At a time when digital news sources are making life tough for print publications, IDG India has launched its global flagship brand ‘Computerworld’ in India. IDG already has formidable presence in India with products like PCWorld, CIO & Channelworld.
IDG just like its other publication based portals has also launched Computerworld.in, a dedicated portal for the magazine. Computerworld largely caters to IT professionals giving them in-depth knowledge regarding the IT sector and related domains.
IDG’s geared expansion mode was highly speculated after the launch of its Tech blog Ad network in India. The launch is not surprising looking at the thriving IT & ITeS sector here along with increase in number of IT professionals graduating. It can certainly launch a similar product for the Telecom World (available only in China from IDG’s fold) for Indian market looking at humongous telecom growth witnessed in recent years.
Despite sluggish growth in internet users, India is witnessing heavy off take for PC & laptops. The tech publication business still remains to be a daunting task due to increase in printing costs and availability of free content online from the likes of Tech2(Web18) & Techtree (IT Nation acquired by UTV).
Infomedia 18 (Chip) & Cybermedia (PC Quest) are the leading players in print Tech publications in India. Most of the Tech publications are able to garner a limited reader base by bundling free stuffs like Software & Games with their publications. Computerworld will certainly need to get the market dynamics right in order to corner a respectable market share.
