RPSG Lifestyle Media is set to launch American media brand The Hollywood Reporter in India. Avarna Jain, Chairperson, RPSG Lifestyle Media, said “The Hollywood Reporter is a nine decades old “voice of the entertainment industry” that provides the most authoritative views, reviews, and interviews from cinema and beyond. With THR India, one of the world’s oldest film industries will celebrate the world’s biggest film industry, and as Indians we should be proud of that.” Founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, The Hollywood Reporter is a popular American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries.
As the title gets set to launch in one of the world’s biggest and most influential film and entertainment markets, read Jain’s views on what The Hollywood Reporter (THR) will bring to the India market and what the Indian entertainment industry brings to the world.
What was the genesis of the idea of bringing The Hollywood Reporter to India?
At last year’s edition of the Oscars, where RRR was the pride of India and the whole world grooved to Naatu Naatu, do you remember the opening monologue where the Indian film industry was referred to as “Bollywood” by the host, and the furore that followed on social media?
It made us realise that there does not exist in our country one unifying voice for entertainment across regions, languages, cultures and platforms. As proud as we are of the richness of Indian thought and ideas in entertainment, the truth is that the entertainment industry is still a bit fragmented.
We had been toying with the idea of having an entertainment publication for a while, and this gave us the perfect USP.
The Hollywood Reporter is a nine decades old “voice of the entertainment industry” that provides the most authoritative views, reviews, and interviews from cinema and beyond.
With THR India, one of the world’s oldest film industries will celebrate the world’s biggest film industry, and as Indians we should be proud of that.
The Hollywood Reporter is a legacy title with a loyal base in the US market. Could you tell us more about what drew you to the brand and what makes it tick even after all its years in existence?
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What strikes me about The Hollywood Reporter, is its constant need to change. From a weekly trade newspaper that was run by the industry for the industry, it metamorphosed in the mid 2000s to a glamourous weekly magazine fronted by the biggest stars, catering to lovers of film and entertainment. Over the last few years, it has adapted to digital mediums seamlessly, across geographies and platforms.
Agility and adaptability are important qualities in the media business today, and THR has been in the forefront. That is what makes it tick, in addition to top class journalism, strong editorial values and loyal audiences
What gaps do you perceive in the India market when it comes to the kind of content that THR does and what will THR bring to the India market?
No single publication exists in India that is one unified voice of entertainment across our various regional film industries, spanning languages, platforms and cultures. Secondly, no trade paper exists in India any more that is the final voice on collections, business, technical news, trends. THR India will work with the film and entertainment industries across India and fill this gap.
What’s your content strategy for the Indian market? How are you calibrating it to suit the market and how do you see it appeal to the Indian audiences?
The audiences have changed. We are consuming content across languages, many of which are not even from our country. Within India, movies from different regions are seeing theatrical releases. South Indian cinema is celebrated in the North, Punjabi music is groovy in the South, and the curiosity about movies from Bengal and parts of the North East is growing.
THR India’s content strategy is clear: It will look at the entertainment industry as a whole. It will celebrate Bollywood blockbusters, Bhojpuri cinema, nuanced Malayalam stories among others, and it will do so across theatres, television, OTT and digital.
The news media industry has seen tectonic shifts in the past decade with social media and now accelerated with the advent of AI. How is a brand like THR navigating these shifting media habits of consumers?
At RPSG Lifestyle Media, all our titles are going to be digital first. Of course, The Hollywood Reporter will have a monthly print edition, but we know the ways to communicate with our consumers are via digital media, using social media as an important distribution platform.
THR India will have an active presence across all these. You will have content to read, to watch, and to experience.
AI is developing rapidly everyday, and we are watching closely. But we are committed to providing high quality content to our readers, irrespective of the platform they choose to consume it on.
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