"It doesn't bother me at all if tomorrow there is no print": Suprio Guha Thakurta, The Economist

In December, Suprio Guha Thakurta was given a global role at The Economist Group; he was named chief strategy officer. Previously, he was managing director, circulation, Asia Pacific, and managing director, India, at the group, where he has spent the last seven years.

Guha has over 20 years of experience in the industry, during which time he has worked with companies like Godrej and Boyce, and Lintas Personal.

Globally, the weekly circulation of The Economist is over 1.5 million. The weekly circulation of The Economist in India is around 35,000.

Edited Excerpts

The position did not exist before.

A lot of changes are taking place. It helps if someone at the global level looks at all these changes - someone who understands what they mean. In brief, that's what it is.

The responsibilities are simple - Whatever our readership is, just try and double it.

With the shift to mobile as a platform of media consumption, we see a great opportunity. We will relentlessly apply our qualities to drive reach, readership and engagement with our content. This will make us more accessible to new, potential subscribers. It will create more media opportunities for brands to associate with The Economist, and will open up new revenue streams that do not exist today.

My role is not to preside over grandiose strategies and endless spreadsheets, but to ensure we accelerate our digital plans.

Because there are no easy answers to anything.

It is tough to keep the regular business going and also constantly think about various other things. Hence, you need to find someone who can do the thinking.

There are people who, a little away from day to day work, can look at all the different developments across industries and geographies. They understand these things because technology doesn't come naturally to news journalists or media people. In the future, more and more people will be seen doing this job.

Ofcourse it is.

When you talk about the magazine business, the way it is today, it's possibly not going to make too much money in the next 10-15 years.

But we don't see ourselves in the 'magazine business'; we're in the business of creating content that matches the things we believe in. The Economist is a guide to the political, economic, social, cultural and technological forces that shape the future. It is a trusted filter on world affairs and an advocate for positive change. It always comes with a global perspective, and is journalism that readers are prepared to pay a premium for.

It doesn't bother me at all if, tomorrow, there is no print. All I am bothered about is how people are consuming media, how can I get my content to them and how can I make money out of it.

We want to be relevant to the consumers... or, to a portion of the consumers. I am not saying all media consumers will read The Economist, but the people who do are successful. They have money to pay for the content, and that's not going to change.

Is this the time to say, 'Let's put all our eggs in the digital basket'? That's the biggest challenge.

Facts tell you that the mobile phone is going to drive everything. If you're 100 per cent sure about it, you need to find revenue models for it.

The dilemma is that money is finite. Say you have come up with a concept that's purely digital, and say it will require $50 million over the next three years. That means you will not have that money for the regular business.

No, I dont think it will turn entirely digital in a long time.

Different countries have different levels of change, driven by internet penetration and smartphone adaptation. Also, inherently, some cultures will continue to read print. Japan is one of the biggest publishing markets in the world. It is a developed country but still, print rules there.

In 2013, globally, 13 per cent of our subscribers were pure digital subscribers. The number is expected to become 17 per cent now. So there is still a long way to go.

I am not saying newsprint has got a future, but 'Print will disappear in five years', is also not true. What is really falling is print advertising because marketers think they have better ways of reaching their consumers through phones. Monies are moving from print to digital. In the UK market, online ad revenue has already exceeded print. That's going to happen across the board.

India is a strange market.

Based purely on subscription numbers, India is the fifth largest market in the world for The Economist. The question here is the ability to make money out of it. At Rs 6,000 (for an annual subscription), we are way more expensive than any other product. Also, because we can't print here - due to government regulations - it becomes difficult to make profits. We have to get copies couriered from Singapore every week and it costs us close to a million dollars per year.

We actually hold ourselves back in India. We're hoping digital adoption will happen fast; then we'll be able to grow well because the distribution bit will be taken care of.

To stay in India was my decision.

Today, people have far more respect for an individual's work-life balance than they did before. Ten years back it would not have been possible. Five years back, it would have been difficult. But today, it's not difficult at all.

In a strange way, it helps that I am here. When I go there for 10 days, I plan meetings in advance and the days turn out to be lot more productive than spending months sitting there.

That would be like moving away from our core positioning.

In doing so, we might appeal to more people but the core consumer will be gone.

Opportunities to reach out to people in a more localised way are there; we are thinking about it. But it can be done without changing the product.