Patrick J McGovern, Chairman of the Board, IDG

There is a need for quick information in sectors like business, finance or new products, where people will be relying more on the Internet. But there are magazines such as lifestyle or that have aspirational subjects, where people would want to go through the emotional experience of reading a magazine. In special interest or niche segment, the demand for print will still exist. However, even for the Internet, there will be a need to move to paid content, where one can access exclusive news.

Patrick J McGovern, the Founder and Chairman of International Data Group (IDG), is a pioneer who believes in taking the road less traveled and has been successful in his forays. He has been ranked by Inc Magazine as one of America’s 25 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs. He has placed IDG amongst Fortune’s ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ for four years in a row.

McGovern began his career in publishing while still a student at MIT, when he applied for a part-time editorial job at Computers and Automation, the first US computer magazine. In 1964, he founded International Data Corporation (IDC), now an IDG research subsidiary. Three years later, he launched Computerworld, a weekly newspaper dedicated to keeping computer buyers abreast of industry and product news. Today, McGovern has overseen IDG’s launch of more than 300 magazines and newspapers across 85 countries.

McGovern has been honoured with many prestigious awards, with the most recent awards being the 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Business Publications Editors (ASBPE), and a Top Innovator in Business Publishing Award from BtoB Media Business magazine.

In conversation with exchange4media’s Tuhina Anand, McGovern talks at length about IDG’s India plans, new launches and working in a slowdown environment.

Q. Given that there is a slowdown in the Indian market, how do you view this market in this light?

As compared to the world IT market, which is going about 1 per cent now, the Indian IT market, which is large, is still growing at 12-13 per cent. The GNP in India is still 6 per cent. Hence, the world IT thinks that India is the best growing market and there has been an accelerated interest in India. Also, the interest of advertisers is very high and they are investing here as they would like to have a presence in the country.

Q. To conclude, tell us what really strikes you about India?

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The intellectual vitality and interest of people in technology is what strikes me about this country.

Q. What’s the response that you have got from the Indian market? Also, was there any kind of hesitance in entering this market like the one you had faced when you had entered China, much to the surprise of many?

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We realised that lots of people are interested in technology in China and there is immense possibility of growth, which led us to enter the market, and in turn have got very good returns. We were always interested in India, but because of Government restrictions in FDI, we had to wait. In 2004, when the Government of India decided to allow foreign media companies involved in publishing scientific, professional and technical subjects, we rushed to start IDG here. Had we got an opportunity to start IDG in 1995, we would have gladly done that. In fact, now we are rushing to catch up on all the years we couldn’t enter the Indian market.

Q. How would you view competition in this segment in India?

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There is not much competition. There are only few players and they are no great deal.

Q. Have you zeroed in on any of the titles?

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We already have PCWorld, CIO, WindowsWorld and Channel World here. We plan to bring our leading title, Computerworld, to India by this Fall. We will definitely have the brand present in India by starting with a website and then, based on subscriber feedback, launch the print title thereafter. We typically begin by creating a website, and once readers show an interest in the online version, we do an email survey asking the people whether they are satisfied with the online version or would like to go for the print version. This takes out the risk of doing print at the outset.

Q. You had earlier emphasised that you would like to first get the websites in place and get a feedback on the product before starting a print version. Does that mean that print is begging to get defunct now?

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There is a need for quick information in sectors like business, finance or new products, where people will be relying more on the Internet. But there are magazines such as lifestyle or that have aspirational subjects, where people would want to go through the emotional experience of reading a magazine. In special interest or niche segment, the demand for print will still exist. However, even for the Internet, there will be a need to move to paid content, where one can access exclusive news.

Q. What was the reason behind launching the IDG TechNetwork in India?

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TechNetwork has been really successful since its launch in the US and the UK. We saw that there were as high as 7 million users from India logging on to our network. The network allows Indian tech buyers to go beyond the Indian boundaries and reach people across the world. In the US, TechNetwork has been growing almost 35 per cent annually. We expect a total of $7 million in revenues from the network in a year in India.

Q. Are you planning any more launches of your other properties?

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We have a few leading properties in the gaming field. We believe that gaming has huge potential and will grow rapidly in India as bandwidth increases and people can access interactive games on their mobile phones. We have successful game information services, including Gamestar and Gamepro, and beginning 2010, we would like to bring these properties to India. We will be again taking the route of creating a website first and then weigh the options of launching the magazine.

Q. Besides these, is there anything else in store for India on your agenda?

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Another area we cover is ‘networking’, where we create corporate network sites and telecom network site. We have a property called Networkworld, which does conferences, websites and print titles. By 2010, we plan to get this to India as well.

Q. What’s the advantage that IDG has in India over other players in the same field?

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We have two major advantages. First, we have more than 450 websites, 300 magazines and newspapers in over 90 countries. We can offer unmatched intellectual property to India leveraging all our products. So, while we will have locally prepared content, we also have access to richer and varied content. Also, because IDG is an international company, we can offer our advertiser more value by using our network strength and creating custom publishing, lead generation and create packages, which local players will not have access to.

Q. You’ve had a taste of working in many countries. What’s the biggest hurdle that you find working in India?

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It takes much longer to get Government approvals in India, while in other countries the okay stamp is put without much hurdle. There is emphasis on details of each product, a five-year plan to be put in place, and then many times a resubmitting of individual publication details is required with special meetings for the approval of titles.

Cooperation from the governments in other countries is substantial, and there they welcome direct fund investment. They know what we do around the world and know that we will be contributing to their GNP. Having said that, let me add that once things get rolling in India, the running gets fine.

Q. How do you view the Indian market for publications focusing on technology?

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I believe that India is a very good market as Indians are highly intelligent people and display energy and curiosity to learn as much as possible. Though there is a limited access to the Internet here, this indicates that there is a high dependability on print titles. Print forms a substantial part of the revenue in India as compared to many other Western markets. It contributes to 50 per cent of our revenue and the rest is divided between our events business, comprising 40 per cent, while the 10 per cent comes from online. The point to note here is that online is growing rapidly and we see almost 20-30 per cent increase every year.

Q. What are your investment plans for this market?

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We will continue to grow this market by adding selective print titles, websites and do more of events. We are looking at investing $10 million in the next year and expand the IDG media business in India.

Q. How do you plan to advertise the new products that you plan to launch in India?

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The interesting thing about the Internet is that if one reader likes a story, he would send it around. This usually leads to people coming on the website, and if they find some really worthy content, they would keep coming back. With social media network, too, a good story gets noticed widely. So, the idea is to get good content, which will then be read and shared by people interested in the subject. After this, we can get people to sign for newsletters, hence reaching them on a regular basis on privileged information, thereby building a credible database of people genuinely interested in the subject.