i next and Mid-Day enter content sharing tie up

The bilingual daily of Jagran Prakashan has tied up with Mid-Day for entertainment coverage

Content sharing seems to be the buzz word in the media industry nowadays. The latest duo to join the bandwagon is Mid-Day and i next. The bilingual daily from the Jagran Prakashan Group and Mid-Day, the afternooner, are entering into a contract to share entertainment coverage.

According to the tie up, i next will pick up entertainment related content from Mid-Day on a daily basis. Talking about the details of the tie up, Alok Sanwal, project head, i next, says, "We have been discussing about this for the last four months. Now, we are in the process of signing the contract with Mid-Day. This tie up will expose our readers to the world of entertainment, gossips and films, which may not be accessible in this part of the country (North)."

i next and Mid-Day enter content sharing tie up

Revealing the reasons for the partnership, Sanwal says, "Since both the dailies are compact in nature, it is easier to adapt the stories in the other format. Also, the nature and treatment of the stories are quite similar in both the dailies."

The tie up was originally scheduled to come into effect from August 1. It was delayed due to some legal procedures and is now rescheduled for August 15.

As a part of the tie up, i next will pick four-five stories every day from the entertainment section of Mid-Day. Though Mid-Day has checked the content of i next, it will not take any content from the bilingual daily as of now. However, Sanwal says that if Mid-Day wants to lift any content from i next later, it will have an access to it.

According to the terms, i next will credit to Mid-Day the stories picked from the afternooner, without mentioning the bylines of the reporters. The core content won't be changed but will be adapted in the format of i next.

Instead of translation, the daily will go in for transliteration of the stories, which will not be the exact replica of the Mid-Day stories.

Without sharing the size of the deal, Sanwal says that the deal will take care of the operational cost of the stories. The arrangement will be valid for a year and is renewable.

Sanwal emphasises that the step was undertaken to benefit from the expertise of Mid-Day in the field of entertainment, and not to reduce costs. "We have our office in Mumbai, too. This deal is basically to benefit from the strong points of the afternooner," he says.

This is not the first time that i next has tied up with a media house. Earlier, it had tied up with Living Digital, a Cyber Media offering, for its 'trends' page, called i Tech.

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com