Adgully Exclusive | There is tremendous possibility for growth in the Indian Publishing industry: ACK Media's Samir Patil

ACK Media which publishes children's titles like Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle, and Karadi Tales, has bagged the licensing rights of National Geographic Magazine. The entertainment and education company for young audiences, will introduce the Indian edition of the magazine in mid-2012, subject to the required approvals.

ACK Media has joined hands with National Geographic Magazine to publish and distribute National Geographic Magazines including National Geographic Kids, National Geographic Traveler alongwith their DVDs in India.

Speaking exclusively with Adgully Samir patil, CEO, ACK Media, shared the insights of his initiative.

Speaking about the need for a magazine of this nature, he said, "India is a world in itself; a unique content experience is desirable for the Indian market as a standard international product cannot do justice to India's diversity, as well the unique reading habits and aspirations of evolved Indian consumers. This has been proven for almost all International media brands that have entered India. India, in fact is the second most covered countries in Nat Geo Magazine."

Telling about the potential they see in India and how they see the Indian publishing business, he said,"There is tremendous potential in India. Over the last five years, virtually every major English language magazine and book publisher has set up local operations. Like all other publishers, we believe there is great potential. India has one of the world's largest English-speaking readerships; it is a market we simply cannot afford to not be in."

When asked, what growth they see in the Indian publishing industry hence an international publication like them ventures into this market, she said, "We believe there is tremendous possibility for growth in the Indian Publishing industry."

Speaking about ACK's vision on how ACK will handle the publishing and marketing of the magazine, he said, "ACK Media owns IBH, India's leading magazine distribution business, which we are building out to be the most modern logistics company for media and related products. We bring to table the widest reach (10,000+ vendors), long experience (60+ years) and of course deep relationship with Nat Geo brands since we have been distributing it for many years."

On further elaboration, he said, "With Future Ventures ( an arm of Future Group), a majority shareholder in ACK Media, we also will bring unique strengths in the retail and merchandising space. We have aggressive plans for e-commerce; dedicated retail presence, retail kiosks and other kinds of innovative points-of-presence in malls, books stores and modern retail."

He says, "Finally, we have a unique Direct to Customer strategy both in terms of Physical Mailers as well as E-commerce. Overall we think we have the only full-service distribution model in India. We are also making significant investments in this area to address unique challenges (e.g., customer preference for Cash-On-Delivery)."

Sharing a bit on the content, (whether the content will be Indian or International), layout and design of the product, he said, " We will vary this over time and by magazine (within regulatory guidelines). We expect significant localization for Nat Geo Traveler and far less for the Nat Geo Magazine (which in any case has many articles on India). The layout and design will be as rich as the best International editions."

Sharing with us the nature of association, he signed off by saying, "National Geographic Magazine is already distributed and so is Nat Geo Traveler by ACK-media. The Indian edition will start during the middle of next year, subject to the required approvals. We start building advertisement and marketing partnerships right away though."

ACK will soon set up a separate editorial team for Nat Geo titles. | By Aanchal Kohli [aanchal(at)adgully.com]