By IANS,
New Delhi : UK-based publisher Dennis Publishing will launch men-specific magazines in India this year in a joint venture with the country arm of Thai publication house Media Transasia, the company said Wednesday.
“We see India as a fast growing market where there is a vast opportunity in the media and entertainment publication sector,” Dennis Publishing chief executive officer James Tye told IANS.
The joint venture, expected to be formalised by the month-end, will be called Dennis Media Transasia India Ltd. The new joint venture is also looking at tapping the digital advertising sector in the country.
The launch of the first magazine – not yet identified – will be by the year-end.
Dennis Publishing has a presence in the UK and the US, and plans to establish itself in India and Australia by the end of 2009. “We are looking at other countries in Asia and Europe. These are the key markets,” Tye said.
In this connection, he said his company planned to double its global investment to Rs.75 billion ($1.88 billion) in the next two years.
Dennis Publishing, which brings out 25 print and digital publications in the UK, will launch periodicals dedicated to men’s fitness, men’s lifestyle and technology-specific magazines on personal computers, notebooks and mobile phones.
In 2005, Media Transasia launched Maxim, the internationally popular men’s magazine, under a license agreement with Dennis Publishing.
Today, said Rasina Uberoi, vice-president of the Media Transasia, Maxim sells three times more copies than competitors.
She said Media Transasia will now use its local knowledge to hawk Dennis Publishing’s other magazines such as Men’s Fitness, evo and Monkey.
“We will target men in the 20-39 years age group. We aim to become the largest men’s publisher in India,” said Uberoi.
“We will be launching at least three magazines in the next one-year which will address men’s lifestyle, technology, cars and fashion. There are men who want to read lifestyle magazines,” she said, adding: “We are open to the idea of having female-centric lifestyle magazines also.”
Currently, there are several women’s magazines of international pedigree published from India — Elle and Cosmopolitan for example.