If the title of the article made you wonder how many people even read in-flight magazines; let us quote some interesting facts (Source: The Global Passenger Survey)
- Over the course of a year, 97% of passengers read the in-flight magazine
- On any plane, 75% of the passengers would be reading the in-flight magazine.
- 52% readers could recall advertisements seen in the in-flight magazine.
When it comes to domestic flights in India, there is no in-flight entertainment available on planes and access to wi-fi and mobile network are prohibited; in-flight magazines are the only source of in-flight entertainment hence, the above figures become all the more important.
What to expect from this article?
Through this article, we bring to you a comprehensive study of the top domestic in-flight magazines of India.
This article would help you in finding an answer to questions like:
- Is in-flight advertising a good choice for you?
- How do in-flight magazines differ from one another?
- Which in-flight magazine is best suited for your advertising requirements?
Following are some of the key take-away from the study:
Hello 6E by Indigo and Travel 360 by Air Asia emerge as two of the best in-flight magazines for advertising on the basis of the following factors:
- Reach: Hello 6E holds 50% of the entire market share
- Cost Per Reach: Both Hello 6E and Travel 360 have the lowest cost per reach (about INR 0.12 and INR 0.10 respectively)
- Clutter: Both magazines have fewer advertisements and hence present a good opportunity for higher brand recall.
In case you would like to know more in-flight magazine advertising, read on.
Who should advertise in in-flight magazines?
- Brands having pan India presence
- Brands looking to target premium/affluent audience
- Brands looking for brand awareness marketing campaigns
Why should advertisers advertise in in-flight magazines?
In the world that can’t stop making noise, getting some alone and intimate moments with the audience is every brand’s dream.
In-flight magazine advertising provides the brands with this opportunity. Following are some pointers that makes in-flight magazine advertising different from other advertising mediums:
- Captive Audience: Unlike other mode of travel, people on plane are disconnected from the outside world. In-flight magazines get undivided attention from the audience which is captive for next 2-3 hours.
- Less Clutter: In-flight magazines are light reads with small articles, pictures, news, travel information and products on sale. Number of ads are much lesser as compared to other magazines.
- Premium Audience: Traveling by flight is still considered a luxury in India. People traveling by flights are usually corporate workers or affluent individuals having high purchasing power and intent.
Comparative Study of top in-flight magazines
We conducted an internal study of the above-mentioned in-flight magazines through collating and analyzing data and information provided by DGCA and the magazine websites for last quarter.
While comparing the magazines, we have considered the following parameters:
- Reach and Market Share: Knowing the reach data for each of these in-flight magazines would determine how many people would the advertisement reach out to.
- Approx. Cost Per Reach for a Full Page Ad: A very rough calculation based on common assumptions and information available would give a comparative
- indication of cost you can expect to incur to reach out to audience through in-flight magazine advertising.
- Content Mix: Are there any particular business categories dominating the advertising space in the in-flight magazines? Knowing the answer to this question would help the advertiser decide which in-flight magazine is better for their business.
Following is a chart showing the market share of each domestic airline in India. With the exit of Jet Airways, there have been changes in the reach with Indigo emerging as the biggest winner.
The Media Ant Insights
- Indigo Airlinecommands about 50% share of the entire domestic air travel market. Converting this insight into numbers, by advertising in Hello 6E, brands can reach out to half of the domestic flyer population which is more than 5 million.
Using the DGCA data for last 6 months, in-flight magazine advertising rates from The Media Ant Website and insights we received from the Global Passenger Survey, we have tried to calculate the approx expected cost per reach for each in-flight magazine to help you understand the cost effectiveness of each of these medium.
disclaimer: The advertising rates mentioned above are the current rates. They are subjected to change. Please refer to The Media Ant website to check the updated inflight magazine advertising rates
The Media Ant Insights
- Advertising in Go Air in-flight magazine Go Getter and Spice Jet in-flight magazine Spice Route convert into the lowest cost per reach. However, taking the decision for advertising based on a low cost per reach only might not be 100% prudent. One must also consider other factors like routes covered and advertising mix.
Disclaimer: These studies have been done internally on recent publications. The observations made are prone to vary with season and time.The data presented is only for reference and not to be cited as factual data.
Content-Type
Following is a rough analysis of the content mix of each of these in-flight magazines
The Media Ant Insights
- Unlike all other in-flight magazines, Hello 6E is not a magazine but an In-flight product catalog that showcases premium products available at attractive prices. This fact might concern advertisers regarding the engagement factor of the magazine.
- Shubh Yatra, the in-flight magazine of Air India is the only in-flight magazine that offers Hindi content along with English content. This might interest the elderly or people from Hindi Speaking Areas.
Ad Insertion: Total Pages Ratio
This ratio would tell us about the amount of clutter in each of these in-flight magazines:
The Media Ant Insights
- Travel 360 by Air Asia has the lowest Ads to Pages ratio. However, when considering the absolute numbers, Hello 6E has the least number of ads hence, there are higher chances of brand recall.
Advertisers Category
Following is a list of top advertiser categories for each of the in-flight magazines:
The Media Ant Insights
- The top two business categories that emerged in all the in-flight magazines were Fashion & Lifestyle and Educational Institutions.
- In terms of spread, Hello 6E by Indigo had fewer business categories, mostly limited to luxury products.
- Majority of advertisers have placed their ads on all the in-flight magazines to cover the entire domestic air traveler population.
Every detailed study demands for a brief summary. We did a comprehensive study of the top in-flight magazines on the basis of reach/market share, cost per reach for advertising, content mix, and existing advertiser mix. Following were some key observations:
Hello 6E by Indigo, Travel 360 by Air Asia and Go Getter by Go Air emerge as three of the best in-flight magazines for advertising on the basis of the following factors:
- Reach: Hello 6E holds 50% of the entire market share
- Cost Per Reach: Go Getter and Spice Route have the lowest CPR at INR 0.08 and INR 0.09 respectively but Hello 6E and Travel 360 are not far behind at INR 0.12 and INR 0.13.
- Clutter: All 3 magazines have fewer advertisements and hence present a good opportunity for higher brand recall.
We would keep updating the article as and when we receive new information. In case, you would like to know more about in-flight advertising or have questions, do reach out to us at Help@TheMediaAnt.com.
About Inflight Magazines
Inflight magazines are the magazines that are present in the seatback pouch in flights. They are available to each passenger for reading during the flight duration. These magazines usually contain articles about exotic destinations, route details, fashion and lifestyle articles and product catalog for in-flight shopping as well as food items available.
If you think in-flight magazine advertising is good for your business, you might also like to visit our website to check the prices and campaign execution details.
Why is in-flight magazine advertising a good idea?
Inflight Magazine Advertising can prove to be beneficial for you because:
- Airport and in-flight advertising is an effective way to target premium audience.
- Passengers on board are a captive audience with no access to internet and mobile network (India).
- The ads are presented to the audience in a relaxed environment where they are more likely to pay attention.
- Inflight Magazine advertising targets consumers as well as Senior Management of various industries who are frequent travellers.
So, what’s stopping you from advertising in in-flight magazines?
Let’s bust some myths.
Myth 1: No one reads in-flight magazines.
According to the Global Passenger Survey, the world’s largest airline passenger survey; on any plane, about 75% of the passengers read the in-flight magazines.
In fact, reading the in-flight magazine is the number 1 activity people undertake during a flight. In India, this figure is on higher side due to the absence of other entertainment media like on-demand videos.
Apart from this figure, there is good news for advertisers from GPS. According to the survey, 41% of the passengers had bought products advertised in the in-flight magazines and 73% passengers have taken some kind of action on the advertisements.
Myth 2: Inflight magazine advertising costs a bomb.
Since Inflight magazines carry premium articles on tourism and lifestyle and target premium audience, advertisers often assume that in-flight magazine advertising is a costly affair. Let’s evaluate this statement step by step.
Consider Hello 6E! The in-flight magazine published by Indigo Airlines. Indigo Airlines is the first airline that operates more than 1000 flights per day.
The magazine consists of various products which are advertised only through images thereby eliminating clutter and engaging its readers. The approx. cost of full page advertising in Hello 6E! is INR 5,43,000. The ad would be in circulation for a period of one month.
According to DGCA report, Indigo operates about ~37,000 flights per month (Source: DGCA Air Traffic Data: Avg data Jan 2019-May 2019)
Each aircraft has 180 seats
So, the number of available seats per month must be 37000*180= 66,60,000
As per latest DGCA report, the average occupancy rate of Indigo is 88% (Source: DGCA Air Traffic Data: Avg data Jan 2019-May 2019)
As per GPS report, on an average 75% of the passengers read in-flight magazines.
Hence, combining all the information we have got, the total number of passengers who would read the in-flight magazine is 66,60,000*0.88*0.75 = 43,95,600 passengers.
Hence, Cost per Reach would be approx. INR 5,43,000/43,95,600 = INR 0.12
Interestingly, for digital ads (display advertising), INR 120 as CPM (Cost per Thousand Impressions) is considered to be very economical.
Thus, we can see the benefits of advertising in in-flight magazines and Hello 6E! is undoubted, the best bet for in-flight magazine advertising being the most circulated in-flight magazine.
