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Experience with magzter subscription in India 2022

· 3 min read
D Balaji
D Balaji
Lead Design Technologist

reading magazines

Ever since covid started, the information stimuli is restricted to a few topics. Meeting friends or colleagues and discussing the happenings is a habit on the brink of extinction. Internet is good at recommending information but rarely a great tool for discovering something of interest or value. So I turned to a magazine subscription on Magzter. Here is my experience.

Why online magazine subscription with Magzter?​

Print media was battered by online media since 2010. With high-speed internet and instant media reach, the print magazines unless backed by a large user base could not sustain. they shut the shop.

Same with the newspaper which reduced their content to cut costs and increased the daily print prices to compensate for increased costs. As a consumer, I paid more for lesser content.

Magzter is a one-stop subscription for newspapers and magazines. It's not exhaustive but good enough to keep the information stimuli coming in.

Avoid the individual subscription mess​

Magzter can be compared to NetFlix where you do not have to buy individual tickets for each movie. I can buy one subscription and read the content for the duration of the subscription.

Learn the art of negotiating subscription costs when you buy a subscription online. Don't pay on day 1 after the free trial, give them a run. they will get you a sweeter deal over email or SMS.

I did the same with Magzter, took a free trial. At the end of the free trial, I kept visiting the site. I think they extended the free trial. After an extended free trial, I left the site for a while but they kept reaching me with better and thinner packages. Of course, the discounted subscription has some frills removed but it does the job.

At the cost of subscribing to one newspaper a year, I subscribed to a bouquet of magazines and newspapers. I got a custom plan for 1200 automatically renewed every year.

Pros of Magzter​

  • Apps are great, I read on my tab and it does the job.
  • Favorited magazines or newspapers get downloaded automatically
  • Does a job like
    • tech mag - T3
    • news - plenty of them
    • financial - plenty of them
  • Can read content from another country when allowed to.

Cons of Magzter​

  • I could not fully understand the subscriptions plans like lite, gold. Does lite mean only newspapers or selected magazines? I don't know.
  • The content is going to get slimmer as most publishing houses are shutting shops.
  • Some of the niche players like Deccan herald are not on the platform.
  • I see buy on few magazines even though I have subscribed. This problem relates to the first con I mentioned.

Alternative​

In India, we have Jio news which does something similar and you get it for free because you have at least one Jio user in the family.

Verdict​

Before buying Magzter, set your key performing metrics and analyze them.

  • I had 30 minutes in the morning to read the news
  • I liked financial articles and current affairs
  • I liked magazines and random articles

Assumptions

  1. Current affairs gave me awareness
  2. Financial articles helped me with taxes etc
  3. Magazines inspire creativity, I would have ditched my blog if it were not for the magazine that inspired me to continue.

Rating for Magzter - 4/5