• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Our Bureau

CHENNAI, Jan.17

AN increase in the number of titles on the stands has led to a slump in ad revenues for magazines, but in terms of overall share, magazines have actually been making small gains in recent years.

However, niche and specialist magazines have been growing at the cost of general interest magazines, according to a report from TAM-AdEx.

Magazines currently have a 12.5 per cent share of overall print ad revenues — estimated at about Rs 4,400 crore — which is up from a share of 11.8 per cent in 2000. However, this is no cause for celebration: In 1994, magazines had a more respectable 23 per cent share of print ad revenues, according to TAM-AdEx.

"There has been some amount of crowding because there are more titles today, and there is also more specialisation," said Mr Atul Phadnis, Director - S Group, TAM Media Research. "And advertisers are looking to reach specialist or niche readers rather than general readers."

In 1994, general interest magazines accounted for 52 per cent of magazine revenues; in 2002, their share was down to 47 per cent. Business and film magazines also lost share — Business magazines' share of revenues fell to 13 per cent last year from 16 per cent in 1994, and share of film magazines fell to 5 per cent from 10 per cent.

Among niche and specialist magazines, automobile, IT, youth and lifestyle magazines have been some of the fastest growing genres, according to the TAM-AdEx report. Auto magazines are easily the fastest growing category, and the share of women's magazines also grew significantly, from 15 per cent in 1994 to 21 per cent last year. "These trends are strikingly similar to what's happening on television today, with niche and regional channels eating into mass channel revenues," Mr Phadnis noted. Other experts have also noted that mass entertainment TV channels have taken away readers of general interest and even film magazines.

Indeed, magazines have been hit by a double whammy: according to the recent National Readership Survey, the readership base for magazines fell to 86.2 million last year from 93.8 million in 1999. Also, magazine ad sizes have shown the greatest decline, a whopping 30 per cent over the past eight years, as compared with a 21 per cent decline in newspapers, according to an earlier TAM-AdEx report.

"Magazines are really the weakest link in the entire scheme of things - the category overall has lost more ground than the other media," Mr Phadnis said. Going forward, he expects that specialist magazines will continue to grow in terms of readership and ad revenues, with auto, youth and women's magazines growing at the cost of general interest magazines.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Oscar targets Rs 500-cr turnover

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line