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There are 5 new posts in "WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India" Exclusive Interview with ACK Media COO - Ashish Goel On Amar Chitra Katha Future PlansWe caught up with Ashish Goel, COO of ACK Media the company which has big plans with their brand Amar Chitra Katha. We spoke to him about the launch of the website, ACK’s target audience, future plans, digital media and more. Here is the full interview: Q) Will ACK Media only launch rehashed titles from the past or will it launch new titles as well?
Q) Will e-comics be available online (paid/free)? Will there be merchandise available for buying? A) We will have an Ecomics section which will be one where you can read for free but it will be one short story from the amar chitra katha comic series. The second type will be paid downloads amar chitra katha’s regional language titles and we are starting with digital downloads of around 80 such titles and plan to 600 titles in the future. As far as merchandising is concerned we are launching a line of merchandise for both amar chitra katha and tinkle and these will be available 3-4 months down the line. We already have other mechandise in the ecommerce section of our site but the ACK specific merchandise will be available 3-4 months down the line. Also we plan to tie this with our overall strategy which is that we are launching across multiple platforms. We are looking at TV programming for both Amar chitra katha and Tinkle and would be working with existing tv channels to launch these.
Q) Who are you targetting? Is it kids or parents of kid who will buy this for their kids? A) Talking about Amar Chitra Katha we are not targeting any specific age group as we feel anyone who would like to know about Indian Culture should be reading Amar Chitra Katha. That said we would like all children to read Amar Chitra Katha and learn about Indian Culture whether they buy it themselves or its bought by their parents.
Q) What are your future plans with the ACK Brand? A) We are looking at expanding across the digital media platforms. We will be launching something on the mobile platform soon. On the online front we have two products one is tinkleonline.com which is already one of the top children sites and the other which we launched today is amarchitraatha.com which we want to make the one stop portal on Indian culture. We are also building a large multiplayer online game which would be able to support 40 to 50 thousand user at any given time. This game would would be available in the market in 6-8 months time. Besides for the above digital distribution we are also looking at TV programming and tying up with some leading channels and also movies are another avenue we will be foraying into.
Q) How much do you think Digital revenues will contribute to your over all revenue? A) We feel digital will be a substantial contributor to our overall revenues but I can’t specifically state a number right now. Among digital we feel gaming will be a big segment that we plan to tap aggressively.
Q) Are y ou looking at targeting the NRI Market? A) Yes we are very much looking to target the NRI market and this is because we feel the NRI audience has a higher need to connect with Indian Culture and therefore would be more receptive to the Amar Chitra Katha products. We are looking for ways to reach out to this market and build a brand in the NRI segment. WATBlog Analysis: We at WATBlog do feel that NRI market will be a huge market for ACK’s brands but the difficulty will be reaching out to these markets and of course at a reasonable cost. Also Virgin comics which was mentioned in our review of amarchitrakatha.com has taken a different approach to mythological concepts while ACK chooses to hold the higher moral ground on the content front i.e. keeping it authentic without remixing (or adulteration as some might put it). While this may have worked for them in the 1900’s the question remains is would this work going forward?? What’s your take? Related PostsAlso check out Our Jobsite: WATJob Our Video Show: WATShow Our Gaming Blog: WATGame Our Consulting: WATConsult WATBlog Recommends: Some Interesting Surveys That Bloggers and Our Readers Should TakeThis post is in a way without any precedence and we don’t know if we would have any like this in the future. However, this week saw some interesting surveys including one by us on the topic of blogging come across our daily routine. We took them, and felt it would be a good idea to share the same with our readers, especially those who blog (we know quite a lot of you do). The idea is to just help the surveys be of value as more number of responses increases the accuracy and power of a survey. There are four of these going on in the blogosphere currently, starting with: The Wordpress 2.7 Admin Navigation SurveyWATBlog runs on Wordpress and we absolutely love it. It is one of the most powerful blogging systems and we recommend it to anyone who wants to set up a blog or online content system. So it is now time to give back something to the community. The survey is about the administrative panel and navigation within that, so it is all the more important that we do so that we won’t have to complain on any design elements in future WP editions. You can take the survey by clicking here. New Media Tools & their Impact on Corporate Functionality by WATConsult.comWATconsult.com is conducting a research on “New Media Tools & their Impact on Corporate Functionality”. Our present emphasis is on the use of Blogs & Social Media by organizations and their impact on different corporate functionality including marketing. We request you to participate in this study by responding to a few simple questions given here. Even if you do not have a corporate blog, your valuable participation would contribute substantially in this research. Remarkablogger’s Survey on Blog SEOMichael Martine is a blog consultant and he runs quite a useful blog on blogging at remarkablogger.com. This is a basic survey about bloggers and SEO - the level of knowledge, the priority given and if you are looking at investing in learning SEO to push your blog traffic, etc. You can take this short survey on this page. Microblogging Survey in EC-TEL 2008This survey wants to understand the expectations and experiences with regards to microblogging in TEL conferences such as the EC-TEL 2008. It is conducted by Wolfgang Reinhardt, Cristina Costa and Guenter Beham as preparation for a next paper on Microblogging in TEL conferences. You can take the survey here. None of them are time consuming and you can do well by looking forward to the results of these surveys as well. Related PostsAlso check out Our Jobsite: WATJob Our Video Show: WATShow Our Gaming Blog: WATGame Our Consulting: WATConsult Review : AmarChitraKatha.comAs we had reported yesterday, ACK Media has launched AmarChitraKatha.com today. (related Article : (Related Article : Amar Chitra Katha : Round 2) WATBlog takes a look at the eagerly awaited website and gives you an exclusive and first ever complete review of the website. So, here is what we saw. The homepage is good. On top-right, username/password box is provided. Usernames will be used to provide communities-related services. He website also has some user generated content in the form of stories submission. The homepage had the “Story of the Week”. I would have rather loved to see “Story of The Day”, though. Something short, though. I quickly clicked the “Story of The Week”, to be presented with a full page comic strip. I loved the animation of “turning-the-page”. It’s exactly as you would turn the pages of a real-life book. Some good UI at work here. Bottom-left, there’s an “Upcoming Events” section. Three events that were visible within that section were - “Music And Creativity”, “Sri Ramakrishna Prasanga” and “Point Your Canvas - A Workshop” with a “View All” link at the bottom. On clicking on “View All”, you are taken to a page called “Cultural Beat”, which, it’s acknowledged, is powered by AskLaila. You can even find other events there. Infact, the category list of the events was quite large. Though, not all of them were populated yet. This feature imitated the functionality of websites like Kyakare.com. It also shows the “Most Viewed Events” and “Highest Rated Events”. An interesting feature on the site was a section called “ACK Pedia”. According to the website -
Sounds interesting. With crores of (Yes!) Gods, this is not going to be some small feat. I liked the idea of one credible source for a particular subject. The content will be generated by the users, but “the curatorial and editing process will be expert managed“. Creative Commons license will be used for this content, except in some cases. “Create With Us” sections asks for user participation in arts and stories. However, I didn’t like this guideline for the stories - “The story should be from Indian mythology or folklore, or about a famous personality. It cannot be about a living person“. Looks like they are still intending to sell the same form of content, to an entirely new generation. There were user-submitted stories which can be read after logging in. “ACK Recommends” is a section that promises to have reviews of movies, music, books, TV Programs, toys, gadgets etc. I’m not sure why things like gadgets were included in this list. The section “Shop” allows you to buy previous comics from Amar Chitra Katha. Conclusion The guys at Amar Chitra Katha are aware of the changing landscape. They know they have to evolve. And hence to present the content in the present form. I am impressed with the idea. However, there are a few glitches that should be taken care of. The format of stories, for example, needs a heavy revamp. You don’t need to show Lord Ram, the way you were showing Him in 1960. Virgin comics has shown us how Ramayana can be sexy. We need more of such stuff. Where Virgin failed, ACK can succeed. But it should seriously consider a complete revamp of the content that it has. Right now, the website offers what has been produced so far. There is no fresh content. Though, they have tried to build a community around the website, I do not see one forming if they do not experiment with the content. Initiatives like “ACK Pedia” were very good, though. However, they need to be more focused. What’s the need to have reviews of “toys” and “gadgets” on a website that’s primarily about digital distribution of comics? Still, AmarChitaKatha.com is a good attempt. I hope they work on it to take it to the next level. Would like to read our readers’ opinion on this. Related PostsAlso check out Our Jobsite: WATJob Our Video Show: WATShow Our Gaming Blog: WATGame Our Consulting: WATConsult Love is in The Air and on The Web: WATBlog’s Mini Survey on Online Dating Sites & UsersThese women are dying to meet you. Check them out at xyz.com. Such lines are very common in e-mails sent by dating sites. They say love is in the air, I would like to reframe it to Love is on the net. Gone are the days when single used to mingle in a bar, bus stops, libraries, parks, etc. The venue has now shifted to web.
The demand and the rise of dating sites have tremendously increased in past few years. According to a research by Media Research Inc. around 2.5 Million people in USA had participated in online dating activities for a given month in the year 2007. The figures are said to have doubled in the current year. According to the report men were slightly 8 % more in numbers compared to women users, i.e 52.2 % were men while 47.8 % were women.
Why do people prefer dating online?
I asked several questions to various people and some of the points are as follows:
Match.com, Yahoo Personals, Catholic Singles.com are among the top sites where people generally hang out to meet and search new people.
The modern day dating has taken a new route. People now Google about a person they meet online. It is after this they decide to move on or dump the person. New York Times has a very interesting article on this you can read it here.
Besides for the dating sites the rise of non dating sites and services is extensively being used for flirting and dating. Sites like orkut, facebook, myspace are the leading ones. Besides for these sites yahoo chat is the most common place where people hang out to meet new ones.
The new generation applications like rate me, flirt with me, etc are the most common way to meet new people. First they rate their pictures, profiles, etc and then send a friends request once accepted the process of flirting starts. Though I am not sure of the outcome but many of them said that the person who sent them the friend request seemed nice for the first time. But gradually they came to know about them and their intentions. So far I have received mixed reactions. Many said they were cheated, while many were smart enough to recognize the person's intention during the first chat. Many of them were happy and considered themselves lucky enough to meet their loved ones online. There are also ill effects of dating people online you can read it here.
The online dating market is surely huge and has a great potential. But I personally feel that the future is about Social networking sites and second life. Whether love or jobs, I personally feel that people would be searching it on popular social networking sites by being part of various communities and participating in group activities. Specially the second life where people can edit and give a new look to their online face. Besides that you would also have options to select your background where you can carry out conversations in parks, bars, libraries, etc so that you can relive the old moments. A lot more will be done in second life.
I would like to know your thoughts about the future of online dating. Related PostsAlso check out Our Jobsite: WATJob Our Video Show: WATShow Our Gaming Blog: WATGame Our Consulting: WATConsult Nokia Launches Mobile Ad Network. Adds Airtel, SprintNokia has taken a significant step in being a Mobile Ad Network, by adding Sprint and Bharti Airtel to the list of carriers, reports Reuters India. Last year Nokia acquired Enpocket to start building its Mobile advertising business. Enpocket.com now redirects to advertising.nokia.com. Two days back we have covered the trend of Publishers Creating Their Own Ad Networks. Nokia’s reasons, however, are entirely different. With time, Nokia has evolved a lot, and looks intent on continuing this process. Specially in countries like India, the only way to stay competitive is to maintain the low price of the devices. Thanks to advertising, revenues can be made from other areas, too. In all probabilities, Nokia will be subsidizing the costs of handsets and its other services through advertising. Earlier Nokia launched Ovi, its integrated service platform, too. ( Read : Why Ovi Is Important To Nokia? ) . Services can be an excellent revenue model. Through Ovi, Nokia will eb controlling the content that goes into the majority of handsets, worldwide. And through its ad network, it can deliver relevant ads to the same handsets. Well, if the number of users is large (and it will be large), Nokia can completely subsidize offerings from Ovi, making it completely free, earning just through ads. Freeing up the content can give a drastic boost to the usage, thereby driving more users to the service. The end effect - still more ad revenue for Nokia. Any thoughts on this? Related PostsAlso check out Our Jobsite: WATJob Our Video Show: WATShow Our Gaming Blog: WATGame Our Consulting: WATConsult More Recent Articles
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