With the rise of the Internet, some predicted that it would become the nemesis of the print industry. However, the Internet has not destroyed print but rather given us a new language – print documents are now hard copies. In the United States, in the first six months of 2008, no less than 291 new printed magazine titles were launched. This figure is down on the year before the decline because of the general economic downturn and not the impact of the Internet.

The new generation of children may not read printed material as often but studies show that they do read online every day. They also use the Internet to choose which printed material to read. Smart publishers are taking advantage of this. For example, popular British film magazine Empire capitalized on the hype surrounding the latest Batman film The Dark Knight with its July edition featuring two different covers billed as Collectors’ Editions.

Empire has employed this strategy before with multiple Lord of the Rings and Star Wars covers. Marketing strategies based on the notion of exclusivity are increasingly popular. Custom printing in the United States has rise 20% in the first five months of 2008. Specialist magazines in aviation, aerospace, military and agriculture sectors are reporting between 6 and 7% increases in revenue.

News-stands in India are brimming with magazines that cover much more than business and Bollywood news. This surge in magazine titles in India is mostly a result of international magazine publishers aggressively investing in the Indian market, after the government opened up 100% foreign ownership rights in the non-news and special interest categories in print media. It also allowed foreign news and current affairs publications to own up to 26% stake in their respective genre.

This has resulted in several international players setting up shop in India and even national players, like Outlook Publishing Pvt. Ltd, expanding their offerings. The company publishes Outlook and Outlook Money, among other lifestyle and business magazines. Recently, they added four new titles including, Marie Claire, Outlook Profit, Geo, and People, to its list of publications.

There are now 250 English language magazines in India and over 50% of them were launched in the past five years. The new titles have contributed to the impressive growth story of the Indian magazine industry, especially at a time when magazines all over the world are showing a decline in readership and advertisers.

By acquiring ProPrint, the highest-audited circulation title servicing the Australasian print and graphics art industry, Haymarket Media Group has strengthened its global print and packaging portfolio. This purchase makes them the world’s pre-eminent print and packaging publisher and brings almost unlimited resources to ProPrint and gives its readers all sorts of new content. In addition to this title, Haymarket also owns PrintWeek, Printing World, Druck and Medien, and Packaging News among many others.

The print edition of ProPrint, published monthly, will be redesigned and its website overhauled with a local online editor able to draw on rich content from their international print portfolio. The first issue will be in June and will incorporate the PrintWeek brand values. Haymarket plans to coordinate their efforts both editorially and commercially, thereby extending their international footprint. The people who run ProPrint are excited by the acquisition as they would be going to a good home with a solid heritage in serving the print industry.