Last year we grew by 4x, i.e. from 10 million unique visitors to 40 million unique visitors. We have grown very rapidly and the growth shall continue. So, when we evaluate ourselves we look at it not from what we have done, but what more we want to achieve,” is what Gyan Gupta, CEO, DB Digital says when asked to assess the performance of the online arm of Dainik Bhaskar Media Group. This confidence stems from the fact that local languages are driving the Digital revolution in India and this is what has helped the growth of the online portals — news websites such as dainikbhaskar.com in Hindi, dailybhaskar.com in English, divyabhaskar.com in Gujrathi and divyamarathi.com in Marathi, bollywoodbhaskar. com, moneybhaskar.com, fashion101.in, DBcric. com and Jeevanmantra.com.
Stickiness is Critical
With stickiness being a key criteria, Gupta claims that the maximum time is spent on DB Digital’s online portals in India (average time spent per visit is 10 minute for dainikbhaskar.com, divyabhaskar.com, divyamarathi.com) and this is because a lot of time is spent in getting the content right. He says, “We emphasize a lot on getting the content right, ideating and differentiation in the content. Today, I have a far more differentiated content than others. That is our only strategy and that is how we translate to the client in terms of pages totally read and time spent on the site.” DB Digital is also investing in video bulletins and the initial response to the bulletins, which was launched in mid- August has been “phenomenal” and had “about 10.5 million video views within the second month of its launch.”
Attracting Advertisers and Innovations
With impressive stickiness, it is no surprise that advertisers have come calling with e-commerce, entertainment, auto and BFSI players being the biggest spenders. While monetisation still remains a challenge for the Digital medium as a whole, Gupta is optimistic about ad-rates in future and believes that ad rates will take some time to stabilize and the focus should remain on innovation and engagement. He says, “The revenue growth will happen as and when the medium gets bigger and advertisers park more dollars on this medium.” Focus is also on leveraging the strength of the parent brand and the online arm does latch on to the larger organisation for reach and infrastructure as well as to distribute content created online through the Print and Radio network. Interestingly, the portals get about 55% of traffic from the Hindi heartland and 35-40% from the metros.
Mobile First
With most consumers now coming on to the Digital platform, especially from smaller towns, and getting their first taste of Digital via the mobile, DB Digital looks at itself as a mobile first organisation. Says Gupta, “We are thinking mobile first and as an organization we are mobile first in terms of design, content and new products.” At present, mobiles account for 55% of the traffic with the remaining 45% coming from desktops.
The Challenges
While regional languages are seen to be the growth driver, they also pose a big challenge. Gupta says that’s because we are not designed as an economy for regional and local languages. Lack of investment in technology and innovation in this area is a concern as most platforms don’t support local languages and the need of the hour is to create an ecosystem of technologies, tools, platforms and developers around local languages.
Looking Ahead
Looking ahead, DB Digital aims to broaden its horizon and create more verticals and generate more content across its verticals. While there are no plans to enter other regional languages, other than the four it currently serves, Gupta firmly insists, “The future of Digital is language. It will drive the Digital revolution in India. If you say that we will add another 300 million more people in India on Digital sites, then this will come from languages.”
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