FIPP Board appoints directors from Axel Springer SE, Time Inc. and Vikatan Group

Dr. Hans H. Hamer is publishing and managing director, of the publishing group automotive, sports and consumer electronics of Axel Springer SE in Germany. Axel Springer counts 13 domestic magazines, 57 international magazines plus its online and mobile activities in its portfolio. 

Dr Hans Hamer, Axel Springer SE (Dr Hans Hamer, Axel Springer SE)

Hamer is responsible for the three market leading media brands Auto Bild, Computer Bild and Sport Bild. Under his leadership all three brands have been developed through an umbrella brand strategy and offer a 360-degree experience for the users. Brand specific magazines, special editions, digital products, events and awards building the core of this approach.

Auto Bild is the world’s biggest automotive media brand with publications in 30 countries and more than 33 million readers worldwide. The Auto Bild family includes further special interest magazines for motorsports, performance cars, 4×4, classic cars and camper vans. Sport Bild was launched in 1988 and is Europe’s biggest sports magazine. The 360-degree approach is completed by its web and mobile activity, as well as the annual Sport Bild Award.

Jennifer Savage is senior vice president of partnerships, international licensing and syndication of Time Inc. in the US. She manages a portfolio of business that includes Time Inc.’s 30 international editions and the assets of the Life Picture Collection, and is responsible for the continuous development of new licensing initiatives. Prior to this, Jennifer was the vice president and director of business development within the same group for a period spanning more than 15 years.

Srinivasan Balasubramanian is managing director of the Vikatan Group in India. He joined his family business as a third generation entrepreneur in 1990, when the Vikatan Group was a print-only magazine publisher with its flagship weekly Ananda Vikatan widely respected but growth challenging. 

Srinivasan Balasubramanian, Vikatan Group (Srinivasan Balasubramanian, Vikatan Group)

He has been responsible for Vikatan’s diversification to magazines in multiple genres, expanding head-on into the internet publishing space in 1997, going paid-for in 2005, embracing social in 2010 and having an app presence since 2011.  In 1998, he ventured into TV production expanding the scope of production to five languages and building up a library of more than 8,000 hours of content. He also nurtured Vikatan into book publishing, having published more than 1,000 books and sold millions.

26 years on, today Srini oversees a truly diversified media house with 12 magazine titles in Tamil boasting of a combined sale of more than 50 million copies annually, selling more than half a million books every year, reaching 7.5 million monthly uniques on the web, and expects more than 5 billion minutes to be viewed on YouTube in 2017, interacting with over 15 million followers on social media.

He envisions Vikatan to reach double digital revenues every year from 2018 in order to be a truly independent digital media company by 2021.

Download the full 2017-2018 FIPP Management Board as approved by the FIPP members at the Annual General Meeting on 17 May

FIPP board directors are elected by the FIPP membership to represent their member companies as a part of the policy-making and governance structure of FIPP. The management board is currently made up of 38 company representatives from 20 countries headed up by FIPP chairman Erwin Fidelis Reisch, president and CEO of Alfons W. Gentner Verlag GmbH & Co. KG in Germany. Vice president is Ralph Büchi, chief operating officer of the Ringier Group & CEO of Ringier Axel Springer Switzerland AG. 

About FIPP

FIPP has more than 500 member companies, which includes 30 national associations, more than 350 media owners and more than 80 service providers to the industry and associated organisations, in more than 60 countries, all of whom use FIPP to find new business partners and gather information on potential markets. FIPP represents more than 5,000 titles, which include almost all of the world’s leading magazine media brands. Whether you are a media owner or service provider to the industry, or an association, FIPP membership is an excellent platform from which you can expand your business globally.

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