Asianet owner to expand presence in Southern cities

Azure Media Publications, the publishing arm of Jupiter Entertainment Ventures (JEV), launched a magazine called The Bengaluru Pages in early October. The magazine was aimed specifically at Bangalore city. Now, two and a half months later, the organisation is planning to launch Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi editions as well of the magazine.

Asha Rai, president and editor, Azure Media Publications, says the first of the three magazines will be launched in less than six months’ time. The company is still working on which city of the three will get the magazine first. According to Rai, there are hardly any magazines that target each of these cities and its culture. There is an opportunity here to capture specific audiences who would want to know more about their cities. Azure Media Publications is currently concentrating on South India and will expand its network soon to more cities in the region.

All three city specific magazines will be similar in content and format to The Bengaluru Pages. They will cover all aspects of the city, and include reviews, previews and sneak peeks into food, night life, music, theatre, dance, shopping, sports, movies, books, art, talks and workshops.

The number of pages in each city magazine will depend on the type and amount of content the city can offer. For instance, in Chennai, which is a metro, the magazine will have more pages than in Kochi, which is a smaller city. The magazines will be targeted at upper middle class SEC A citizens and published twice a month. They will be priced at around Rs 30.

Rai says The Bengaluru Pages has received a positive response so far from its readers, but she refuses to divulge any sales figures. The Bengaluru Pages is currently being published with an average of 100 pages. The magazine’s initial print run in October was 40,000.

For the record, JEV has three brands in the entertainment space, Radio Indigo, the Asianet TV channel and The Bengaluru Pages.