Kapil Ohri
Digital

FMCC Conference: How to monetise new media platforms

The panellists talked about creating communities around content, opting for a diverse media presence and building great and original products to earn revenue

A lot is happening in the new media sector, be it online advertising, search marketing, mobile marketing or social networking. But companies are still working hard to figure out a perfect business model for generating revenue on these platforms.

Experts ranging from publishers to brand managers to creative directors gathered in New Delhi for a day long conference on ‘Monetising Your New Media Platforms’. The conference was organised by media school FMCC and Cross Border Media.

FMCC Conference: How to monetise new media platforms
Jason Pontin
FMCC Conference: How to monetise new media platforms
Pradeep Gupta
FMCC Conference: How to monetise new media platforms
Anisha Motwani
In the keynote address, Jason Pontin, editor in chief and publisher of ‘Technology Review’, a technology magazine in the US, presented his monetisation formula for print publishers. “A print publisher should maintain the print model as long as it is profitable and set up a free content website which can be monetised by creating a community around it. Publishers should grab the social networking opportunity by offering features like ‘forum’ and ‘community’ to build brand loyalty for the website,” said Pontin. He added that a publisher should look beyond traditional advertising and adopt diverse revenue streams using new technologies such as videos, social networking, mobile, SMS, RSS and micro-blogging.

The second session was a discussion on successful media strategies and the vision for distributing content on the web and other digital platforms. Pradeep Gupta, chairman, CyberMedia Group, pointed out that “a publisher should adopt a cross-section media strategy covering print, online, events, TV and mobile for effective monetisation”.

Gupta announced that CyberMedia publications will be made available on mobile in the next two-three months. CyberMedia publishes magazines like ‘PCQuest’, ‘Dataquest’ and ‘Living Digital’ and runs the website, www.Ciol.com.

In the third session on using digital media for advertising, Mohit Dhar Jayal, managing director, Wieden + Kennedy, said, “If we build something phenomenal which has original content and better user interface, then it will sell.” He emphasised the importance of building communities around the product.

Anisha Motwani, who was serving her notice period at General Motors (India) and is now senior vice-president, marketing, at Max New York Life, showcased how GM has used digital media for advertising. In a digital and print campaign to promote its vehicle, the Chevrolet SRV, a website, www.srvchillzone.com, was created to build a community of users and boost the number of test drives. The site got 4,709 clicks for test drives and the company sold 600 cars in just three months.

The need for localisation of content was also discussed and the panellists agreed that the role of digital media is going to change and that there will be a tremendous amount of localisation on the Internet in the future.

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