Children’s publications fight hard to stay relevant

Remember ‘Chandamama’, ‘Tinkle’, ‘Champak’ and the other magazines, comics and storybooks you were brought up on? Apparently, some of them are struggling to survive and may not bring out another issue if not for investors who see the potential in their archives, in the under-monetised properties they’ve built, and in the increasing power of kids as consumers. The problems they face may not reflect the problems more general interest and other large magazine categories face in terms of stagnating readership, but they are perhaps an indicator of things to come.

Even children’s publications that are able to remain in the black are struggling, as proprietors wait and watch the game played by angel investors who have bought a stake in defunct rival kids’ publications.

‘Chandamama’ is a ripe example. The company has been publishing the magazine for 60 years, but the problems started a decade ago. It was hit predictably by the electronic media and other competitors for kids’ time. “You can’t survive on goodwill – you need deep pockets to grow,” says Vishwanatha Reddi, editor and publisher, ‘Chandamama’. “…forget us, print media as a whole had gone through a rough time then.”

Around 2000 is when Morgan Stanley, along with other investors, picked up a stake in ‘Chandamama’. But they withdrew earlier this year for reasons best known to them. It was then that the Mumbai based IT company, Geodesic Information Systems, picked up a 94 per cent stake to acquire the company along with all its content, including archives, which it plans to covert into Internet and mobile content, games, movies, animation and, thus, explore opportunities in entertainment and education. Geodesic is talking to toy manufacturers for merchandising opportunities and to studios for animation opportunities. It plans to cover all segments of marketing for kids by 2010.

On the other hand, there is Delhi Press’ ‘Champak’, which is a storybook magazine with few visuals. Anant Nath, director, Delhi Press, claims that the few visuals format helps enhance a child’s imagination. Although he feels that the kids’ print media market is evolving, readership surveys do not support his hypothesis. He does not have any plans to ‘rejuvenate’ ‘Champak’ because he feels it is doing fairly well.

“We’re strong in non-metros as that is where the clutter and competition is lesser,” he explains. He does not admit to an overhaul of delivery, but then, neither does he deny it.

Although Nath rules out any major plans, Delhi Press may experiment with animation for some stories and digitised content through e-magazines distributed free online and on CDs. Although these may not help directly, he expects them to help in building communities and engaging readers through games and other interaction.

‘Chandamama’ is planning to launch its website in February. Almost all reading and entertainment content will be free, but value additions and services will bear a nominal charge and perhaps be extended to parents – giving it the essence of a commercial portal.

Reddi expects the circulation to grow 100 per cent to five lakh copies in just a year’s time, and a minimum of 10 per cent in a month after the site is fully operational. He says parents too will be attracted to the content and will recommend the stories and characters that were part of their childhood.

Interestingly, a story on the revival plans of ‘Chandamama’ on a popular portal got a lot of readers reminiscing about their own childhood, a bond the magazine seems to have used to the hilt while making its plans.

While children’s magazines face great competition from television, some of them are finding new avenues of income in television. Sahara One has bought the rights to ‘Chacha Choudhary’ from Diamond Comics (Delhi); other kids’ channels that need local content are partnering with or acquiring rights from Indian publishers.

Two years ago, Coruscant Technologies tied up with Anant Pai, the father of Indian comics and founder editor of ‘Tinkle’ and ‘Amar Chitra Katha’, and Lalit Media (started by Pai) to use Pancharatna, Birbal and Tenali Raman in mobile content it was developing. Properties that were built around the brand ‘Uncle Pai’ include ‘Storytime with Uncle Pai’, ‘Playtime with Uncle Pai’ and ‘Quiztime with Uncle Pai’.

Manish Porwal, executive director, Starcom, feels that to make the turnaround work, publishers will have to first give up their holier than thou attitude and understand that the stories in their archives may not be relevant today. Second, publishers need to heed where they are headed. Will their product be branded? Or will they be reduced to mere B2B content suppliers? Third, they will need to think as young as their target group. “For kids today, a mobile phone is not ‘technology’, but simply a ‘phone’. They take such things for granted and embracing new delivery platforms is not a key – but the obvious – step,” says Porwal.

So, are kids’ magazines going through difficult times? Yes. Have they been trying to re-invent themselves and make their content more relevant? Yes. Has it worked? Perhaps not. So, what are they doing about it? More than changing content to suit changing times, language, lifestyle and culture, publishers have realised that their marketing efforts have to become more aggressive and that delivery has to change. In other words, wring better efficiencies from the current offerings before attempting content changes and re-launches. Just as other print publications have seen a makeover in delivery platforms – online, user-generated, community-centric, on-demand and sleeker formats, kids’ media too will have to be as vibrant and omnipresent as their target group.

Ironically, television, mobile and the Internet – all of which seem to be potentially harmful to the growth of comics and children’s print media – might just turn out to be its saviours.