Update: Nandini Bhatnagar from NDTV has responded in the comments to this post:
Well, of course Alexa figures are quite off the rack, NDTV has about 40% audience coming from US. And both Doctor and Cooks are doing really well in the domain. These are definitely not sites for the heck of being there. We have our own panel of specialists doctors, chefs etc and these sites contribute better than channel sites in our traffic. Only quoting factual errors..each one is entitled to their opinions
Original Story: Going through NDTV.com, we noticed a few sites and sub-sites that we haven’t come across before: Among them, is a tutoring site NDTVTutor.com, powered by Tutorvista.com, which primarily targets their US based visitors. While we don’t endorse Alexa as a measure of traffic, according to Alexa, only around 8.5% of NDTV.com’s traffic comes from the US.
The movies site – NDTVMovies.com also features a new look. We also noticed a couple of other partnerships that the company has inked, though we’re not sure of how old these are – a commodities site powered by commodityonline.com, and an astrology section powered by Astroyogi.com. Interestingly, there’s also an environment site called Green.NDTV.com, sponsored by Toyota, with Dr Rajendra K Pachauri, Director General of TERI as their expert advisor. There’s an environmental anthem for you to sing along to (you may download it here)
Quick take on NDTVs strategy
All in all, NDTV has 17 websites operational, some of which feature their own content, some run by affiliates, and some that are just lying fallow. We would classify them as follows:
Channel Related Sites: NDTV.com, NDTVProfit, NDTVImagine, NDTV GoodTimes, NDTVKhabar, NDTVArabia and NDTV Active (Mobile)
Affiliate Sites: NDTVtravel, NDTVJobs, NDTV Shopping, NDTVTutor
Gets-In-The-Traffic-Sites: NDTVCricket, NDTVMovies, NDTVGadgets
We’re-Not-Sure-Why-We-Need-These-But-Lets-Try-Anyway-Sites: NDTVCooks, NDTVMusic, DoctorNDTV, NDTVBooks, NoGyan
– Much like in the case of Web18, we do feel that the company has too many properties live. This is more of a legacy issue, since many of these sites were live before NDTV Convergence was formed. The current management of NDTV Convergence has focused on developing channel related properties, re-launching some of the old properties, and also launching a site for getting in the traffic – NDTV Cricket. Niche sites like NDTV Music, NDTVCooks, DoctorNDTV, NDTVBooks and NoGyan could be integrated into NDTV.com, as sections, rather than separate websites.
– The launch of affiliate sites – for example, the one with TutorVista – appears to be more of a business call than a content call, but it’s also a means of adding utility services around NDTVs content. The company doesn’t appear to be keen on expanding their own business beyond the content domain to utility services, unlike competitors HT Media which has Shine.com (jobs) and Network18, which has sites like Bookmyshow.com for ticketing, Yatra.com for travel, Shop.in.com (formerly Storeguru) for shopping, and Jobstreet.com for jobs.
Related:
– NDTV Q2-09 Revenues At Rs. 128 Crores; NDTV Convergence FY08 Loss At Rs. 5.5 Crores
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6 Comments until now.
slow news day ??
not really…why?
My take…
They are just building up names under the umbrella of convergence for greater evaluation. … Not sure if they will succeed though as they are not experts in internet biz.
NDTV Music, Cooks, Books et all are just few page sites and have no sense – either commercially nor strategically. Make my trip & Yellojobs have burnt their fingers with NDTV ‘coz they have no sense of running internet businesses. They still sell MSN, etc. like TV ads and not by internet metrics of ROI. They depend on media agencies for biz not internet consumers.
What they can make money is with Matri & Jobs and must focus on them. NDTVJOBS should be a portal of their own as its a very lucrative biz., provided they have something new to share and acquire expertise. CareerBuilder will also fain away like yellowjobs. Matrimonials – yet unexplored?
I feel Network18 is far ahead in their online strategy than NDTV.
sarfaraz: at the same time, network18 is far more leveraged than NDTV in their internet strategy, and has burnt a lot of money…apart from a few sites, where are they going?
Why am I not surprised…
In my view, NW18’s call to bundle (if i am allowed to use that word, for good reason) a couple of already failed site to push up numbers for IN.com is not surprising at all… in fact, it is an admission of their failure… the only reason jobstreet is still not part of that picture is because it is a JV (with a Malaysian company)…
have you seen moneycontrol or bookmyshow being integrated with IN.com… why not, because these are clear leadership sites with a viable (even if loss-making right now) monetization model… the rest of the websites were nowhere in the game… what I am more worried about is this… I looked at IN.com a while back (not a regular user) and it looked a very clean implementation… now, it is becoming as cluttered as Yahoo… forget history, do Raghav and Haresh not care to even remain current abt biz news (read Yahoo) on their own channel… IN.com is being dragged down by the clutter of an already failed set of internet concepts… or at least not being allowed to move beyond the legacy issues…
NDTV… there is an old saying in my circles… the only people who ever made money on NDTV are employees… thanks to the solid ESOPs they get… I do not even understand why they want to get into this beyond their core news ops… ohhh maybe, bcus their news ops don’t make money… as another saying goes, HOPE FLOATS!!
Seriously, wake up and smell the rat guys… you have money… but not internet skills… so why not just tie-up with some internet companies (Info Edge, People group et al) who do by taking substantial stakes in them… you get the benefits of internet… the internet companies get capital… both of you get prime benefits… learn from rupert murdoch… the print baron didn’t build myspace (or was that facebook)… he bought it… now why is that so difficult to understand…
Well, of course Alexa figures are quite off the rack, NDTV has about 40% audience coming from US. And both Doctor and Cooks are doing really well in the domain. These are definitely not sites for the heck of being there. We have our own panel of specialists doctors, chefs etc and these sites contribute better than channel sites in our traffic. Only quoting factual errors..each one is entitled to their opinions