The Metamorphosis of a Magazine

BY Mansi Sharma

Franz Kafka’s 1915 novella ‘The Metamorphosis’ is the story of a man, Gregor Samsa, struggling to find his identity in a demanding world. He goes through multiple stages of emotional upheaval before making peace with his fate which left him an unrecognisable, and diminutive version of his former self. Much like Gregor, the magazine industry has found itself in an imperious media atmosphere ruled by digital dominance, changing consumer behaviour, as advertisers keep looking for greener pastures. Once the beacon of socio-cultural renaissance – fostering freedom movements, igniting cultural awareness, and championing social change – magazines today struggle to deal with the transforming media landscape. However, unlike Gregor, the magazine industry doesn’t need to give in to circumstances. It can adapt a fresh perspective and reimagine its structure to attract the contemporary audience and advertisers alike.

Keeping The Gilded Frame
In the story when Samsa’s sister insists on taking his belongings out of the room, he throws all his weight on saving a gilded picture frame, a cut-out from an illustrated magazine featuring a lady dressed in copious fur. Perhaps, Samsa wanted to hold on to something familiar, much like the magazine industry, whose gilded frame is its commitment to honest journalism.

We indeed live in times of attention deficit where there is more content than what can be accessed by the audience. People are dedicated to watching short-form content, while the interest in long-form media is slowly fading. But in such times, it is even more important to invest in quality – research-backed, in-depth journalism that defines a magazine.

As Raj Chengappa, Group Editorial Director (Publishing) of India Today Group said at the Indian Magazine Conference, “There is a lot of clutter and chaos in the content market. Magazines should be focussing on how to bring clarity in such a time. Only good journalism can allow you to
do that.”

He further suggested that publishers should cater to the ‘masses’ and ‘classes’ by curating relevant content across media, wherein, Print is the force and Digital, the multiplier, to get improved revenues.

Pradeep Gairola Business Head - Digital, The Hindu Group also shared a page from the publication’s success story to support the argument of good journalism pushing the next leg of growth for magazines, “We were the first newspaper in 1995 to start our website. However, somehow Digital took a backseat for us after that. At a time when other competitors were growing digitally, mostly on the back of ABCD journalism – which means astrology, bollywood, cricket, and devotional content – we decided to stay away from it. We wanted to stay true to the journalism that we all are proud of. Therefore, we realised that the only way for us to scale our digital business was to put our content behind a paywall. When we did that in 2018, people were writing our obituary, saying it would never work in a market like India. However, we saw exceptional results. 83% of our subscribers paid the money even without a free trial. 50% of our subscribers still do not go for a free trial because they trust our journalism. That is the value of good journalism, which we have built over the years.”

Don’t Hide Under the White Couch
Once everything but a white couch is removed from his room, Gregor finds an uncomfortable yet familiar warmth as he sleeps under it. Gregor’s instinctual drive is to find solace in the white couch, despite its confining nature. Just as Gregor, publishers too must repurpose their content to meet the audience’s diverse needs. While some readers may prefer in-depth, long-form journalism driven by research, others may seek shorter, more digestible content.

Alastair Lewis, Interim Managing Director at FIPP expands, “The key is to identify your audience – what sectors and topics they like, and in the process, you will also be able to figure out your gap areas. After that, you only need to double down to fill the gaps and give the audience what they want. You have to be very specific about the platform that you are using to target each consumer segment. A copy-paste approach to using the same text everywhere will not work. Sometimes it (the content) might need just a little repackaging, sometimes it would require a little more work, but you must be willing to do so.”

Agreeing to the thought, Kerin O’Connor, Founder of Atlas UK adds, “I think publishers need to develop a culture of experimentation wherein journalists can try different ways of sharing a content piece. Also, you must have some elements of audio-visual content accompanying the text for alternate media. There could be podcasts, videos, and newsletters to help you reach a diverse audience segment. Newsletters are the most cost-effective way to research your audience as well. You can give them several topics and discussion points in one newsletter – if they open it, you know they want more. Otherwise, you don’t have to spare your resources in that direction.”
The magazine content can also be used to create movies, as Ponniyin Selvan emerged from the pages of Tamil magazine Kalki and TV series like Pam & Tommy that was based on ‘The Untold Story of the World’s Most Famous Sex Tape,’ a Rolling Stone article by Amanda Chicago Lewis.

Embrace The Apple
At one point in the story, Gregor’s father attacks his vermin form with a red apple that gets lodged in his back. This causes great pain and agony. The apple in the story is a metaphor for the familial discord and emotional turmoil that Gregor experiences due to his transformation. For magazine publishers, this apple in the story is the rapidly changing technological world, now defined by artificial intelligence (AI) and influencers.

While Gregor gives in to the pain caused by the apple, magazine publishers can, on the other hand, choose to use it for their benefit. Opportunities can open up with the marriage of Print and Digital, as proven over time. From partnering with influencers to promoting their content to even using AI for repurposing content, the possibilities are far and wide.

Manavdeep Singh, Founder of PubLive shares, “Repurposing content is powerful – be it text to audio or text to video, you can create numerous versions of a single piece of content to reach the masses. AI can play a pivotal role in this process. But it is not advisable to create content using AI as people can see through it and you lose credibility, moreover, Google is also penalising inauthentic content. You can use this tech to simplify the repurposing process, which can otherwise feel restrictive. For example, AI can create a synopsis of your story for a Digital audience and put out pictures with captions for social media, etc. You only have to moderate it before putting it out. It will save you a lot of time.”

Further, Lewis notes that AI can facilitate the archiving process for publishers. “They can also consider having chatbots on their platforms where people can search for a query and the responses can be from within the vast repository of articles on the publisher’s website, along with the source link. Nursing Times in the UK is already doing it and seeing some great results,” he mentions.

Another suggestion came from Girish Mallya, COO Next Gen Publishing Limited who is partnering with a decor influencer Rati Chaudhary to revive their property ‘The Ideal Home and Garden.’ He emphasised the value of having content creators as a part of the magazine ecosystem rather than perceiving them as a threat.

Elaborating on the partnership, Rati Chaudhary said, “I approached Girish during the COVID lockdown with an intent to work on The Ideal Home and Garden magazine which was shut because of the challenges at that time. I wanted to revive it and hence we collaborated. Now we take up three-way brand deals, which is a win-win for all of us. The brand gets double the eyeballs on my page and also the magazine. We will soon plan to monetise it as well.”

Rent Out The Apartment
Once the sole breadwinner of the Samsa family, Gregor, lost his skills to earn bread for his family, they looked at alternate solutions. While his sister started working, they rented their apartment to a few gentlemen. Magazine publishers should also invest in multiple revenue streams to maximise their profits. Circulation, subscription, events, advertising, and creating IPs that can be sold to other content creators – a mix of strategies can work wonders for magazine publishers that have been struggling with revenues for quite some time.

To elaborate, Chengappa noted that India Today has been running various successful event IPs like India Today Conclave and The India Today Woman Summit and Awards to generate alternate revenue streams. He also spoke about expanding beyond the niche of general interest magazines to create properties for various age and target groups to make them relevant for a larger customer base.

Govindraj Ethiraj, Founder of IndiaSpend talks about his platform as a trust-like entity that runs on philanthropic donations. The stories published are extensive, backed by months of research, and curated to serve various data-based niche requirements. “We are read by a lot of academic researchers, and several journalists who often repost our work on their platforms. But we haven’t been able to monetise this for two reasons – first, the people don’t buy our subscription per se, and second, our trustees feel they have invested in us, hence, we can share this important content with the masses for free. So, I keep thinking about content properties and events, or fundraisers that can help us keep this platform floating.”

The conference also hosted a chat on putting out magazines on platforms like the Open Network of Digital Commerce (ONDC) and also India Post.

Thampy Koshy, MD & CEO of ONDC explains, “ONDC is like the https of the digital commerce world. On the platform, you can register any product or service that has a catalogue and people can buy directly from there. Also, third-party sellers can integrate your catalogue on their platforms via ONDC channels. For example, PayTM sells electronic products on its channels listed on ONDC. You also have the liberty to pick and choose your delivery partners from those listed on ONDC based on the order. It can save precious time and money, which you would have otherwise spent on a logistics partner for pan deliveries. You can also make your ad inventories available on ONDC. So, there are a myriad of benefits available to you.”

Balance The Shock
The events of Gregor’s life impacted not just him but others around him as well. His mother was shattered and the whole family was reeling under financial uncertainty. The advertiser fraternity is dealing with something similar when it comes to magazines. Advertisers who were once fans of the magazines for the sheer liberty and creativity of expression that spreads allowed them are now conscious of partnering with the industry. The lack of IRS data, lower volumetric return, compared to other media, and a lack of understanding of the power of the work that magazines produce are some factors that contributed to this.

Manoj Sharma, CEO of India Today feels that media agencies rather than advertisers are to be blamed. He quips, “No one wants to see the qualitative aspect of magazines. They only bother about the numbers, not the impact and relationship we have with our readers as trusted media sources. Moreover, we are omni-channel powerhouses which agency folks refuse to see.”

Shashi Sinha, CEO IPG Mediabrands, India puts the onus of communication on the publishers’ shoulders as he responds, “None of the publishers want to invest in research that can give us solid readership data across platforms. Agencies have been struggling to help them after the IRS, and we have asked them to help us sort that data. Till they unite as an industry, there is going to be some difficulty in getting the advertisers on board as omnichannel buyers. They want good ROIs and returns so you need to sell your print and digital numbers together.”

Sharma, on the other hand tells us that advertisers, when approached directly, are keen to partner with them based on their combined numbers. However, he agrees that the industry needs to take a united stand to make things better. He tells IMPACT that the industry will soon be holding closed-door talks between the publishers and agency folks to find a collaborative solution to this problem. “I agree with Mr. Sinha that the onus of conversation lies on us. Advertisers do not realise the power we have, and the solution to this must come from us. We are not a high-volume industry but have a strong affinity and trust factor among the audience. We need to communicate that to the advertisers.”

In Bloom
Kafka’s story, originally, tells a tale of internal turmoils and challenges that he faced while dealing with familial and societal expectations. In the end, Gregor Samsa breaks down completely because of the apathy he gets from his family. The magazine industry deals with a similar situation, wherein they want to stay committed to their journalistic ethos, creating content that resonates with the audience as the media landscape transforms quickly. A fresh vision backed by technology, the power of multimedia, and a revamped approach to earning better revenues can completely transform the game for them. But they can’t give up on the journalism they have been hailing for centuries.

Tags : #e4m #advertisers #PrintMedia #magazines #magazinepublishers #IndianMagazineConference #MagazineAdvertising #featurestory