Do opportunities loom in magazine boom in India?

A recent article in the International Herald Tribune profiles the breathtaking growth of the magazine industry in India; perhaps we should stop obsessing about the U.S. and start looking at the publishing opportunities halfway round the world.

The article points out that Indian versions of Vogue, Rolling Stone, OK!, Hello, Maxim, FHM, Golf Digest, and People have all sprung up this year, and GQ and Fortune are soon to follow. They join familiar names like Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Reader's Digest. Most are published under licensing agreements and, far from being easternized versions of Western titles, are really brand names that are attached to publications written, photographed, edited and designed almost completely in India.

Which of course raises the question about whether Canadian magazines have an equal opportunity to make deals in the sub-contintent.

Magazine advertising in India is expected to grow by 20 per cent to $302 million by the end of 2008. while that's but a third of the Canadian market, India is gaining fast.

"There are one million homes earning more than $100,000 each" in India, said Alex Kuruvilla, the chief executive of Condé Nast India, the only major foreign-owned publisher that has set up a fully staffed India division to write and print a fully owned title. In October Vogue magazine will have been in India for a year, and Condé Nast is introducing the men's fashion magazine GQ in September.

The style and flavor of the magazines is distinctly Indian.

Instead of Heloise's syndicated household hints column, for example, Good Housekeeping runs "Ask Mrs. Singh." This month, Mrs. Singh tackles how to keep your home fresh during the monsoons that sweep through India during the summer (rubber mats and fresh flowers help).

The July issue of Vogue carries the Annie Leibovitz photo shoot of the honeymoon of the "Sex and the City" characters Carrie and Mr. Big that appeared in the June Vogue in the United States; an underwater fashion shoot off the Indian islands of Lakshadweep; a cover story on the Bollywood debutante Asin Thottumkal; and a mix of international and local ads.

"We like to talk about 100 percent Indian content, where every piece would be relevant to an Indian audience," said Kuruvilla, though that means the magazine may pick up the occasional piece from another Condé Nast publication.

Vogue India is close to break-even in its first year, something that was unexpected. People magazine made its debut this month.

Unlike Vogue India, People in India does not employ a single person from Time Inc., or Time Warner, he said, and the media giant has no stake in the Indian edition of the magazine. For its first issue, People India published 150,000 copies, and sold 70 percent of that number, he estimates.

[Hat tip to Michael Masterson at the website Early to Rise]
[Photo by Zackary Canepari, New York Times]