Playboy in India

Asia Times Online :: South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan: "The world's top-selling men's magazine is looking to launch in India, but in keeping with conservative mind-sets it will not carry its signature nudes - at least for now.

However, once entrenched, it's anybody's guess whether the magazine will go all the way given an opportunity and the industry's stiff competition.

Playboy is currently in talks over starting a men's magazine that would not only be free of nudity but also would not use its trademark name, chief executive Christie Hefner said last week. The proposed launch of Playboy or its "extension" suggests a lucrative, Indian market of young spenders and readers in a rapidly growing workforce that is increasingly more attractive to foreign media players looking to make forays into the country. It's the same reason foreign retailers, mobile phone manufacturers, automakers, airlines, luxury brands, banks, insurers, telecom players and many more are making a beeline to India.

And the reading market is large. According to Indian Media Observer/FIPP, "the reach of India's print media (dailies and magazines combined) has increased from 179 million to 200 million people in the last three years, according to the National Readership Survey, 2005. Though the urban readership share fell from 48% to 46%, the reach increased from 17% to 19% in rural areas. In addition, the survey says that the number of readers in rural India was almost equal to urban India because of rising literacy rates." Out of the 18 main languages in the country the highest readership is in Hindi, followed by English, which amounts to India's second unofficial language.

Circulations and readership are booming at a time when American and European newspapers are reporting declines in sales. With nearly 80 million copies sold daily, India is next only to China, where about 93 million copies are sold daily, according to data released this year by the Seoul-based World Association of Newspapers.

More than US$1.5 billion per year is spent in print advertising and $1 billion for TV. According to a report by management consultancy firm KPMG, 64 million Indian homes will be linked to cable and satellite connections by 2007. By then, the overall revenues of TV broadcasters are expected to shoot up to $3 billion.

India Daily reported in July that "the overall Indian print market is set to grow at the compounded annual growth rate of 6.9% (compared to a growth rate of 2.7% for the Asia-Pacific region) and will be worth $2.4 billion in 2008 from $1.8 billion in 2004, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study."

Playboy, which will soon be available in Argentina and possibly return to Italy and Australia as joint ventures, announced its India plans in wake of the gradual opening of the Indian market to foreign publications, a process that started in 2002. In the latest move the Indian government has allowed foreign investment in non-news publications up to 100%. Foreign holdings are allowed up to 26% in Indian newspapers and television channels.

The current laws permit selling foreign newspapers but not printing them. Foreign newspapers are available in India, printed in neighboring countries and normally late to arrive. After the latest changes in the statutes, foreign newspapers can launch facsimile editions of their international editions after incorporating local subsidiaries in India. Foreign magazines can be imported free of duty and with ease.

Since the opening up of foreign investment, several big international players have entered the Indian newspaper and television market, attracted by high consumer spending and rising advertising revenue. It is estimated that foreign majors have already invested about $300 million into the Indian media industry and a further $250 million is expected in the near future.

The British Independent News & Media paid $34 million for a stake in Jagran Prakashan, a Hindi-language daily publisher and television broadcaster. Reuters entered into an agreement with Bennett, Coleman and Co, publisher of The Times of India newspaper, for an English-language TV news channel, which is expected to start this year.

Pearson's Financial Times has paid $3 million for almost 14 % of the Business Standard, the country's second-largest business daily newspaper. Dow Jones has started its own partnership with Bennett, Coleman to print The Asian Wall Street Journal. Henderson Private Capital's Asia Fund, a private equity fund, has bought a $20 million stake in The Hindustan Times. Singapore-based Standard Chartered Private Equity Ltd has invested $11 million in New Delhi satellite broadcaster NDTV, which runs two popular news channels.

Other high-profile discussions and tie-ups include BusinessWeek and CyberMedia, a leading Indian publisher of information technology magazines; The Intelligent Computing Chip, published by TBW Publishing; Par Golf from Exposure Media and Walt Disney. Media giants such as Bertelsmann, Vivendi Universal and Time Warner have shown interest. Existing financial content and data-processing companies such as Dow Jones, Reuters, Bloomberg and Agence France-Presse (AFP), operating through 100% subsidiaries, have looked at fresh equity partnerships. "