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Making news on the Net
News is big news on the Internet. And every dot com worth its second round of VC funding, is making sure that NEWS is what they put right up front, says Rumman Ahmed.
Report: Rumman Ahmed
Humming the mantra ‘Now is news,’ websites are scrambling to be the first to bring the latest news to their users.
“A big part of being online is being in the know,” says Rohit Chandra, a software engineer. “An user wants to be updated on what’s happening around his world. He doesn’t want to wait till next morning for the news.” To meet this specific demand, dot coms are either tying up with news agencies or setting up their own news bureaus to provide round-the-clock news updates on their sites.
“News is a very important part of Internet content,” says Ronny Screwwala of UTV.
Dilip Venkataraman, business leader (e-commerce), India Today Group Online, concurs, “There is a great demand for news on the Net. Not only does the Net bring in the element of immediacy, graphics and live audio and video webcasts also make the news more user-friendly.” In fact, there is a great demand for Indian news among the big NRI community. These people want to be keyed in to the happenings at home and the Net is the only medium that gives them the opportunity to do so.
Realising the potential of the Indian market, many international news agencies have jumped into the fray.
Agence France-Presse is currently providing real time news service to nearly 200 Indian sites including well-known portals like Rediff, Indya, WebDunia and 123India. Reuters India is planning to launch a news service exclusively for Indian websites, though company officials are currently tightlipped about it.
CNN Intercative, the interactive on-line service operated by Ted turner’s Cable News Network, also has a India channel in the pipeline, according to a official of CNN.com. New entrants are also lining up for a piece of the pie. Singapore-based BuzzCity is targeting the four-million-strong Internet population in India to deliver e-mail and wireless alerts on news, sports, business, stocks and quotes.
As Net penetration grows in India and more and more people go online, it won’t be long before the Internet emerges as an alternative source of news in the country.
Humming the mantra ‘Now is news,’ websites are scrambling to be the first to bring the latest news to their users.
“A big part of being online is being in the know,” says Rohit Chandra, a software engineer. “An user wants to be updated on what’s happening around his world. He doesn’t want to wait till next morning for the news.” To meet this specific demand, dot coms are either tying up with news agencies or setting up their own news bureaus to provide round-the-clock news updates on their sites.
“News is a very important part of Internet content,” says Ronny Screwwala of UTV.
Dilip Venkataraman, business leader (e-commerce), India Today Group Online, concurs, “There is a great demand for news on the Net. Not only does the Net bring in the element of immediacy, graphics and live audio and video webcasts also make the news more user-friendly.” In fact, there is a great demand for Indian news among the big NRI community. These people want to be keyed in to the happenings at home and the Net is the only medium that gives them the opportunity to do so.
Realising the potential of the Indian market, many international news agencies have jumped into the fray.
Agence France-Presse is currently providing real time news service to nearly 200 Indian sites including well-known portals like Rediff, Indya, WebDunia and 123India. Reuters India is planning to launch a news service exclusively for Indian websites, though company officials are currently tightlipped about it.
CNN Intercative, the interactive on-line service operated by Ted turner’s Cable News Network, also has a India channel in the pipeline, according to a official of CNN.com. New entrants are also lining up for a piece of the pie. Singapore-based BuzzCity is targeting the four-million-strong Internet population in India to deliver e-mail and wireless alerts on news, sports, business, stocks and quotes.
As Net penetration grows in India and more and more people go online, it won’t be long before the Internet emerges as an alternative source of news in the country.