh, General Manager, What’s-On-India, said: “We are happy to announce that our channel is now available on DD Direct, Reliance DTH and our distribution is now close to 40 million homes. We had stated 40 million as our target number in the beginning of the year and we are happy to be welcoming the promised new audiences into our fold.”

    A release from the company stated, “The six hundred plus channels strong Indian TV industry has more than one hundred news channels, over 50 movie channels and general entertainment channels, music channels, sports, infotainment and children’s channels, not to mention ultra specialist channels in genres such as Food, Crime, and Education. In that respect, Indian television has come of age in terms of the content offering to consumers. However this explosion of choice poses a serious challenge for consumers and that is to get to the right content. What’s-On-India is one of the first models in the country that is committed to bringing viewers closer to the shows and programs they seek based on their tastes and interests. “

     

  • Online shopping likely to touch over Rs 5,000 cr during Diwali: Asssocham.

    Mouse click is good business

    By A Correspondent

    Online demand during the upcoming festive season for products like mobile phones, e-tablets, consumer electronics, home appliances, home decor, furnishings, apparel and ornaments is likely to shoot up 300 per cent from last year to over Rs 5,000 crore as nearly 1.25 crore consumers are expected to place orders through internet, according to The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

    The figure has gone up by over 100 percent which was around 250% to Rs 2,000 crore in 2010 in which nearly 90-100 lakh consumers took part according to Assocham.

     

    Commenting on the ASSOCHAM analysis, its secretary general, Mr. D S Rawat said that, the articles that are likely to be shopped intensively during Diwali would include electronic items, gift articles, idols of Gods and Goddesses, sweets, flowers, clothes & jewellery and diamonds due to discount range from 10-15 percent to 80-90 percent depending upon product vertical and other offers are lucky draws, free shipping, free gifts and gift vouchers.

     

    Mr. Rawat further added that the expected growth during key festivals like Karva Chauth, Dhanteras, Diwali, the online shopping portals will go up by 30-35% this diwali. So, online shopping seen a phenomenal rise in the country and will continue to do so  given the great potential and the huge segment of population which is still not net savvy.

     

    The reasons for e-shoppers number multiplying are because of factors such as home delivery which saves time, secondly ’24×7′ hours shopping with ease and availability factors for product comparisons.

     

    Gujarathis are taking lead in ordering their Diwali requirements of consumer durables product followed by Maharahtrian, Delhiites, Sindhi’s, Rajasthanis and Punjabi. The percentage of South Indians is equally strong.

     

    Keeping this boom in mind a lot of online players have already announced exclusive Diwali deals and even exclusive Diwali shopping stores. Besides for rediff.com the other shopping sites like ebay, homeshop18, sify, indiaplaza and indiatimes have also opened shop for Diwali offers and are enticing online buyers with discounts.

     

    These shopping portals are witnessing a large number of users buying gifts and products also for personal use. Cashing in on the growing number of online shoppers, portals like rediff and ebay are readying themselves for increased traffic, with a series of offerings to consumers.

     

    As per Assocham estimates, for any shopping site, the sales are expected to go up by around 20-30 percent month on month during October.

     

    Non-resident Indians (NRIs) are also shopping more online during the festive season. During Raksha Bandhan, online shopping by NRIs contribute to about 40-50% of total shopping, whereas during Diwali, it increases to 85%, adds the paper.

     

    Rediff has announced a series of offerings for its consumers, which includes offering of special gift vouchers of Rs 1,500 with every purchase.  The single portal has also seen an increase in the number of visitors each day from 1,00,000 to 1,50,000 during the festive season, which adds up to 7 million visitors a month.

     

    Similarly, other portals are also introducing the ‘Get lucky’ offer, where consumers who shop on the portal will get a discount coupon of 10-50% on all their purchases.

     

    The products that are sold most are in the tech and fashion category, which include mobile phones and accessories, MP3 players, digital cameras and jewellery, among others, said Mr. Rawat.

     

    Online shopping boom is not restricted to metros alone. Lucknow ranks high, followed by Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Dehradun, Nasik, Trichy, adds the Assocham report.

     

    Mr. Rawat also mentioned that “online shopping is definitely catching up. Emerging gifting trends also include imported wines and juices. Chocolates are picking up in a big way as a substitute to mithais.   This trend extensively points towards luxury shopping, an emerging concept in the Indian market.”

     

    Diwali also marks a time when online purchases of consumer durables, jewellery and gifts comes out of the shadows of online travel, which corners a lion’s share of the country’s e-commerce. “Majority of the Diwali shopping is consumer durables include electronics, mobile phones, accessories, jewellery and apparel during Dhanteras, when we see many big-ticket items being sold”.

     

    These clearly show that online shopping has truly come of age and consumers are keen to shop on the net. Festival shopping is the prime time for multi-channel retailers to attract new shoppers.

     

    Online retailers have seen growing consumer interest in buying Diwali gifts online. The growth in the last two years to be broad product selection and the ever-expanding range of unique and unusual gifts ideas as well as increased consumer confidence in shopping on interest.

     

    This business module is cost effective, easily accessible and profitable in many functional areas. Consumers and retailers both desire safe, simple and comprehensive online shopping that will truly realize the range of power of the Internet.

     

     

     

    (ASSOCHAM)

  • Suite of crazieRBrands online and mobile games lets players win a global adventure.

    Reckitt Benckiser plays easy to get

    By A Correspondent

    Global consumer products giant Reckitt Benckiser (RB), parent of Clearasil, Durex, Dettol, Harpic, Lizol, Veet, Mortein and other iconic brands, announced the launch of a collection of fun and easy-to-play online and mobile minigames called crazieRBrands. These games are available on RB.com and players have the opportunity to win an exciting and unforgettable trip for two, worth nearly £8,000, to one of eight amazing destinations worldwide – including New York, Cape Town, Bangkok, Barcelona, Switzerland, Iceland, Brazil or India.

    The selection of eight minigames in the crazieRBrands suite includes fast action and memory games presented by some of RB’s most famous Powerbrands. The Veet game lends an air of humour to the leg-waxing task and even cleaning a toilet bowl is rendered fun when playing the Lizol game.  Each of the crazieRBrands games rewards the player with the sense of achievement that comes with being at the top of their mental game – in addition to the potential to win an exciting trip for two.

    The online and mobile crazieRBrands games are designed to raise awareness of RB’s corporate brand among students and graduates early in their career, by improving recall of the RB brand and tying it back to its iconic, innovative Powerbrands such as Dettol, Harpic, Veet, Lizol, Durex and Clearasil. The games aim at further increasing the recall with the RB Brand.

    The crazieRBrands suite of games is available on iPhone and Android, aimed at the target demographic, of which roughly 70 percent owns a smartphone, and 81 percent plays mobile games on a weekly basis.

    Mr Chander Mohan Sethi, Regional Director – South Asia, Chairman and Managing Director Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd, said.  “We have a unique culture that’s most suitable for young professionals who enjoy quick decision-making, coupled with a fast-paced and agile environment. To continue our rapid growth we are always looking for innovative ways to make ourselves better known among the next generation of managers. These games are a great idea to help people make the connection with RB and the speed at which our business operates.”

    The crazierBRands games and mobile app have been developed in partnership with The Workroom and social media agency TAMBA.

  • Dainik Bhaskar and Reasonable Communications launch a mega cricketing talent hunt – the T-10 Gully Cricket initiative that reaches 250 districts across 16 states.

    Spotting cricket talent in the gullies

    By A Correspondent

    Cricket is one game that forms part of the Indian DNA. Every by lane across the country has its own khiladis with local superstars known for their cricketing prowess. IPL has taken the game a few steps ahead with new heroes lining the landscape. Entertainment is the name of the game.

    However, the fact of the matter is that for every 1,000 excellent cricketers, maybe just one gets the chance to play professionally. Hidden in somewhere within this milieu is another Kapil Dev or Sachin Tendulkar.  This is a platform to spot just this prodigal talent lurking in the shadows.

    Over the past two years, Reasonable Communications has launched this platform in a few cities in India. Today, the Dainik Bhaskar Group and Reasonable Communications have joined hands in an effort to make it bigger.

    Dainik Bhaskar Group, the country’s largest media house with a presence in 13 states and publishing 64 editions, has a firm belief in this latent talent across the country. The Dainik Bhaskar Group believes that it can leverage its extensive presence across the country and unearth the best cricketing talent who can then be groomed as ‘Gen Next’ for India.

    This mega cricketing talent hunt will be the largest both in terms of geographical reach and players involved. The T-10 Gully Cricket initiative reaches 250 districts across 16 states, to touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of aspiring cricketers. Watched by experts with a keen eye for talent, the shortlisted players will first play for state honours and then national honours.

    The stage is now set for Gully Cricket to become a frenzy, because it reaches out to those far-flung and mofussil areas where playing with a leather ball is just a dream. Not any more.

    One unique dimension of the T-10 Gully Cricket is that no cricketer who has played first class cricket or even club cricket can be a part of the selection process or play for any team. This ensures that only new talent gets an opportunity to display their skills.

  • Lavie releases its first ever TV campaign, capturing the essence of the brand, ‘Handbags for the Many Moods of Women’.

    First TVC from Lavie

    By A Correspondent

    [youtube width=”350″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI7X1r-42OE[/youtube]

    Conceptualized by TBWA, the new television commercial of Lavie featuring the brand ambassador Kareena Kapoor, hits across various  TV channels this season. The new television commercial for Lavie captures the dilemma of the sales person who attends to innumerable women, with varied demands. It also highlights the perplexity of a woman who has a picture of requirement in mind but is unable to convey the same and is trying various options to come to a conclusion of what to shop for. The new television commercial for Lavie is created based on the notion of women with various moods.

     

    Talking about the insight behind the creative idea, Mr Rahul Sengupta, National Creative Director, TBWA India states, “Probably the most complex machine is the mind of a woman. It means one thing while it says something else. The statement is truest of all when a woman is shopping. If you have ever been a brother, suitor, husband or salesman, you will know. Watching this can be bemusing and amusing at the same time.”

     

    The TVC captures the essence of Lavie which has bags for all the moods of today’s jet-setting women.

     

    Mr Sandeep Goenka, Business Head of Lavie says, “Kareena very well resembles the personality of Lavie and the association with her is synonymous with our brand. And with this ad, Kareena captures the essence of shopping, for every woman with her proficient expressions. The Lavie collection offers stylish and accessible handbags for today’s jet-setting women which are now readily available all over India.”

     

    Talking about the objective of the campaign, Mr Nirmalya Sen, Managing Director, TBWA India says, “We aren’t the only brand that claims it has a wide range of styles and colours. But then, that truly is the competitive advantage of this brand – the widest range of colours, styles, genres of handbags. The challenge was to communicate range in a manner that is distinctive and endears the brand to its audience – confident, young, style-conscious women.”

     

    Credits:

    National Creative Director: Rahul Sengupta, (NCD TBWA India)

    Creative team: Rahul Sengupta, Rahul Ghosh, Siddharth Deo, Shagun Seda & Kimberley Flanagan.

    Account Management: Nirmalya Sen, Anand Narayan, Priya Chandni & Geetanjali Sharma

    Planning: Rajesh Sharma & Reny Thomas

    Production house: 30 Secs of Fame

    Director: Uzair Khan

  • The Times of India and The Cardiological Society of India are organizing an India Heart Conclave to engage relevant stakeholders from the healthcare fraternity in a discussion on necessary actions for managing cardiological disorders.

    TOI holds ‘heart conclave’

    By A Correspondent

    The Times of India and The Cardiological Society of India are organizing an India Heart Conclave to engage relevant stakeholders from the healthcare fraternity in a discussion on necessary actions for managing cardiological disorders.

     

    India is undergoing a transition and is on the threshold of an epidemic of cardiovascular disease. It ranks extremely high amongst the nations struck by the rising wave of premature deaths caused by non-communicable diseases, mainly heart and blood ailments. The country of 1 billion plus was estimated to account for 60 percent of the world’s heart disease cases in 2010. And a recent study found that people in India and other South Asian countries suffer their first heart attack at age 53, on average – six years earlier than the rest of the world.

     

    India Heart Conclave, a daylong conclave is being held on October 20, 2011, 2 pm onwards at The Oberoi Hotel, New Delhi.

  • Ranbir Kapoor and Nissan to feature in the world’s first Bollywood movie auditioned on Facebook.

    Nissan launches film audition on Facebook

    By A Correspondent

    Nissan India and actor Mr Ranbir Kapoor are searching for 20 passionate members of the public to star in the world’s first Bollywood movie auditioned entirely on Facebook.

    From October 19, movie-fans will be able to join in one of the world’s largest on-line talent hunts by uploading a short clip of themselves dancing for a chance to appear alongside Mr Kapoor in the three-minute Bollywood blockbuster – New Star of India.

    Members of the public will vote to decide who the 20 lucky co-stars will be, and will also help produce the movie by shaping the plot, choosing the music, picking the wardrobe and naming the characters.

    As well as being screened to millions on Facebook, New Star of India will be premiered at exclusive red carpet events in cities across India in January 2012, where there will also be a chance to win one of six all-new Nissan Micras.

    Mr Kapoor said, “I’m incredibly excited to be involved in this ground-breaking movie with Nissan – no-one’s attempted anything like it before. Speaking to all Bollywood fans out there, this is your once in a lifetime opportunity to join me in the magic of the movies. I’m looking forward to seeing your auditions and can’t wait to meet my co-stars, so get dancing, get voting and get involved!”

    Taking part couldn’t be easier. All would-be stars have to do is record a 45-second audition of themselves via their webcam, smartphone or video camera showing off their best Bollywood moves and upload it to the dedicated New Star of India page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/nissanindia.

    There are just three steps to stardom…

    1: Choose your favourite soundtrack on the Facebook page

    2: Get dancing – either solo or with up to nine friends

    3: Upload the clip to the site

    Nissan will also be taking New Star of India on the road and will be touring shopping malls across the country to film live auditions in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Aurangabad from October 22 – check the Facebook page for details.

    Even non-dancers can get involved. Everyone who votes, shares or takes a test drive from Nissan’s model range will be entered into a competition to win one of the hottest tickets in town – a chance to attend one of the movie premieres and win a Nissan Micra.

    Mr Kiminobu Tokuyama, Managing Director of Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd said, “Nissan is all about innovation. It’s in the cars we build, the way we do business, and now we are offering members of the public a genuine world’s first – an opportunity to become a Bollywood star”.

    Mr Kapoor added, “I love that this movie is going to take 20 people from their living room or bedroom and onto the movie set in three simple steps. If you’ve ever wondered if you have what it takes to make it in Bollywood, now’s your chance to find out!”

  • With a booming retail market and over 100 million internet users in the country, e-commerce is likely to enter a high growth phase in coming years.

    Travel industry to lead e-commerce trade in India

    By A Correspondent

    With a booming retail market and over 100 million internet users in the country, e-commerce is likely to enter a high growth phase in coming years, economic advisor at the Department of Information Technology Mr BN Satpathy has said.

    Travel will continue lead the online trade of goods and services in India and globally as new business models emerge in e-commerce space, he said while addressing delegates at a conference organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

    Mr Satpathy said the government is working on a new Information Technology Policy which will propel the growth of low-cost, internet-enabled and hand-held devices. He asked business chambers like Assocham to be an interface so that industry data gathering and dissemination can be made online.

    Chamber secretary general Mr DS Rawat said the market size of e-commerce industry is expected to be Rs 46,520 crore by December 2011 with 81 per cent travel transactions and 6 per cent product purchases.

    “India is poised to be one of the top e-commerce hubs in the near future as number of internet users boom. This will bring in a new revolution in retail industry,” he said, adding that the size of e-commerce globally is about 700 billion dollars.

    Accelerated innovations have expanded the online retail market to $241 billion in Europe, $176 billion in the United States, $76.4 billion in China and $10.3 billion in India.

    The Indian retail industry is currently estimated at $520 billion and e-commerce is a sub-set of it. With high GDP growth rate figures, young population with a median age of 25 years, large and relatively insulated rural tracts coupled with people’s hunger for achievement, the country is projected to witness maximum growth coming from tier II and tier III cities.

    At present, small towns contribute 40 percent of all e-commerce transactions due to increasing broadband penetration. Industry experts say the numbers of people who have ever used internet and personal computer literates have increased to 88 million and 119 million respectively.

    India has the second fastest growing travel market globally which is estimated at $42 billion. Of this, the online travel market is expected to grow from $2.9 billion in 2008 to $7 billion by next year.

    Others who spoke during the conference were Mr Balendu Srivastava, group business director of e-Tech Group at IMRB International, Mr Kashyap Vadapalli, director of Category Management at eBay India, Mr Dhruv Shringi, co-founder and CEO of yatra.com, Mr Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc and Mr Bikky Khosla, CEO of tradeindia.com.

  • Entrepreneur Guru Mantra lecture series’ second edition in Mumbai with Phaneesh Murthy.

    2nd Guru Mantra with Phaneesh Murthy

    By A Correspondent

    Entrepreneur magazine in association with Client Associates is presenting the second edition of its Guru Mantra lecture series with Phaneesh Murthy, CEO of iGate Patni, better known as the man who built a US$1 billion empire in just seven years.

    An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Murthy began his journey in 1992 as a part of Infosys. His contribution to Infosys has been widely regarded as one of the major reasons why Infosys became the IT giant that represented the booming Indian economy along with other luminaries. Since his exit from Infosys in 2002, Murthy has served first as the founder of US-based consulting firm Primentor and then as the co-founder of Quintant Services in 2003.

    The latter was acquired by iGate in 2003, bringing Mr Murthy to the top of a major IT giant once again. At iGate, Mr Murthy has helped to improve the company’s performance by bringing in a new management team, changing the firm’s business models, putting emphasis on higher offshore revenue contribution, increasing resource utilization, amongst other measures.

    Mr Murthy also spearheaded iGate’s acquisition of Patni Computers, the sixth largest IT company in India for US$1.22 billion, creating an IT behemoth that employs a talent pool of 26000 people to deliver solutions to 360 Fortune 1000 clients across the Americas, Europe- Middle East-Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

    Mr Murthy will be talking to a select gathering of established entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and corporate executives at the ITC Grand Central, Parel on October 18, 2011 at 7.30 pm. The talk will be followed by an interactive Q&A session on the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem with the audience, where Murthy will discuss his trials and tribulations as an entrepreneur and what it takes to succeed in the modern economy.

    Registration for the event is at entrepreneurindia.in/gurumantra.

    MxM Media will help to take the event to the relevant online community as the Online Media partner.

    Organized by Entrepreneur magazine, Guru Mantra is a lecture series that celebrates the spirit of entrepreneurship, organized at premium venues across different cities. Every session has a successful entrepreneur as the guest mento who shares his or her entrepreneurial journey with the attendees, followed by a Q&A session where the attendees get a chance to ask questions specific to their business.

  • Skoda Rapid makes its global debut on NDTV’s award-winning The Car & Bike Show

    Skoda Rapid debuts on NDTV show

    NDTV’s long-running automobile-based programme The Car and Bike Show has completed 400 episodes, and eight years on air. To celebrate this India-first milestone, NDTV will broadcast the show’s first-ever studio-based format programming. Considering the show as the right platform to debut its new car, Skoda unveiled the Rapid on the sets of the show.

    The special two-part series will be aired on Saturday, October 15 at 1.30pm and Sunday, October 16 at 7pm on NDTV Profit.

    Hosted by Mr Siddharth Vinayak Patankar, NDTV The Car & Bike Show is one of India’s most awarded automobile programmes. It has been the most watched show in its genre and has held pioneer status since inception. Mr Patankar, Editor-Auto, NDTV, said, “We began in October 2003, with the intention of presenting the best from the world of automobiles to our viewers – and I mean the whole world. I am happy that the original intent remains intact, and we have been able to build on that foundation to challenge our own boundaries and continue to excite our faithful audience.”

    Mr Anand Mahindra, VC & MD, Mahindra & Mahindra said “I am partial to Siddharth and the show, given our old association but even objectively speaking I think Siddharth and the NDTV team have done an outstanding job. I think the fact that its covered in all the channels on NDTV network makes its reach very wide and therefore it has a tremendous impact on car lovers throughout the country.”

    Mr Thomas Kuehl, Board Member-Sales & Marketing, Skoda Auto India said, “We are launching the next big leap for Skoda this year. It is our new C Segment car, and we thought it would be a good idea to exclusively debut it on NDTV Car and Bike Show. This in a way is our birthday gift for the great show. It will be the all new Skoda Rapid. It is the most accessible limousine in the Skoda world now. We are starting with the compact limousine first. So the first market for Skoda worldwide is India to launch the first compact limousine.”

    Skoda also announced new base variants of its Yeti and Superb on the show.

  • Though magazines worldwide have been going through a rough patch, this IRS shows an increase in magazine readership, both Hindi and English, over the last quarter.

    Magazine readership looking up

    By A Correspondent

    Magazines have been witnessing a bit of rough weather of late. It is not an Indian phenomenon but is being witnessed worldwide. However, this IRS Q2, 2011 shows an increase in readership of both Hindi and English magazines as compared to Q1, 2011. Here is a quick look at AIR for the same:

    Readership in this duration has increased for Kannada and Telugu publications also. For Assamese, Gujarati and Marathi it has gone down – while for other languages the response is mixed.

    Keeping the focus on English and Hindi magazines for the purpose of this article, is it safe to assume that this IRS marks the revival of magazines? Says Anita Nayyar, CEO – Havas Media, India & South Asia, “This IRS certainly indicates better health for magazines but not necessarily revival.”

    Rajni Menon, Associate Vice President, Carat Media India, too believes that it is not really the revival of magazines and mentions two reasons for marginal upward trend for the magazines. She said, “The Week and Business World have been actively working towards increasing readership and it has had an impact in the market. Secondly, new magazines which were not captured in IRS earlier, eg 2010 Q2 IRS did not cover the following magazines – Outlook Profit, Economist, People, Life Positive. The biggies like India Today, Outlook have seen only marginal shifts only.”

    However the experts believe that there is definite scope of growth in niche and special interest publications, which have shown an upward trend. Ms Nayyar said, “Niche magazines are doing better than mass magazines.” Ms Menon endorsed this, “There has been growth in numbers for niche magazines : India Today Travel Plus, Good Housekeeping, Femina WTW, so that could show an indicative trend along with the fact that one does see more new magazines on the stands every few months. Travel, Women, Lifestyle. “

    However, a major issue faced by media planners and buyers is that a number of niche magazines are not tracked in IRS. As per Ms Menon, “We still can’t make a definite decision on magazines because there are so many in the market which are not covered by IRS. Mainline magazines like Open and Tehelka are yet to be covered, so seeing new niche magazine get covered is a long shot.

    Ms Nayyar too stated that niche and special interest publications are set to grow, but most niche magazines are not tracked.