All Sports Magazine to launch Gulf editions; language edition on the anvil, too

All Sports Magazine (ASM), the Mumbai based sports magazine owned by the Essel Group, is celebrating the completion of three years of its existence. To mark the occasion, it has rolled out an anniversary special issue in April and has announced its plans to enter the Gulf with multiple editions. It also plans to launch a language edition in India.

The sports magazine has rolled out its third anniversary edition today. The special issue has a list of the 10 most significant achievements in Indian sports. It also chronicles the '101 Milestones in Indian Sport' comprising various aspects of the Indian sports scenario in more than a century of sporting endeavour.

ASM was launched in March 2007 as a part of the Essel Group and now is integrated with Essel Sports, which includes Ten Sports, All Sports Magazine, Zee Sports and Mumbai Football Club.

Mapping the journey of All Sports Magazine since its launch, Sunand Bhojani, publisher, says, "With more than 50,000 copies circulated in the first month itself, the task was tough to maintain the momentum of sales and circulation growth." The magazine started the edition with five-seven advertisers including Reebok, Seagrams, Carlsberg, TAG Heuer and others and now has 20-25 advertisers after three years.

ASM was launched with a print run of 50,000 copies and now has a circulation of more than 65,000 copies pan India. Jai Sarsar, head, brand and circulation, All Sports Magazine, says, "Circulation was and is a tough task from the very beginning as there are very few distributors in the country. As sports magazines have failed in the past, it was difficult to have the trade lap up the distribution plans for the magazine. Also, with limited marketing budgets, there was a space crunch on the newsstands; our tie ups with sports channels and on ground events helped us."

For its future course of action, the magazine has chalked out various plans that include a renewed website, allsportsmag.in, which will have more interactive features such as live score updates and exclusive interviews. Apart from that, the brand will also launch a Hindi version of All Sports Magazine this fiscal. The group is weighing its options of going overseas to launch editions in the Gulf countries, with the first overseas edition being launched in Dubai this year. It will be followed by a few more launches in the region.

In the coming issues, the brand will focus on many interactive features such as coaching tips for various sports, product updates, exclusive interviews and a FIFA World Cup special issue. The magazine maintains a ratio of 70:30 for retail vs subscribers; however, by March 2011, the brand aims to up the subscription ratio by 10 per cent.

The brand is now targeting to increase its circulation by 20 to 25 per cent year-on-year basis. According to the company officials, there has been a constant increment of about 30 per cent in the sales of the magazine till date. With the FIFA World cup and upcoming Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the magazine expects the print run to go up to more than 75,000 copies during the games.

The magazine is promoting its third anniversary issue on its network television channels, apart from the regular subscription offers in bookshops and newsstands in the country. Other than that, the magazine is also partnering with sports events across the country to increase its visibility.