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Thursday, October 01, 2009

FIRST LOOK AT SOUTHEAST ASIA GLOBE

Thailand's latest English language magazine hit the shelves yesterday.
The much anticipated and much hyped Thailand edition of
Southeast Asia Globe, published by Beyond Media, is an offshoot of its two-year-old Cambodian sister title. I have to say I am impressed. I've been looking forward to seeing this magazine since it was first touted more than six months ago and I'm not disappointed.
The magazine is a decent mix of general news and business news, complemented with a smattering of lifestyle, travel and culture articles. Use of pictures is good too. The first edition runs to 92 pages and contains a decent amount of advertising.

The magazine's editorial says: "Our intention is to become one of Southeast Asia's leading publications for resident decision makers, both locals and expats, and the engaged traveller." The key to making this happen will be to attract a significant number of Thai readers. Relying on the native English market alone is not enough.

Southeast Asia Globe
is different and there's nothing like it in Thailand. There are English business titles and English news titles but this is both, and a bit more.
The monthly magazine is available from Asia Books and
Bookazine and sells for 150 baht.

4 comments:

Wise Kwai 12:01 AM  

Who is the publisher? Where is it based?

(c) 2016 Written by Andrew Batt 2:33 AM  

Publisher is Beyond Media, and their offices are in Ocean Tower 2, Sukhumvit Soi 19.

Anonymous 11:55 PM  

You're impressed??????
Then you're far too easily pleased my friend. Content, layout, ideas are mediocre at best. This is a million miles away from the Bangkok Post's excellent Spectrum magazine ... which is free!!!
How could a halfway decent editor launch an edition touting the Thai bounce back. Plz??? Consign this to the dustbin

(c) 2016 Written by Andrew Batt 8:11 AM  

In terms of what I have seen in the English language media - yes, I was and remain impressed about the first issue. So many English magazine (and Thai ones) debut with inconsistent styles, mish-mashed content ... I could go on. This new magazine was first announced in March and my fears that it would follow all existing titles down the same round were unfounded.

Spectrum - I find it strange you are comparing a free newspaper supplement to a paid-for magazine, although I agree Spectrum is good and is likely the best in its category. Would Spectrum ever be able to stand on its own as a paid-for title? That's debatable. What do you think?

Thanks for your comments.

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