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There are 3 new posts in "WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India" CreateOnlineBuzz.com 9.9 Media’s Pay Per Review Offering for BloggersI was pretty surprised to see this when I stumbled upon it. 9.9 Media which recently closed an A series funding from Helion ventures and TVS Growth fund has launched an interesting initiative in Createonlinebuzz.com which is in simple words a Payperpost or even better a Sponsoredreviews.com clone. For an elaborate description basically this is platform where in bloggers can submit their blogs and advertisers pay bloggers for reviewing their products and this review can be positive or even negative but its paid review nonetheless. Internationally this concept isn’t new and nor is it favoured by bloggers. This move by 9.9Media into blog advertising seems puzzling given that they have no blog platforms of their own.. Makes me wonder if 9.9 Digital plans to launch or invest in any existing blogging sites? The creatonlinebuzz site currently is a basic one with little or no information on who their publishers (bloggers) are and who their advertisers are. Also on googling createonlinebuzz I found they seem to have just launched and done a press release on the 31st of October. I have contacted 9.9 mediaworx to know more about their digital strategy with respect to this new initiative. Related PostsAlso Check Out: Live Search Maps Launched in IndiaMicrosoft has announced the launch of Live Search Maps for India. Detailed Listings and Street Maps for 9 Cities, Business Listings across 29 Cities and access to highway networks to 20,000 Cities and Towns is now avalilable vie Live Search Maps on the PC and Mobile in India. On can access live search maps on http://maps.live.co.in/. This is the first version of the live maps for India and key features of the same were developed by the Microsoft India Development Centre (MSIDC) based in Hyderabad.
Microsoft is sourcing the maps from Navteq (just like Yahoo sources it from MapmyIndia). Navteq for those who dont know is a Chicago, Illinois-based provider of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nokia but operates independently. Speaking on the launch, Rishi Srivastava, Consumer & Online Marketing Operations Head, Microsoft India, said, "We are proud to launch Live Search Maps for users in our country. This is the first version of Live Search Maps for India and Microsoft will continue to introduce new features and improvements in the near future to meet emerging needs of consumers. Over the last two years, Microsoft has made significant investments into research and development for Live Search, acquired global resources and introduced several new features which we believe are extremely relevant and will deliver great value to our users. Live Search Maps will be accessible on the PC and the mobile, thus ensuring that users get the information they need anytime". Microsoft seems to getting aggressive with Live search in India. Just recently it had launched new features to live search like picture and video search which were pretty good on the usability front. With regards to maps India is seeing tremendous traction in map based web and mobile products. MapmyIndia introduced a lot of mobile enabled features recently which lets people know where their loved ones are on the go. To me map based services are far more needed on mobile and given India’s mobile penetration which is growing at a break neck speed it is just a time factor as far as Location based services on mobile become a really big opportunity. Related PostsAlso Check Out: The Slowdown & Its Impact On Digital Media in IndiaAs its understood by all the slowdown is here to stay and we have earlier taken the VC point of view on the slowdown but this time we spoke to Digital Media CEO’s and Business Heads to know their take on the slowdown and its impact on digital media. We spoke to Sidharth Rao - Founder, Webchutney, Leroy Alvares - President,Tribal DDB, Manish Vij - Co-Founder, Quasar Media, Madan Sanglikar - National Director, MindShare Interaction and Manish Sinha Senior Vice-president-Strategy, Mudra.
Q1) Will the slowdown impact revenues for digital media i.e. agencies and publishers? Sidharth: Frankly, a ‘perceived slowdown’ should have zero impact on the growth of the “stronger” digital agencies and publishers prospects. Lets face it, we still too small a part of our clients budgets for all this to matter. At 500 crores, we are too small to be toast, and traditionally large advertisers have just started tasting some good success with online and i believe we will continue seeing some great growth. In fact, its a golden opportunity to aggressively evangelize and “market” the medium and its measurability to clients vis a vis expensive print and television media. And surely Engagement Driven & RoI advertising will sound the coolest now. Manish Vij: In our opinion not negatively impact but the growth will be impacted Madan: The answer is a big Yes. Publishers will have to relook at their marketing & content strategies. Agencies will have to control the cost & look out for profitable accounts.
Q2) What will be the impact - positive or negative? Sidharth: Two ways to look at this: Overall advertising spends including traditional media could see a slowdown. Digital should be positive, i can say that for clients we work with for sure. The negative impact i can see really is going to on entrepreneurship only because of the massive ripple effect. When you have business news headlines screaming slowdown and shakeout, even people who dont have anything to do with it tend to push themselves back. There are atleast a 1000 good ideas out there which would take backseat just because of this mindset. Thats going to be unfortunate because ironically, this is the best time to go for it (boot strapped), because everyone else is shit scared! Manish Vij: Neither negative nor positive but Smart professionals can definitely find avenues for impacting it positively Madan: Both. Positive, since budgets will get diverted to digital considering the lean back status of the traditional medium. However, advertisers will play a wait & watch games hence quarterly targets will surely shift. On another note, while the transaction oriented business will flourish, the brand building led campaigns will get delayed. Manish Sinha (on question 1 &2): I think the digital medium will be the least affected in the current economic slowdown as it has the least penetration in India. And at 2- 3 % of the advertising pie I believe digital media will not suffer much. In fact it will gain at the expense of traditional media. The measurability of digital media will ensure that clients will move and not cut back on digital media. Perhaps the slow-down will act as a good opportunity when they will divert funds from traditional media to experiment with digital media. Which may not be a risky experimentation at all as audiences across segments will continue to migrate to online and mobile channels. Online advertising and social media may provide the greatest return for some categories and a younger TG in the near term. The next 12 months is definitely a good time to invest more in social media and mobile media. Long term revenues for publishers will be affected positively by audience migration to online sites. Despite the economic slowdown, I expect a majority of companies to continue investing, experimenting and expanding across digital media. Q3) How long do you think the slowdown impact will last? Sidharth: I am not a pundit on markets really, so i wouldn’t know. The digital industry, like every other, just need to pull through this with whatever it takes. Manish Vij: Cant say infact our belief is no one can – if history is of some benchmark then may be 24 months before positive sentiments come back Madan: Tough to say. But 2009 will be a challenging year.
Q4) Do you think investments into startups in this space will slowdown? If yes what effect will that have? Leroy: I am a strong believer in an Idea. A great idea will always find funding. However, business plans will be doubly scrutinized to ensure that make money fast. Sidharth: I can see angel investors surely chickening out, the appetite there is not so great to hold on for more than 2-3 years before they exit. Professional investors would get ‘cautious’ about valuations maybe. I think the India internet story fundamentally remains unchanged. And trust me, some of the best internet companies in India will be built in the next 1000 days. Manish Vij: Yes! StartUps without strong ideas that impact hard or change the way we work will not find it difficult still but startups without clear revenue visibility will definitely be impacted Madan: Not exactly. After all necessity is the mother of all inventions. So these touch times will lead to everyone attempting to take new & cost effective measures. In fact this is the time when advertiser & agencies will have to come out of their comfort zones & try something new. Related PostsAlso Check Out: More Recent Articles
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