PrintWeek India Conclave: "Is print dead?" asks Tarun Rai

Tarun Rai, chief executive officer, Worldwide Media, and president, The Association of Indian Magazines, started his session at the Printweek India 2012 conclave with a slide which read – "Print is dead", and explained how people find it fashionable to say print is dead.

He said, “Steve Jobs is dead, but he’s left a machine which will kill print.”

“Twenty years ago, people said technology will put an end to the use of paper. Come to my office and you’ll still see paper,” he added.

Evaluating the print industry at Rs 13,000 crores, Rai brought out how different media agencies had provided lower estimates to the industry.

He said, “Madison first valued the industry at Rs 600 crores before re-doing their calculations to arrive at a figure of around Rs 11,500 crores.”

He then pointed out an article which appeared in The Economist in the US which had the headline – ‘Non news is good news’.

“Certain kinds of magazines continue to do well. Luxury, lifestyle and niche magazines are still growing,” explained Rai.

Rai quoted from a report from PWC, which stated that all media in India will grow at a rate of 13.5 per cent in the next five years. Print will grow at 9.6 per cent according to the same study.

He then brought up an engagement survey AIM had undertaken.

3600 people were surveyed in 10 cities and some of the points that came out of the survey were:

1. Magazines are read alone.
2. The attention readers give a magazine is twice the attention they give television.
3. Nine out of 10 readers don’t do anything else while reading magazines.
4. For eight out of 10 people, advertisements aren’t an interruption in magazines.
5. 68 per cent of the readers establish a connect with the magazine.