The global digital mobile magazine store Magzter wants to add around 10,000 to 20,000 magazine editions and publications across the world in the next 18 months
MUMBAI, INDIA: Magzter, the global digital mobile magazine store is now on a major mission to transform itself into a digital mega store of the world that can offer readers some 10,000 to 20,000 magazine editions and periodicals from round the globe.
“It’s been less than a year since we launched Magzter and already have over 350 magazines available on our digital mobile platform. However, now we are targeting some 10,000-20,000 magazines and publications globally in next 18 months time,” Vijaykumar Radhakrishnan, Magzter’s co-founder and president told CyberMedia News.
“We are already seeing 1000 transactions per day on our platform for digital content and we want to increase the monetization of digital content by adding more magazines and publication content from different parts of the world,” Radhakrishnan added.
Magzter was launched in June 2011 with the idea to provide an easy way to browse, buy and read magazines and periodicals in a digital format that can be accessed on mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones as well as on its portal.
“For publishers, our technology platform is absolutely free, seamless and easy to use by the self-service tablet publishing solution. However, through our revenue-sharing model we bring new readers and subscribers from various parts of the world to the publishers,” Radhakrishnan explained.
However, it was back in 2009, Radhakrishnan and his team had developed a mobile magazine app for Gallata Cinema that allowed its readers to access periodical from anywhere in the world.
Today, the mobile magazine app is no longer just an app but has transformed into a digital platform and caters to bigger audience globally. Magzter is hosted on Amazon’s cloud and is presently available on Apple devices like iPad, iPhone, Android-based Samsung devices like Galaxy and others.
In just 10 months since the launch, Magzter has 2.5 million register users, among them US topped with 700,000-800,000 users followed by India, UK and other south Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia and others. Interestingly, around 600,000 iPad users access Magzter in India, Radhakrishan pointed out.
As part of expansion plans, Radhakrishnan said, “We are expanding our list of devices and working to bring mobile versions for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian and BADA.” Recently, Magzter received a Series A funding from Indo-US Venture Partners and is looking for more funding.
“We are looking at next level of funding in the range of $10-15 million from strategic investors, who has knowledge and understanding of digital publishing. Though we had started with magazines, but going forward, we are looking to bring newspapers and entertainment content on our platform,” Radhakrishnan shared business plans.
