This Portal Launching Frenzy…
I just don’t get this portal launching frenzy among media companies - for both NDTV Convergence and Web18. Over the past year or so, Web18 has launched EasyMF.com, cricketnext.com, compareindia.com, homeshop18.com, josh18.com, buzz18.com, indiwo.com, tech2.com, biztech2.com, indiaearnings.com, and then there’s that new horizontal that everyone is talking about in hushed tones at conferences. Sites like like Indiwo and biztech2 have lapsed into insignificance, so are they able to scale up their operations and marketing efforts to make a success of each of these portals simultaneously?
Now NDTV Convergence has planned to launch five portals - on lifestyle, Bollywood, Education, a mobile portal and a Hindi portal in the next six months, reports Indiantelevision. The mobile portal - NDTV Active - is expected to be launched on 15 November, and will include news, views, cricket, astrology, video, among other things. The Hindi portal - NDTV Khabar - is expected to be launched in two months time.
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Comments (8)
Nov 6, 2007 9:50 AM
Nikhil,
These media cos have ambitions to become end to end players from news to entertainment to Niche channels. For this they need content. Once content is produced, you need a medium to communicate. The easiest medium is internet and immediate revenue also flows. Then if successful they would launch niche channels. Hope this helps.
Nov 6, 2007 11:07 AM
so what your saying Nikhil is that its a bad thing that they or for that matter anyone is launching content verticals, I always figured there was a dearth of good content available online and more players would mean obviously more avenues for us to consume content.. I wonder why anyone innovates?? I think vijay hit it spot on Media companies like NDTV and TV18 are at the very core content companies.. this is another avenue to reach out to a niche audience.. test the market with a medium that has a lower entry barrier and eventually launch a channel that would address that tg… having an online entity then becomes an extention of the channel.. clear;y a successful model as seen in the case of moneycontrol/cnbc ibnlive/ cnnibn or even tech2.com for that matter their is a natural symbiotic relationship… is that hard to understand.. or is this clearly beyond your comprehension… BTW you seem to be having a slow news day
Nov 6, 2007 11:10 AM
oh, and we will make sure we don’t disappoint you with our portal launching frenzy!! after all you need something to write about to pay the bills
Nov 6, 2007 11:14 PM
Rishi, I know that that TV18 and NDTV are essentially content companies - they have the content, but it takes time to make a portal successful even if you have the content. mc and ibnlive were given a lot of airplay, and the content offered on the site (at least in case of ibnlive) was consistently tweaked. They gave them time to gain traction. Push as much as they want, the consumers take time.
With almost a portal a month being launched now (which media company does that anyway?), some appear to be lapsing into insignificance, and the company appears to be moving from one to the next without actually developing each portal. You obviously disagree, but time will tell.
If a website per TV show is the plan, then that’s just fragmenting the traffic. And no, yesterday wasn’t a slow news day.
Nov 7, 2007 12:45 AM
Nikhil,
Not true that they are not investing continuously. Look at indiwo.
IndiWo.com launches webisodes on Holistic Health
http://www.indiantelevision.com/release/y2k7/nov/novrel20.php
They are launching newer content and bringing experts all the time to their website.
just give them time to mature.
In contrast, though i like your website content, it covers very little.
Nov 7, 2007 4:41 PM
Nikhil - your news coverage seemed to be biased towards the top dogs of the industry whose actual impact in the same may be almost negligible.
Lets hope to see more coverage of better startups that are out there and deserve some mention
regards
Asif
Nov 8, 2007 12:13 AM
Asif: we focus on large media companies, and companies with substantial resources at their disposal. We focus on startups only once they have substantial resources at their disposal, or alliances with large media companies. Else we run the risk of becoming a shoutbox for startups that are looking for funding.
Cheers,
Nikhil
Nov 20, 2007 4:29 PM
Nikhil: “Else we run the risk of becoming a shoutbox for startups that are looking for funding.”
I don’t see anything wrong with that. I agree with Asif when he says that every news piece that deserves reader attention deserves coverage. Hope Contentsutra becomes more balanced in the near future.