Indian Business Magazines and Podcasts
I regularly listen to the podcasts from Business Week magazine. Every Thursday Business Week releases a podcast which discusses what went behind the scenes to create their weekly cover story. After listening to the podcast, almost every time I visit their site for related content. Several other magazines also provide the podcasts of their cover stories and other interesting discussion.
These podcasts are professionally recorded and circulated. Some of them even carries pre-roll advertisements. Podcasts can serve like a good advertisement to drive traffic to the site as well as increase the sales of the magazines. With the given popularity of mp3 devices it becomes inevitable for magazines companies and other content producers to create and distribute podcasts.
But Indian Business Magazine companies do not think so. The following are the most popular business magazines in India with the approximate circulation numbers - Business Today(416,000), Business India (291,000), Outlook Business (226,000) and Business World (224,000). Unfortunately none of these magazines provide podcasts on their websites. And even Google could not find a website for Business India magazine.
Well the good news is that foreign magazine publishers like Fortune, Businessweek and The Economist planning to release Indian version of their magazines. I hope this competition will force existing magazine companies to think of innovative marketing strategies to maintain and gain new customers. And definitely a better web presence cannot be ignored.
According to a study by EMarketer, by the end of 2008 there will be around 10 million active podcast listeners in US with advertising dollars going up to 240 million dollars. I could not locate any numbers for Indian podcast industry.
I have heard a couple of podcasts from India. Most of them are not professional recorded and I can barely hear the discussion. Most of us will subscribe to podcasts only when it can give a message or a lively discussion. I would not mind spending 30 minutes or so for listening to a good podcast while I am commuting to work or doing house hold chores.
I would love a listen to a podcast from a Indian Magazine (or Newspaper) which gives me a daily or weekly dose of information and insights. I think podcasts in vernacular languages like Hindi will sell like hot cake. Do you think Indian podcast market is not matured yet?
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Today I checked Business Today website and I found a podcast. There were no archives. So I assume that this is their first podcast. Check the podcast on their home page http://businesstoday.digitaltoday.in/. Unfortunately the RSS feeds subscription is not working at the moment. This podcast gives a summary of current cover story. I personally feel only headlines and a brief summary of each story in the podcast may not engage users. Listen to it and leave comments on what you think about it. It is a welcome move though