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Conde Nast Brings GQ Magazine to India - Will it Vitalize the Online Media Market as Well?
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One of the biggest publication houses in the world, US based Conde Nast will launch GQ - the urban male magazine, by the end of this month in India. Conde Nast is famous for it’s style and fashion magazines like Vogue, Glamour and also tech publications like WIRED and other magazines like The New Yorker and Conde Nast Traveler. Reports of them planning the launch of GQ in India had surfaced earlier in April and now they are ready to hit the stands.
The afaq’s article quoted Alex Kuruvilla, managing director, Condé Nast India,
“GQ’s entry both coincides with and reflects the red-hot expansion of the luxury market catering to Indian men, who are earning and spending like never before, driving consumption in Asia’s third largest economy. At present, there is no magazine catering to their discerning needs. So, there is an opportunity to launch a luxury lifestyle product like GQ in India.”
This news reminds of Glam.com’s plans to target India as well for their global ad sales division after acquiring digital ad firm Monetise. Glam essentially caters to the opposite gender in the same niche as GQ. Though major difference of course being that GQ is first a print magazine and Glam is an online portal/e-mag. Therefore, they certainly see scope to target and convert the Indian audience while catering to the same niche as CN.
Despite being a predominantly print house, Conde Nast does have a strong portoflio of websites as well including powerhouses like Wired & Wiredinsider, Reddit, Concierge, Style and Portfolio.com (Domainer’s would slurrp at this set of names!). And with these names it has one of the more powerful content network online to go with its 120 odd premium print magazines in 22 markets.
And that’s what brings this post into picture.
If alongwith its print publications like Vogue, Glamour and now GQ Conde Nast sets up a powerful India centric online publication like how Web18 has with Indiwo or lead the pack by bringing Style.com to India, it can perhaps vitalise the online content market space in India, which currently suffers from innovationphobia and quality in general. The fact that we have a woman centric ad network in Divanation and Glam’s own plans to push advertising sales, AOL setting up an Indian Ad Odeyssey and the hundreds of ad networks that are jumping on the wagon here should provide some direction to this thought. For if anyone can take the online magazine market a notch up it has to be Conde Nast.
On the topic of GQ, it plans an initial run of 35,000 copies priced at Rs 100. According to Oona Dhabhar, director, marketing, GQ India, readers will not mind shelling out that amount, for, say, a 150 page premium fashion magazine.
If that’s the idea then wouldn’t it be alright to think that gadgets like the iphone or HTC or Nokia’s N96 will improve the chances of a more active online readership for such magazines as well? And if it is then, we have a potential boom staring at us in the online publishing sector in India. The impact would be seen in all spheres including better quality content, better writers, better ad covnersions by leveraging on the existing branding of these publication houses.
The fact that Alex Kuruvilla is at the helm of CN’s India operations is a positive vibe to this thought considering that his previous stint was with MTV India, which as we know has always pioneered new media adoption. MTV has even released a social media presentation for those who don’t know.
Looking forward to a digital era with luxury and lifestyle in hand.
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