The 13th edition of Indian Magazine Congress (IMC) got under way in Mumbai earlier today (3 May).

Anant Nath, president, Association of Indian Magazines, opened the Congress, by stating that magazines need to work with more integrity. "Advertisers might drop you (from their business plans), but your readers will continue to read you," he said. 

He added, "Magazines deliver the truth and have to work with more integrity to deliver this. Editors and business teams have to work together and the latter has to support it by realising short-term shouldn't affect long term business growth."

He concluded by saying, "Magazines as a medium have a greater resilience and hopefully continue to thrive."

Nath’s welcome keynote address was followed by a talk by Alastair Lewis, managing director, FIPP. Building on the Congress’ theme of this year, ‘Magazine Publishers Building New Revenue Streams,’ Lewis highlighted the key trends driving publisher growth this year.

He stated, “Right now especially is more important than ever in terms of bringing publishers together and sharing and showcasing that information best practices around the world.”

Be audience first

Stressing on the fact that knowing and understanding the readers is the key to building products, Lewis mentioned that there is nothing more important for a publisher's growth in 2024 than taking an audience or a user based approach to everything that they do, whether that's in print, digital or mobile. 

He explained, “Gone are the days that we can rely upon brand reputation, or even just mass numbers to guarantee success. We need to know our users to be able to deliver a value proposition that matches that need. We need to have a direct relationship, whether that's through registration, first party data gathering, subscription, e-commerce or affiliate revenues. We need to know more about the users because the more we know about them, the better.”

Diversification of revenue streams

“It's a prerequisite for publisher growth, that any successful product will have a variety of revenue streams that help deliver overall profit. We are seeing plenty of examples of publishers who are growing revenues and subscriptions with advertising, e-commerce, affiliate revenues alongside circulation, and many who are finding new ways to licence both their brands and their content in novel ways,” noted Lewis.

Combining subscriptions, advertising, e-commerce, and licensing were some of the ways he suggested for traditional media to diversify the revenue. 

Work with AI

Highlighting the importance of leveraging AI into business to drive the growth forward, Lewis talked about focusing on enhancing subscriber experiences through digital assistants. 

He asserted, “Enhancing a subscriber’s experience is key because it isn’t about producing something new or necessarily launching a new revenue stream but helping to drive an existing and very important revenue stream which is subscription. AI can also give a real boost to smaller businesses and to get onto a level playing field that other technologies haven't been able to.”

Global growth opportunities

Several publishers are now looking to expand their horizons globally, mentioned Lewis. 

“Global is back. Global opportunities and the concept of working outside of your own market is really something that we're seeing tremendous growth in this year. Many of the brands and businesses are established by joint venture partnerships and licensing agreements.” he said.

Invest in ESG

Lewis emphasised on how businesses need to weave sustainability into their businesses and promote diversity, equality and inclusion, both internally and externally. 

He voiced, “We are seeing that the publishers with the best growth are building ESG into all aspects of their businesses and cascading them through the business accordingly. Gen Z are absolutely set on ensuring that their employers are delivering on these promises and demonstrating that commitment is hugely important.”

On a concluding note, Lewis mentioned how businesses can use their own platforms to promote sustainability through storytelling.