WE BUILD ON THE MOBILE ECONOMY VIA WAP MORE THAN APP

According to Shouneel Charles, Senior VP-Digital, Times Network, the channel’s digital platform boasts of a rich user base of over 90 million unique users on a monthly basis

Q] To what extent have people become comfortable watching news breaks on an app?
The native content consumption behaviour today has become about time band, platform, and screen agnostic overall. The need for information is as current as it gets. The users need to know what’s happening when the curiosity or the need arises – hence, depending on where they are at the time news breaks defines what screen they choose to watch it on. The lines are fast blurring with user experience, need and access taking priority over format and screen size.

Q] How many daily active users do you have on the Times Now app… and what’s different in the way the story is treated there? What is the target?
We at timesnownews.com have skipped over two rounds of evolution – that of desktop and mobile app. With technological enhancements by platforms, an app is no longer the preferred watering hole for an user, barring the absolutely evolved niche loyal audiences. Today, big digital platforms allow one to deliver a native app-like experience via mobile web as well. We at timesnownews.com build on the mobile economy via WAP more than app. In fact, our entire product is built for mobile and not desktop predominantly. Overall, timesnownews.com boasts of a rich user base of over 90 million unique users on a monthly basis, with over 38 million followers across social media handles. With over 70% of our users being under 35 years of age, we are poised to be the youngest and the fastest-growing news publisher in the country.

With the younger millennial audience, the preference to read smarter summaries before diving deep into content is a trend we see. Hence we lean towards shorter stories, more concise paras and crisper language.

Q] In Digital, is the level of monetization to your satisfaction? What is your assessment of Live TV and its contribution? By when do you expect to see paid subscribers on Digital?
As marketers, we are wired to believe there is no such thing as enough monetization. Having said that, we are happy with the levels we have achieved in the short time span. We do see a huge potential as the brand and business grows. There is so much more potential to be tapped with the right mix of technology, content and solutions integration. A great product with quality content and the right mix of audience can help create a lot of opportunity.

Live TV and overall Video on demand is something we are very proud of. Being able to extend the same experience for the viewers across screens seamlessly is a great experience. Digital subscription model is something that holds a lot of promise and opportunity but is yet to deliver.