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Business News/ Industry / Time Inc. to invest heavily in India technology centre
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Time Inc. to invest heavily in India technology centre

The centre in Bengaluru will speed up hiring of engineers to help develop new applications and tools to help publisher's online strategy in the US and UK

While the publisher’s overall advertising revenues in the year to 31 December 2014 declined by 2% from the prior year to $1.78 billion, digital advertising revenues grew by 6% from $298 million. Premium
While the publisher’s overall advertising revenues in the year to 31 December 2014 declined by 2% from the prior year to $1.78 billion, digital advertising revenues grew by 6% from $298 million.

Amid a worldwide decline in the readership of print media, America’s largest magazine publisher, Time Inc., plans to invest heavily in its technology centre in India.

The move comes as news-consuming habits pivot to more digital platforms, especially in the key markets of the US and the UK.

“This centre is massively important—by end of next year this will be the largest centre in the world (in terms of employees)," said Colin Bodell, executive vice-president and chief technology officer at Time Inc., which publishes the Time, Fortune, People and Sports Illustrated magazines, in an interview.

Bodell was hired by the publisher in 2014, months before Time Warner Inc. said it would spin off its publishing business—Time Inc.

The publisher also runs technology centers in New York, London, Tampa, Connecticut, Seattle and Washington.

The seven-year-old Time Analytic and Shared Services Centre in Bengaluru will speed up hiring of engineers—to reach 1,000 employees, up from 600 currently, in a year’s time—to help develop new technology applications and tools to help the publisher’s online strategy in the US and UK.

“We are hiring in domains such as advertising, service space, website extension, discussion forums, etc.," Bodell added.

In September, Time Inc. appointed Ashis Roy, formerly with Microsoft Corp., as vice-president of technology to develop more digital products for its stable of 90 brands and publications.

The team in India is focusing on building native-advertising platforms.

“The big areas that we are working here on are advertising systems, i.e., tying ads to particular types of content. So Ashis has a whole bunch of ideas—on how to marry content much closer to our advertising so he now has a team that is building that system to be implemented around the world for us," Bodell said.

Rapid hiring is also being accompanied by the company’s move to acquire technology-enabled start-ups across markets. It recently acquired HelloGiggles—an online community for women focusing on lifestyle and entertainment—and Seattle-based Cozi, a family organizer for mobile and web.

Such investments could also trickle into India, Bodell indicated.

“We have a war chest that could be diverted towards acquisitions of small tech-enabled start-ups," said Bodell, who has met entrepreneurs and sifted through the latest technologies in the market.

“In the next 12 months there could be some sort of acquisitions and investments..." he added. The company could look at small start-ups in the technology space that have algorithms for delivering and capturing content and to search and manage ad systems.

For the full year ended 31 December 2014, revenue at the publisher decreased by 2% from the prior year to $3.28 billion. While overall advertising revenues declined by 2% from the prior year to $1.78 billion, digital advertising revenues grew by 6% from $298 million.

Most developed markets are seeing a steady decline in print readership as consumers of news and entertainment rapidly switch to hand-held devices.

Back in New York City Bodell’s team foresees a future where print will continue to decline but not disappear.

“Yes print is declining gradually—that is true worldwide, but as it declines, demand for that same content on mobile devices and on web browsers is going up, so our digital and video business is going up very rapidly," he said.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Suneera Tandon
Suneera Tandon is a New Delhi based reporter covering consumer goods for Mint. Suneera reports on fast moving consumer goods makers, retailers as well as other consumer-facing businesses such as restaurants and malls. She is deeply interested in what consumers across urban and rural India buy, wear and eat. Suneera holds a masters degree in English Literature from the University of Delhi.
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Published: 02 Dec 2015, 01:48 AM IST
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