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India Today transforms for India today

The first issue of the revamped India Today English magazine is out on the stands today while the new avatar of India Today Hindi is slated to hit the stands next week

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India Today transforms for India today

India Today transforms for India today

The first issue of the revamped India Today English magazine is out on the stands today while the new avatar of India Today Hindi is slated to hit the stands next week

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | January 27, 2017

ITE Cover-Feb6

India Today Group has relaunched its 41-year-old flagship English news magazine, India Today, in a completely new avatar. The revamp, coming after more than a decade since its last revamp, has been done keeping in mind the changing times and provide readers with a variety of finely curated and filtered information and features.

India Today had been working on the revamp for about a year and a half with a handpicked team and the first issue of the revamped magazine is out on the stands today, January 27, 2017. The new avatar of India Today Hindi is slated to hit the stands next week.

According to a press statement, “The changes will enhance the magazine's core values of clarity, credibility and relevance and provide insights, knowledge and perspectives on a range of contemporary issues to its readers. Smart writing, gravitas and depth, telling visuals and edgy design will make information easy-to-digest and reading a pleasurable experience.”

Aroon Purie Aroon Purie

Commenting on the reinvention of the magazine, Aroon Purie, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group, said, “We live in a time where we are flooded with news 24x7 about anyone, anywhere, anytime. But it remains important to know what is significant and what is the truth. In all the noise that surrounds us, truth has become an endangered species. India Today magazine has always striven to get you the truth without any agenda, and an understanding of contemporary issues that really matters."

"In keeping with the changing times, India Today magazine has now been reimagined to enhance not only its core values of clarity, credibility and relevance, but also provide readers with a dazzling variety of finely curated information and features. These will help our readers navigate the rapid and often bewildering political, social, economic and cultural changes sweeping across India. India Today will be the magazine for the thinking Indian," added Purie.

Raj Chengappa Raj Chengappa

Speaking with BestMediaInfo.com, Raj Chengappa, Group Editorial Director (Publishing), India Today Group, said, “We have to constantly reinvent and reimagine ourselves and cater to changing needs of our readers. The biggest disruptor for everybody today is the information explosion beyond anybody's imagination and more acutely for magazines because we are at the end of the consumption chain. The rational that has kept India Today at No. 1 all these years is that we believe in core values of clarity, credibility and relevance, and that is our core strength even in the age of information explosion.”

“Amidst all the clutter on internet these days, magazines differentiate themselves with great writing, visuals and graphics. Considering the need for clarity and cohesion, India Today is even more relevant today than it ever was. So what we have done in the process to reinvent is that we have brought together what we call a fine dining experience,” added Chengappa.

Chengappa emphasised that the change is not mere cosmetic and the magazine has an all-new content experience. “Appetiser is the front of the magazine which has dazzling variety of information curated from all the states and presented in a very interesting manner. Then we have brought back the state pages. And towards the end you will find the leisure section. While the focus is on content curation, the way the information and analysis are presented is far vaster than what we are doing currently. We are giving much more information in a more contemporary design, fashion and with a great deal of curation and expertise on that front,” said Chengappa.

India Today's readership in the last Indian Readership Survey had grown and it was No. 1 in the News category with over 16 lakh average issue readership, while the readership of India Today Hindi stood at 13.64 lakh.

Ashish Bagga Ashish Bagga

Ashish Bagga, Group Chief Executive Officer, India Today Group, said, “We have protected the navigation and architecture of the magazine in order to not turn off our existing readership. But what we have also done in terms of form and format is that we are enriching our magazine further and communicating it more powerfully. Our communication will be targeted at reinforcement to the existing readers and attracting new readers. Therefore, the tagline of the communication says 'India today needs India Today'. You need a sane voice today amidst so much of cacophony of noise and that is what we are attempting to provide with the new design and format.”

“We will use the digital medium for our communication very aggressively. Broadcast is the other medium to target the more evolved audience. Then comes reminder media where we will have a bit of hoardings but a lot of point of sale presence. We are sending out over 50,000 copies with a personalised letter from our Chairman & Editor-in-Chief to handpicked influential readers,” said Bagga.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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