Entertainment - NDTV taps unusual news segment

NDTV Convergence taps unusual news segment with NoGyan.com
Kapil Ohri afaqs! New Delhi, July 04, 2008 NDTV
Convergence, the digital media arm of the NDTV Group, is trying to move beyond hardcore news. It recently launched a site, NoGyan.com, to capture and offer news, views and analysis of unusual happenings in areas such as glamour, celebrities, sports, technology, spirituality, health and automobiles. “The site is targeted at the youth and NDTV Convergence has intentionally not branded it as an NDTV product because it does not want to attach the brand value of NDTV to NoGyan.com,” says Sanjay Trehan, chief executive officer, NDTV Convergence. Trehan adds, “NoGyan does not have a synergy with the other NDTV Convergence sites. It’s a separate or standalone product as compared to our other sites, which have a synergy with the NDTV Group channels. We want to reach out to a new audience through NoGyan. We might face competition from entertainment and lifestyle sites.”
NoGyan will be opened to users in the next two months. It will include a user generated content section, My NoGyan, allowing users to upload videos, create blogs and contribute to its fora. NDTV Convergence has set up an internal team to source and cover news for NoGyan. It is also sourcing content from various news agencies such as Indo Asian News Service, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. Since NoGyan is positioned as a different entity in its portfolio, NDTV Convergence will not employ the usual online advertising techniques like display advertising to promote the site. Trehan says, “We will use social media marketing to promote NoGyan. We will be creating a community on Orkut, a group on Yahoo Groups, and will develop a NoGyan widget for Facebook. We will also create NoGyan ringtones and screensavers.”The site will earn its revenue mainly through banner and video ads and through sponsors for its various sections in the next three months.“NDTV Convergence earns 80 per cent of its revenue from online properties and 20 per cent from its mobile site, NDTVActive.com. Some 75 per cent of its online revenue comes from NDTV.com, while other sites such as NDTVKhabar.com, NDTVProfit.com, NDTVImagine.com and NDTVArabia.tv contribute 25 per cent of the online revenue. We expect that 20-25 per cent of the online revenue will be generated through NoGyan.com in the next three years,” says Trehan. NDTV Convergence also launched a travel portal called NDTVTravels.com in June 2008.