In a move that mirrors the Wall Street Journals content sharing agreement with CNBC in the US, HT Media’s business paper Mint, and Network18s business channel CNBC-TV18 have tied up to share content; ContentSutra had reported this on Monday, and Mint announced the partnership earlier today. Do note that Business Standard already has a content partnership with UTVi.
According to our sources in HT Media, Mint will carry half page or more of CNBC content every day, and the two will partner for events. In return, CNBC TV18 will carry 2-5 Mint stories every day – some in their morning pre-market bulletin, and their prime time show India Business Hour. We might also see some Mint editors and writers on TV. The weekend show India Business Review will be co-branded as a joint Mint and CNBC programme, and use stories from Mint, Lounge and Campaign.
Digital Component?
Mint does not have TV presence (since Mint TV was never launched), and Network18 doesn’t have a financial daily, despite there being rumors of the group planning to launch a print publication a year or so ago. However, the two do compete for eyeballs in the online space – so how does this impact digital content? Will the CNBC content in Mint also be published at Livemint? Who will monetize live streaming of joint events? Will Moneycontrol feature any Mint stories? We’ve contacted Durga Raghunath, Managing Editor of Livemint for comments.
ET Now…& Some Speculation
This partnership has been announced prior to the launch of ET Now, wherein the BCCL group is going to leverage content from the Economic Times, the largest business daily in India. ET-Now appears to be the biggest threat that CNBC-TV18 has faced till date. Some interesting comments from PressTalk – who wonders if these are the first steps towards Network18s acquisition of Mint. Mint has been losing money, and with the Wall Street Journal having received the go-ahead for launching a facsimilie edition in India, that tie-up may be on the block as well. More here Disclosure: I own an inconsequential number of shares of Network18
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3 Comments until now.
Moneycontrol is featuring livemint stories on their site. Just saw this page http://www.moneycontrol.com/news_article/Sunil_Mi... via their profile on Sunil Mittal
CNBC TV18 acquiring Mint. That would be a joke. First, from where will Network18 get the money for the acquisition. The NW18 group is highly leveraged at this point in time and adding another money losing (though potentially lucrative) acquisition may be its death knell in the near term. Else, when was the last time that NW18 announced a venture to not get into it (in fact, it is usually the contrary situation; we come to know later on that some venture had NW18 behind it). Also, this assumes that Mint would be on the block; I am not so sure. HT has had its own financing issues but seem to be on track now. In fact, I hear they may be expanding going forward (once newsprint prices start coming down).
Paper & TV partnership – Different Mediums- Good Idea – Both Win
Web & Web Partnerhip – Same Medium – Content Sharing – Bad Idea – Link Sharing – Good Idea- Why – Different Audiences – Both Win