Aiming to generate multimedia content like short format video and audio, news and ebooks mobile application Dailyhunt has picked up a minority stake for RS 15 crore in local news language portal OneIndia.
OneIndia is owned by Rajesh Jain and BG Mahesh, who were the brains behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s digital strategy during 2014 elections.
The investment will not only help Dailyhunt expand its partnership with Greynium Information Technologies –owned OneIndia, but also generate multimedia content, especially short format video and audio, for its platform. The two companies already have a content partnership.
Virendra Gupta, the founder and CEO of Dailyhunt, said, “It’s time for local language content generation to go deeper like it has in English. We need content in both audio and video, and shorter format content appealing to the demographics of the country. We are supporting non-news content with this investment.”
As per the deal, Gupta will also join the board of Greynium.
Founded in January 2006 by BG Mahesh, OneIndia provides local language content and publishes content across genres such as lifestyle, entertainment, technology, automobiles, travel, personal finance and education in eight local languages.
Besides OneIndia, its websites include Cricket, FilmiBeat and CareerIndia. It reaches 35 million unique visitors and 500-million page views a month.
Mahesh said, “Greynium has been a key player in the local languages space, and this position will be further strengthened by Dailyhunt’s reach across India. It also ties in well with our plans for producing video content in vernacular languages, which we expect to be the next big growth wave for us.”
According to FICCI Frames report 2016, “It is estimated that 56 per cent of Indians showed preferences for video downloads with 85 per cent viewers consuming short-form video content (under 10 minutes) on smartphones as against 71 per cent on laptops. This trend is going to be important for marketers to be able to reach these customers through smart and concise messaging.”
This investment is part of the broader bet by DailyHunt to focus on generating revenues from advertising dollars, as global multinationals are also increasing their spend on digital with increasing smartphone penetration.
