Lifestyle magazines grow 25% annually  ( May '28,2001, BS)

Even the downturn in advertising has not lulled the growing crop of lifestyle magazines in India. The latest to hit the stands is a new men’s magazine from Bennett, Coleman & Co. which publishes Femina and Filmfare. Called IAGT or It’s A Guy Thing is produced by Times Response.

he bi-monthly priced at Rs 30 is positioned as a lifestyle magazine for men aged 20-35 years in the socio-economic category (SEC) A1 and A2. Meanwhile, Living Media has turned its 5-year-old lifestyle magazine, India Today Plus, into a monthly from a bi-monthly format. Publisher of India Today Plus and Cosmopolitan, Mala Sekhri says: “Our readership is growing as a new generation of people with more disposable incomes explore new lifestyle options.” The magazine claims to have a readership of 5.69 lakh. These are not isolated cases.

Today there are over 30 lifestyle magazines compared to about 10 that existed 5-6 years back. The new crop includes design magazines like Perfect Ten and Elle Decor and a fashion magazine called In Touch With Fashion. Man’s World, too, was launched less than two years back. Clearly, from practically a non-existent category, lifestyle magazines has come up as the single largest growing category. Says N Bhaskar Rao, director, Centre for Media Studies, “The category is estimated to be growing at more than 25 per cent.”

Agrees Sekhri: “Worldwide the lifestyle segment is growing at a rate of 20-25 per cent.” Some publishing experts say that the lifestyle segment is growing at the cost of film-based magazines. Though there aren’t enough numbers to substantiate the claim, Sekhri believes that there is a shift in readership from film to lifestyle magazines. “Earlier, films were the only source of entertainment. Today, the options have grown and media penetration is high.”

Agrees associate publisher of Gujarat’s Chitralekha Group, Bharat Kapadia: “Film magazines is not particularly a growing segment. Thanks to the Internet and television, there is enough film-based information available.” Small wonder several film magazines such as Movie, Star & Style and Tinsel Town have faded away in the last couple of years. In fact, even the premier products like Cineblitz and Stardust have not seen an impressive growth.

A Stardust official, however, says that the rise of lifestyle magazines is nothing to be worried about since film magazines still enjoy a high readership. The magazine claims a readership of 33 lakh. Filmfare, from the Times Group, meanwhile, has a readership of around 52 lakh. Yet, the magazine needs to constantly advertise to maintain its dominant position.

Says Starcom general manager, Ravi Kiran: “The only way film magazines sustain themselves in the market is through incentivising readers/customers.” Of that, Filmfare is, perhaps, the first film magazine to have incentivised the news-stand pick-ups, he adds.

A dipstick study of magazine kiosks in and around Delhi revealed that the number of film magazines these hawkers sold has remained stagnant over the past 5-7 years compared to the growing market for lifestyle magazines. Says Kushal Singh, a hawker in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area: “For the last five years I am selling 100 copies of Stardust per month.” In a bid to improve its circulation, Chitralekha is re-launching its film magazine ‘g’ this week. The all-new ‘g’ will sport a new look and also offer business pages on the film industry’s financial and business aspects. Experts believe that besides readership, advertising may also be moving from film to lifestyle magazines. The National Readership Survey 2000 shows that while film magazines enjoy a mix of readers from SEC A, B and C, the reader for a lifestyle magazine belongs to SEC A or B1. Says Rao: “Since the thematic approach of advertising has also shifted towards lifestyle, advertisers are more likely to reach their target through lifestyle magazines.”