Business Magazines - Clutter or Competition

With the Sensex hitting an all time high of over 12000, the business sector in India is looking a lot more busier than ever. Perhaps to some extent this justifies the interest that many media players are showing in the genre. The latest offering for the business content consumer in the English readership space - Outlook Business further vindicates that. If any further proof was at all required, there are more business newspapers and magazines waiting in the pipeline.

A little need for caution could come in, given significant decline in readership that surveys like Indian Readership Survey (IRS) have shown in the latest round. Either ways, many would think that the space is filling up to the extent of being cluttered.

The question in such a scenario boils down to 'Is readership increasing with more products entering the scene?' and 'Is the advertiser's spends in the segment increasing with every new launch?' To quote the cliché chain of action, which often is the "expert reply" to these questions: New players would mean new readers, more fragmentation, players settling in leading to shake out resulting in survival for some and closure for some in the long run.

If some of the expert media comments are anything to go by, nothing different can be expected from the Indian business scene as well with the coming of these new players.

Now the question really is 'How will players survive in this exceedingly competitive genre?'

Limiting the focus on the English magazines at present, there are some learning from international markets that can be taken into consideration here. A closer look at the latest entrant and the thought process that went behind launching a product in times like this, does offer some answers to this question.