August 3rd, 2008
Rajesh Jain: How to Monetize Digital Media in India
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Veteran Indian entrepreneur Rajesh Jain on why mobile will be the key to monetize digital media in India –
Content in the digital space needs to focus on Mobile, Mass and My (M3) and Now, New and Near (N3).
On the Internet, the only revenue stream is advertising. On the mobile, one can create multiple monetization streams - from not just advertisers, but also subscribers, merchants and enterprises.
The first step towards monetization involves creating services that touch people multiple times a day. On the Internet, Search has done this very effectively. On the mobile, I think it will be about SMS and Subscriptions.
Content owners need to think of themselves as “VAS (Value-Added Services) Operators” [complementing the Voice Operators] in the mobile space.
What India needs (and can lead the world in) are VAS Operators. Besides the direct-to-consumer relationship [starting perhaps with SMS subscription services], VAS Operators have three additional characteristics: multiple services, multiple revenue streams, and alternate payment channels. The VAS Operator opportunity in India in the next three years is to reach 50 million subscribers, generating a monthly ARPU (average revenue per user) of Rs 50-100.
I have earlier written about how mobile will be the key to unlock India’s digital potential and the research I’ll be doing as the Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University will be based on that premise.
By the way, I have worked with Rajesh’s company Netcore Solutions to create a mobile branded content channel for Indica on their SMS content platform MyToday and I have been amazed at their long term approach to the platform (and our partnership).
Incidentally, my friend and occasional podcast partner Veer, who drives the MobileMonday initiative in Mumbai, also works with Netcore.
