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DIGITAL MEDIA CONCLAVE, DAY 1
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gargi
3:31
Hello and welcome to the panel discussion featuring Anuradha Kedia, Founder of The Better India, Shradha Sharma, Co-Founder of YourStory along with the moderator, Vinoth Poovalingam, Co-Founder of Hocalwire.
3:32
They will be discussing about how to build 'Self-Sustainable' newsrooms.
3:35
The discussion kicks off with the moderator, Vinoth Poovalingam, asking a very pertinent question: “What do you think is most important to open a sustainable newsroom?”
3:39
To this question Shradha Sharma responds that the concept of sustainable newsrooms has been
evolving not just in India but across the world. "Everyone today has their own media," she adds.
3:40
She points out that for sustaining any business, one requires his/her own creativity and madness.
3:42
Sharma highlights the need to make money from the beginning. She cites her own example and says, "In 2015 we raised some capital and then again in 2017."
3:46
Responding to the question on the content of a story, Shradha says: "In Bombay I used to meet a lot of young people who felt terrible that their stories were not being told and covered. I just knew for sure in my heart that we need to tell these stories. The magic was that every story that was told made our characters feel justified and validated."
3:47
Emphasizing on the need to bring out raw stories without any bias, Sharma adds :The sincerity has to be in telling the story of people without any judgement whatsoever.
3:50
3:51
Replying to the same question Kedia says that your main inputs come from a focus group. "I believe you have to listen to the core audience. We still have people who reach out to better India and ask us to publish stories."
3:53
Replying to a question about technology, Anuradha rightly says, "So in digital media companies how do I call yourself digital media company if technology is not your focus."
3:54
Sharma replies to the same question by saying, "None of us can exist without tech,"
3:55
Citing her her own experience, she adds: "We invested in and acquired a company called Picstory two and half years. My strength is not technology but to tell stories. Users attention is fragmented, so you have to put in an effort to understand them."
3:57
Sharma emphatically says that ethos is something she can never ignore, even in the face of criticism."With the criticism that comes we become stronger."
3:58
3:59
Anuradha Kedia takes a jibe at 'negative news' and 'big media organizations' by saying, "Trying to set yourself in a space dominated by huge corporations media companies and take a stand not to talk bad about others is not easy."
4:01
When asked a question on revenue, Kedia says that it's all very old-fashioned and what matter the most now is the content. "You have to find your differentiation in market that’s so noisy and monetise your uniqueness."
4:03
4:04
"I love revenues" Sharma says, responding to the same question. She points out the importance of 'original stories' by saying, "Don't believe in any other stories. If you're an entrepreneur, be one. Don't believe in trends. For me, the way I see revenue is, by way of creating IPs." She also highlights the importance of working with MNCs like Facebook, Google, etc.
4:07
Sharma describes the way she diversifies her revenue stream. "We create video content. We launched a subscription. We come up with an exclusive story every day. We curate handholding exchanges."
4:09
Telling about her journey to become 'self-sustainable', Sharma says ''I did not have a fallback option". She tried going to the investors, but that did not work out for her.
4:12
Sharma adds: In 2008 there was no Digital India. India was a very different back then. That had made me have a spine". Highlighting the need to be sustainable, she says, "Sustainability shouldn't come at the cost of the brand. We shouldn't have done a campaign. We did. We make mistakes. But it taught us that we stand for something.
4:15
Shedding light on how 'sustainability' works, Kedia says: "You keep evaluating yourself are you on right track. There is no substitute for hard work and innovation. You take your eyes off for minuet and you are gone. Your hyper focus on that innovation is super important."
4:18
Responding to the question, on the importance of building in-house tech is important in a media organization, Sharma says: "Build a brand. We tend to over optimize. Focus on the user base and reader base. There are so many battles to fight. So prioritize."
4:19
4:21
The panellists wrap up the conversation by putting forth the point that to get the legal cover required to set up a digital news platform, legal firms should be consulted. Kedia also gives an alternative option, "There’s an option to register yourself in US or Singapore and create subsidiary with us."
4:22
Thank you for staying tuned! It was a very insightful discussion. We hope all of you learnt something new!
4:28
Outsourcing tech while building a media organization helps founders focus on other important things. Do you agree?
Yes. Outsourcing is a great option. (0% | 0 votes)
 
No. All tech should be in-house. (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 0
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