India magazine industry thriving, big players moving in

By Rina Chandran

MUMBAI (Reuters) - When Conde Nast launched its premium lifestyle magazine 'Vogue' in India last year, it carried a whopping 168 pages of advertisements of a total 400 pages.

Now, the publisher is preparing to launch its luxury men's magazine GQ and expects a similar rush of advertisers in Asia's third-largest economy, where rising incomes and growing literacy are boosting readership and revenues of magazines and newspapers.

From specialist magazines on whisky, golf and parenting, to regional-language newspapers and financial dailies, new titles are coming thick and fast in one of the few markets in the world where advertising and readership for print media are expanding.

"It's a fast growing economy and with consumption so robust and with incomes rising, it's a fertile ground for the print media," said Vivek Couto, executive director of Hong Kong-based research firm Media Partners Asia.

"There is also a buoyancy in print advertising that is encouraging new launches and niche publications in particular."

Print publication advertising revenues in India generated 94 billion rupees ($2.4 billion) in 2007, or 48 percent of all of the country's media advertising revenues, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) said in a recent report. TV ads generated 41 percent.

With the economy having grown at an average rate of 8.75 percent in the last four years, middle class incomes have risen, boosting demand for niche magazines on health, leisure and finances.

Growing prosperity in rural areas is also encouraging demand for publications in India's more than 20 official regional languages.