MxMIndia

Category: Digital

  • Web 18 has strengthens its leadership team, appointing CEOs for Moneycontrol.com and Ibnlive.com

    Web18 elevates Joyson Thomas, Rajan Srinivasan

    By A Correspondent

     

    Web18, the digital content arm of Network18, has strengthened its leadership structure by assigning new mandates to two senior executives – Joyson Thomas and Rajan Srinivasan. Mr Thomas who was earlier the COO at Web18 has now been entrusted the task of leading Moneycontrol.com as CEO. Mr Srinivasan who was serving as the head of sales and marketing at Web18 will now take charge as the CEO of ibnlive.com. This move is part of Web18’s progression towards a decentralized operating structure built around key strategic business units.

     

    Commenting on this development, Lakshmi Narasimhan, CEO, Web18 said, “At Web18, we have built some world-class digital brands, which enjoy deep engagement across communities and stakeholders. We are now well-positioned to scale up our leadership and this move is essential to achieving that objective. Moneycontrol has been central to our growth story and Joyson has been a force behind it since the beginning. His expertise will be critical in taking it to yet another benchmark in the financial space. Rajan has ably led our monetization and brand building effort and we’re confident that he will now steer the ibnlive and digital news operations based in Delhi onto new successes.”
    Speaking on his elevation, Mr Thomas said, “It’s been a momentous journey so far and my experience with Moneycontrol has been intense and enriching over the years. I hope to bring it to bear as we thrust ahead and further strengthen its leadership. I look forward to working with the team to ensure we add new dimensions to Moneycontrol’s growth path.”

     

    Said Mr Srinivasan, “Ibnlive has led from the front as general news has rapidly evolved in the context of social media and mobile growth. The brand is at a very exciting juncture in its journey and I look forward to working with the team to ensure we succeed on all fronts.”

     

    Mr Thomas has over two decades of experience in the financial media and advisory space. He was one of the founding members of the Moneycontrol team and has managed a variety of product and technology mandates at Web18 since 1999. Mr Srinivasan has 18 years of experience in the media industry, including nine in the digital space. Prior to joining Network18 in 2003, he has worked with the Indian Express, Sony Entertainment Television and BBC World.

     

  • With Facebook Home, Mark Zuckerberg may have taken a shortcut to rule the mobile web, notes a Mindshare's 'Original Thinker Series' analysis

    Into the all-new world of Facebook Home

     

    Mindshare’s “Original Thinker Series” is a series of thought pieces and PoVs from Mindshare on a range of subjects. These cover topics like digital trends, innovation and new platforms and products in the media and technology, to name a few. To subscribe or find out more, please mail Shruti Dixit at Mindshare (shruti.dixit@mindshareworld.com). Republished with permission.

     

    By Ciaran Norris

     

    After years of rumour, we finally saw the release of the Facebook phone a couple of weeks ago. Except it wasn’t a phone at all, rather a phone running Facebook Home, an application which changes many aspects of how the phone operates. Rather than get involved in a lengthy, and costly manufacturing and development battle with the likes of Apple, Android and all of the device manufacturers, Facebook has decided to take a shortcut in its attempt to rule the mobile web.

     

    Details

    The elements of Home that have generated the most comment are the Cover Feed and Chat Heads. The first swaps out a phone’s lock and home screens for live versions of the owner’s News Feed. Chat Heads allows people to use Facebook’s messaging services even when using another app. Both of these highlight how tightly integrated Facebook is in the new system, replacing or overlaying on top of previously core functions.

     

    Whilst the new system was previewed on a mid-priced new HTC Android phone, it will be released through Google Play and available on a wider variety of handsets overtime. Facebook clearly have designs on the hundreds of millions of Android handsets worldwide. There will be no Apple equivalent, as Apple would never allow such tinkering with its core products.

     

    Implications

    Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has claimed that Home will help sell more Android phones. However the fact that it was launched on a phone retailing at $99 suggests that in fact Facebook is using Android’s mass-market dominance as a Trojan Horse; this isn’t something aimed at the early-adopters – it’s for those for whom Facebook essentially is the Internet.

     

    This is a clear play by Facebook to try to replicate its dominance of the desktop web on mobile devices – many put its disappointing IPO down to the fact that it wasn’t adapting to mobile quickly enough. It’s certainly an ambitious and aggressive move, potentially building up its already massive data pools, and enabling it to create truly personalised ad opportunities with mobility at their core. Some have suggested that Apple will be forced to start to mimic the flexibility of the Android platform in order to allow people to download Facebook Home, but it could equally have the entirely opposite effect.

     

    The recent move to align Android and Chrome under one team, following the departure of founder Andy Rubin, could have many reasons. But one could be that it is starting to become hard to see how Android materially benefits Google’s bottom line. Samsung & Amazon barely mention Android anymore, China’s fastest growing mobile company uses it, yet most of Google’s services are banned or limited in that country, and now one of Google’s biggest competitors has launched a product that could well cut Google’s products out of the picture.

     

    Summary

    Facebook’s mobile strategy is now clear to see: try to dominate the platforms, rather than replicate or compete with them. For advertisers who have invested heavily in Facebook up till now, this could well offer opportunities to start to take their messages to everyday phone-owners as they go about their day-to-day.

     

    But equally Facebook’s ambitious attempt to take over the main parts of the mobile experience could well back-fire, whether due to consumer concerns about the amount of data Facebook will now have access to, or because Google decides it is no longer interested in building its competitors’ businesses as well as its own.

     

     

    Ciaran Norris is @ Digital Nation, Mindshare

     

    Photograph source: https://www.facebook.com/home

     

  • The acquisition triggers the launch of the Razorfish brand in India, and the move follows a number of acquisitions recently announced by Publicis Groupe

    Razorfish acquires Neev; aims to be No 1 in 18 months

    By A Correspondent

     

    Publicis Groupe announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Neev, one of India’s leading technology services providers specialising in eCommerce, SaaS (Software as a Service) and cloud applications across web, social and mobile. Neev will be aligned with Razorfish, one of the largest interactive marketing and technology companies in the world.

     

    The acquisition triggers the launch of the Razorfish brand in India, and the move follows a number of acquisitions recently announced by Publicis Groupe and further strengthens its digital leadership globally as well as its presence in India and the greater APAC region.

     

    Kanika Mathur

    Kanika Mathur, Managing Director for Razorfish and Digitas India said, “Neev is one of the leading technology services company specialising in e-commerce and cloud applications across social and mobile. It’s more like a mini-Razorfish in India and that was what was exciting about the venture when we spoke to each other. Razorfish is all about business transformation using technology. It’s about creating new business models for clients and about providing a brilliant experience to the consumer.”

     

     

     

    Srikant Sastri

    Srikant Sastri, VivaKi Country Chair for India, who is overseeing the acquisition of Neev, said, “With the acquisition of Neev, we have added cutting-edge tech capabilities. We are now twice as large as any other global network in terms of digital team-strength and revenues, and unparalleled in breadth and depth of digital skills.”

     

    Founded in 2005 and based in Bengaluru, Neev has aggressively grown and now employs a team of 250 specialists, of which over 220 are technologists, with experience and expertise in leveraging cloud and mobile technologies and promoting innovation that drives business success.

     

    Elaborating on the agency structure Ms Mathur said, “Neev is growing very aggressively and by the end of first quarter next year we think we’ll be about 450-odd people in India. I think digital marketing as well as digital technology is being adopted at a very fast pace in India and Asia Pacific, so we do feel that we are on a huge growth curve on that front. While our technology hub will be in Bengaluru, we will be present across New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru.”

     

    When asked about the agency’s clientele in India, Ms Mathur said that they would initially be tapping global clients at Razorfish and have already started engaging with a few of them. “While we cannot disclose any names as yet but it would suffice to say that we will be moving very fast in the Indian market.”

     

    Explaining the market and how it has evolved over the years, Ms Mathur said that the space that Razorfish operates in is growing very rapidly. “But when we look at the market we tend to look only at media buyers. If you were to look at technology and using digital to enable new services and products, that’s really the space that we operate in. We can’t really say that the market is about media only. Media, creativity and technology – the intersection of this is where we are placed right now.”

     

    As for the anticipated growth story, Ms Mathur said Razorfish had a good growth in 2012-13 at about 40 per cent and would like to keep on doing better as they go forward. “While right now we are one of the top 3 players, the goal certainly is to be the No 1 player in the next 12-18 months.”

     

    The agency will operate as Razorfish Neev led by Neev CEO, Saurabh Chandra. He will report into Kanika Mathur with a direct connection to Ray Velez, Global CTO for Razorfish.

     

  • Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Google India, is the new Chairman of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). He will take over from Hitesh Oberoi, Managing Director and CEO, InfoEdge

    Rajan Anandan takes over as IAMAI chairman

    By A Correspondent

     

    Rajan Anandan

    Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Google India, is the new Chairman of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Mr Anandan will be taking over from Hitesh Oberoi, Managing Director and CEO, InfoEdge.

     

    Speaking about his new role, Mr Anandan said, “I am excited to take over this responsibility at a time, when the industry is going through an exciting transition. The digital industry has reached an inflection point and is growing steadily. IAMAI, which has been working persistently towards the growth of the medium, is also growing. We plan to engage and interact more closely with the government to ensure that the online industry registers a balanced growth in the years to come and the internet user base widens.”

     

    Kirthiga Reddy, Director of Online Operations and Head of Office, India at Facebook, is the new Vice-Chairman, and will take over her new role from Dhruv Shringi, Co-Founder & CEO, Yatra.

     

  • Yahoo! has announced two new mobile experiences – Yahoo! Weather for iPhone (also iPod, and iPod Touch) and Yahoo! Mail for iPad and Android tablets

    Yahoo! Weather & Yahoo! Mail on mobile

    By A Correspondent

     

    Yahoo! has announced two new mobile experiences – Yahoo! Weather for iPhone (also iPod, and iPod Touch) and Yahoo! Mail for iPad and Android tablets. Images from the Flickr community show current local conditions, with forecast details, so that instead of reading about the weather users can now see the weather.

     

    Yahoo!’s goal is to have amazing photos for every weather condition that cover the globe – morning, afternoon, and night – across every city in the world. Users can submit photos of their favourite places to the Yahoo! Flickr group.

     

    Yahoo! Mail for tablet brings users a new email experience, with a lean-back, magazine-style feel.

     

    * Tap the full-screen button in the lower left corner of your message to expand it across the entire screen. If you want to reply, delete, file or star a message simply tap anywhere on the screen and Yahoo! Mail’s familiar icons will appear.

    * To move to the next message on your iPad, simply swipe, as if you’re turning the page in a magazine.

    * To flip through messages even faster, simply tap on the side of the screen to rapidly scan through your inbox.

    * Focus on the messages you care about most with a new feature that lets you easily sort by sender in Yahoo! Mail’s split-screen view.

    * Select a message in your inbox on the left side of the screen by checking the box that appears with the email. You will then see that sender’s name appear on the right side of your screen.

    * Swipe on the sender’s name and you will see Yahoo! Mail’s familiar icons appear to delete, file, star or mark as unread or spam.

    * You’ll also see a plus sign that will indicate how many more messages you have from that sender. If you select that, it will pull all the messages from that sender and then you can star, delete or file them all at once. Just think – you can easily take control of your inbox with just a few taps.

     

  • Mr Prakash will lead strategy and execution for Vuclip, as well as manage all aspects of consumer interactions

    Arun Prakash appointed EVP of Vuclip

    By A Correspondent

     

    Independent mobile video and media company Vuclip has announced the addition of Arun Prakash as the company’s new Executive Vice President of Products, Content and Marketing. Mr Prakash will lead strategy and execution for Vuclip, as well as manage all aspects of consumer interactions.

     

    “We are very excited to have Arun on board. His experience in leading startups to help shape industries, achieve market leadership and realize financial growth in dynamic markets is a terrific asset,” said Nickhil Jakatdar, CEO of Vuclip. “Given the tremendous growth Vuclip has experienced over the past year, Arun will help us further expand our role as pioneers in the mobile media industry,” he added further.

     

    Prior to this role, Mr Prakash led marketing and products at YouSendIt and helped pioneer the company’s freemium business model to deliver outstanding financial success and user growth. Prior to that, he was the head of product development at Ketera Technologies where he was instrumental in developing the world’s first on-demand spend management solution. Previously, Arun oversaw products at Aspect Development, Inc. resulting in its acquisition by i2 Technologies for more than $9 billion.  He also founded and acts as CEO for Spozzle, an online community for US high school sports.

     

    “It takes a lot of sweat, blood and sacrifice to translate an idea into a high growth company, and I have deep respect for what Nickhil and the rest of the Vuclip team have accomplished. I am thrilled to join Vuclip during this exciting time of mobile media evolution. Vuclip is well positioned to define and lead the industry,” said Mr Prakash.

     

  • The partnership will enable Sandesh to bring interactive print content 'Live' on readers' mobile

    Sandesh to augment editorial content powered by TELiBrahma

    By A Correspondent

     

    TELiBrahma, mobile advertising solutions company specializing in augmenting real world context with digital engagements, has announced its partnership with Sandesh – to bring interactive print content LIVE on readers’ mobile.

     

    The partnership will allow Sandesh to augment their editorial content across all editions. Sandesh is one of the most widely read Gujarati newspaper. Sandesh Smart, powered by point of TEliBrahma is a visual recognition technology for the publishing house. By integrating augmented reality, Sandesh will be the first and only Gujarati daily to bring interactivity to static print pages with 3D models, videos, slideshows, social media connect, links to download content and emphasize the importance of connecting print publications with digital engagements through mobile.

     

    “This partnership will allow static print content come Live on readers’ mobile,” said Parthiv Patel, Managing Director- Sandesh, adding, “It will definitely add excitement to print content; we see a great opportunity for brands to leverage the same too. TELiBrahma has helped us develop a robust application with one of the best user experience.”

     

    PR Satheesh, Principal, TELiBrahma said, “We are extremely excited to partner with Sandesh, one of the leaders in the print media space and we believe this will add tremendous value to their readers. Sandesh Smart app powered by POINT of TELiBrahma is a way to connect physical world with exciting digital engagements.”

     

  • Aimed at the e-consumer, E-Newspaper will be brought out multiple times in the day – at 1pm, 7.30pm and 12.30am

    BAG Network launches ‘E-Newspaper of India’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Described as “A newspaper that never sleeps”, E-Newspaper of India is a product meant for the digital consumer who is constantly on the move, and is refreshed multiple times in the day – at 1pm, 7.30pm and 12.30am.

     

    E-Newspaper, which is available at www.enewspaperofindia.com, has been brought out by the BAG Network, the media house that has rolled out news channel News 24, Bollywood channel E 24, spiritual channel Darshan 24 and Radio Dhamaal.

     

    Anurradha Prasad

    Speaking on this occasion, Anurradha Prasad, editor-in-chief of the paper and Chairman of BAG Network, said that in the digital era, time is of essence for the person on the go. “Newspaper reading should not be like finding a needle in a haystack. E-Newspaper of India sifts the big news from a mountain of news stories,” she said.

     

    Ms Prasad said that in this digital age, news keeps changing at breakneck speed. “And we want the digital consumer to read today’s newspaper now, not tomorrow, to read the news even as it is happening,” she said.

     

  • Disney UTV Digital has launched a bouquet of four freemium apps for Indian mobile subscribers – UTV, Disney, Comedy and Devotional

    Disney UTV Digital launches freemium apps for feature phones

    By A Correspondent

     

    Disney UTV Digital has launched a bouquet of four freemium apps for Indian mobile subscribers – UTV, Disney, Comedy and Devotional. The Nokia Asha series has pre-embedded the UTV app on more than 2.5 million devices.

     

    Content in the UTV app includes latest movie trailers, full length movies (Bollywood & Regional), Bollywood gossip and more. The Disney App includes short form content featuring Mickey and Friends, other Disney classics such as Big Bad Wolf and Santa’s Workshop and Pixar short-form animation such as Reds Dream and Adventures of Andre and Wally B.

     

    The apps support monetization via both ads as well as paid subscriptions enabled through Digital Disney UTV’s mobile operator billing platform. This allows regular mobile users to access both ad-supported content as well as premium content within the same app through a one-click transaction via their mobile operator.

     

    Sameer Pitalwalla

    Sameer Pitalwalla, Director, Celebrity and Video, Disney UTV, said, “While we have a robust smartphone strategy, we wanted to provide feature phone users with an excellent video experience. We combined our great catalogue with best in breed technology and have seen both download and engagement numbers catching fire.”

     

    “Engagement and innovation have emerged as one of the top deciding factors in the mobile phone industry with more and more youth accessing apps that enhance their user experience. Our association with Disney UTV has been extremely successful and, together, we continue to add value to our consumers by offering superior on-the-go video streaming,” said Gerard Rego, Director – Developer Experience, Nokia India.

     

  • Reliance Communications is the first telecom operator in the country to partner with Twitter in India on the new 'Twitter Access' program

    Reliance Communications partners with Twitter in India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Reliance Communications has announced a partnership with Twitter in India to launch a first-of-its-kind bundled prepaid plan ‘Reliance Twitter Access Pack’ for all Reliance GSM subscribers in the country. Through this partnership, Reliance Communications becomes the first telecom operator in the country to partner with Twitter in India on the new ‘Twitter Access’ program. Reliance GSM prepaid customers across the country can now follow friends, family, news, cricket, entertainment and all their interests with unlimited Twitter access without paying any extra data consumption charges.

     

    Reliance GSM prepaid subscribers can now receive live updates and express their reactions on every ball bowled through their tweets during this T20 cricketing season with unlimited Twitter access across the country. ‘Reliance Twitter Access Pack’ is a promotional offer for a period of 90 days during this T20 cricketing season which comes bundled for all new Reliance GSM prepaid subscribers with unlimited Twitter access without paying any extra data consumption charges. Subscribers may connect to “Twitter Access” by simply visiting twitter.com or mobile.twitter.com on their Reliance GSM prepaid device.

     

    As part of the new “Twitter Access” program, Twitter has customized the Twitter app wherein every customer who has subscribed to the ‘Reliance Twitter Access Pack’ will be able to view a message on the header and footer of the app mentioning Twitter is free of charge with Reliance Mobile. This Twitter app will pop up a message of additional data consumption charges only if any Reliance GSM prepaid subscriber chooses to visit an external link while browsing updates on Twitter.

     

    Commenting on the launch of ‘Reliance Twitter Access Pack,’ Nilanjan Mukherjee, Wireless – Chief Revenue Officer, Reliance Communications Limited said, “We are delighted to be the first operator to partner with Twitter in India on Twitter Access and offer the first of its kind unlimited Twitter access on our superior network. Our partnership with Twitter in India further strengthens our offering on the social media platform and is in line with our continuous efforts to offer innovative products with incredible affordability for our customers. We are confident that the launch of ‘Reliance Twitter Access Pack’ with unlimited usage of Twitter without any extra data consumption charges is set to provide a compelling new experience to our customers using Smartphones for accessing social media across the country on our network. We are hoping this offer to trigger a significant shift of cricket enthusiasts using Smartphones to our superior network.”

     

    “We are pleased to partner with Reliance Communications to offer its subscribers a unique opportunity to use Twitter to follow the people and organizations they care about. Whether it’s hearing the latest news, connecting with cricket stars in real time, or laughing at the day’s best jokes, it’s all possible on Twitter in India,” said Jana Messerschmidt, Vice President, Business Development and Platform, Twitter Inc.

     

  • 500 staffers incl 400 astrologers and 5mn consultations/month help Hemang Pandit make his astro forecast firm India's #1 & the world's #3

    The stars are shining for GaneshaSpeaks

     

    By Ananya Saha

     

    The brainchild of Hemang Arunbhai Pandit, GaneshaSpeaks.com was launched in Mumbai, India, on April 25, 2003. As it completes a decade, the website has come a long way to operate five call centres in India on a 24×365 basis providing personalized horoscopes guidance in more than 10 languages including English. The website employs more than 500 people including over 400 astrologers.

     

    Areas of Operations
    :: Online astrology services and mobile portal.

    :: Apps on iOS, Android, Windows & Samsung Smart TV’s.

    :: Astrology guidance on the phone:: Astrology Books.

    :: Content Syndication Services: Astrology.fm -Horoscopes radio station.

    :: Specialized forecasts for the stock market - Trends and personalized forecasts in advance.

     

    The Journey

    Mr Pandit, a keen believer in astrology himself, is a Gold Medallist in Bachelors in Engineering from Gujarat University, India. He has worked as Head – Product Development Group with Vodafone India (then Hutch India) and is an expert in Mobile VAS, GSM, 3G & related technologies. The website – Ganeshaspeaks.com – provides customized content for media entities and provides content to Sony TV, Star TV, Times of India, Lokmat, Samaj, etc. in India. It has also associated with Indian language publications in USA, Australia, Singapore, UK, etc.

     

    Talking about the journey, Mr Pandit said, “When we started out, there were hardly any organised branded websites for astrology in India or abroad. Given that astrologers are default psychiatrist in India, we started out with 72-hour order fulfilment guideline. It was a promise that we began with.”  And the promise has worked well for the website. Its specialized forecast for the stock market, which serves 1000+ paid customers, has been generating revenue of $100,000 on a monthly subscription. According to Mr Pandit, GaneshaSpeaks.com provides branded astrology independent of an individual astrologer, more like a trusted platform for astrology guidance. The current unorganized horoscopes market in India estimated at $10 billion/year with close to two million professionals practicing astrology in top 600 cities and towns of India.

     

    GaneshaSpeaks.com operates in areas such as online astrology services & mobile Portal; apps on iOS, Android, Windows & Samsung Smart TV’s; astrology guidance on the phone; astrology books and content syndication services. Its Astrology.fm boasts of being the first dedicated horoscopes radio station. GaneshaSpeaks.com apps are live on iOS, Android and Windows Phone platforms and over one million apps have already been downloaded. Nokia India is preburning GaneshaSpeaks.com apps on its phones and Samsung is developing and preburning six apps from GaneshaSpeaks.com on its Smart TV’s worldwide. Talks are also on with globally renowned phone and tablet manufacturers for pre-burning deals. Currently over five million subscribers have subscribed to Ganeshaspeaks’ daily alerts in India on SMS.

     

    Online Astrology Services 
    :: GaneshaSpeaks.com – India’s #1 and World’s #3 Astrology Portal available in Web and Mobile Versions

    :: More than 5 million visits per month (India’s Broadband Penetration is just 8%) with 30% traffic coming from Smartphones and Tablets

    :: 55 million page views per month

    :: Partners Yahoo India, MSN India, Rediff.com, Indiatimes.com, Sify.com, etc.

    :: Astrology guidance on the phone – Live Astrology:: 400+ astrologers provide 24X7 guidance.

    :: Premium Rate dial in services on 55181.

    :: Does 5 million consultations per month.

    :: Zero cost remedies.

    :: Tarot, Numerology, Vastu, Feng Shui, etc.

    :: Guidance in English and 9 Indian languages.

    :: Partners with Vodafone India, Tata DoCoMo, Airtel, Idea, Aircel, etc.

     

    Challenges

    Even as Ganeshaspeaks.com has provided structure to how astrology is done in India, Mr Pandit said, “Internet in India has grown and changed, but not as much as we had expected. As penetration increases, we are expecting a far bigger influence in India.”

     

    The revenues have grown, according to Mr Pandit, and fall in a good range, especially as the website has a pay-per-use business model. He said, “Well, we have typically grown over 100% year-on-year. The operational profits did begin from the second month of existence.” The website delivers SMS alerts, both sunsign-based and personalized in a daily and weekly format in various languages. The Voice IVR Portal is also operational with all astrologers providing zodiac content, sports and stock market forecasts and other interesting content in English and nine Indian languages.

     

    But have a safe business model did not mean that the website did not face challenges. “We faced the same challenges as any other entrepreneurial business in the first three years. We were typically hand-to-mouth. We were not a funded business, and still aren’t. While there was accrued income, there were payment delays from telcos. But once this phase of the first three years was over, we stabilised the revenues and started growing.” The growth also came from areas that the website expanded in, such as predicting political flashpoints, forecasting the Nifty Index a week in advance; forecasts that were generated intra-day for each day of the week; personalized daily and hourly ratings indicating good and bad days to trade for customers.

     

    The branded astrology website is still not on the same growth path as an online retail or a matrimonial website; but the subscriber base is growing.

     

    The way forward

    Ganeshaspeaks is working on daily Video alerts in English and Hindi. After launching books on Kindle, and thus becoming the first astrology portal to do so, the website has taken a cautious approach when it comes to promotion and marketing. Mr Pandit elaborated, “There are many fly-by-night operators who advertise on various channels. That is making people lose trust. That is why we have stayed away from that kind of marketing.” To attract the uninitiated, the portal has invested in strong Search Engine Optimisation. “In a scenario where 38 million searches are done online on astrology-related queries, SEO helps. Secondly, we are very active on social media,” explained mR Pandit. The website has grown its subscriber base organically.

     

    With the help of its Astrology.fm, the website runs educational programming aimed at creating a more informed audience and clearing popular myths related to astrology. The dedicated horoscope radio station receives 1 million+ unique users every month. It provides six hours of fresh programming in Hindi on a daily basis, according to Mr Pandit.

     

    Mr Pandit concluded, “It has been a fantastic and rewarding journey so far where we have established GaneshaSpeaks. We wish to continue the growth rate and become a giant force in astrology globally in the coming years.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • For its November issue, Maxim India joined hands with TELiBrahma to take the print editorial to the next level by using intARact app

    Maxim India creates augmented reality experience through TELiBrahma

    By A Correspondent

     

    The November issue of Maxim India decided to bring the Cover Page to life by using the most successful augmented reality technology of TELiBrahma. It enables Augmenting the real world with digital engagements in order to deliver unique and interactive experience for the readers.

     

    Maxim India joined hands with TELiBrahma to take the print editorial to the next level by using intARact app – World’s lightest augmented reality browser available across iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry, Symbian and Java mobile phones.

     

    When users scan the cover page of the Maxim India from their camera enabled feature phones, smartphones or Tablets using the intARact app, the cover page editorial comes alive into an interactive experience. Through this users will be directed to exclusive videos and slide shows of Lisa Haydon. Users would also be directed to mobile site; social media connect and watch the previous cover page videos of Maxim.

     

    Commenting on the tie up Piyush Sharma, CEO, Maxim India said “Maxim being the ultimate celebration of being a guy, and being young at heart blends seamlessly with a strong personal medium such as mobile. And our alliance with TELiBrahma is a natural alliance of two leaders in complementing industries. We definitely are expecting great results for both our brands and above all the end users. We strongly believe that going forward our association will go beyond providing robust and measurable engagement and ultimately together we will be able to deliver our advertisers a total performance oriented return on their investment. I would like to congratulate entire TELiBrahma team for their great foresight and perfect first execution with the augmentation of our November 2012 issue.”

     

    Narasimha Suresh

    “We are happy to partner with Maxim India. Augmented reality allows traditional forms of media to life by driving them into exciting fresh digital content. It also offers a unique opportunity for media houses to integrate static print communication with the digital content, thereby making print as the real spring board for Digital ++.It also allows the publisher to retain continued interest in the print product throughout the shelf life of the product,” said Narasimha Suresh, CEO & Founder, TELiBrahma.