The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) looks at the publishing industry’s recent moves in India.
Lured by a growing pool of deep-pocketed readers and advertisers anxious to reach out to India’s 300 million-strong middle class, some 10 foreign consumer magazines have launched Indian editions in the past two years, and close to 20 more are expected to start publishing in India in 2007.
Indian versions of Maxim, Marie Claire and Good Housekeeping are already on magazine racks; Vogue and others have announced plans to publish here. Even Playboy and Penthouse have indicated interest in coming to India, though they are still working to devise tamer layouts to suit India’s more conservative society.
“Compared to developed markets like the U.S. and U.K. that are showing single-digit [annual revenue] growth in the entertainment and media sector, India has close to a 19% growth rate and a large, untapped market,” says Smita Jha, a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. in New Delhi.
Where publishers go, advertisers follow.
