DailyMotion.com eyes original content to gain users in India

Video sharing site DailyMotion.com, which launched its Indian version recently, will use the power of original content by creative users and media companies to stabilise its presence in India

DailyMotion.com, a France based video sharing site, has recently launched its Indian operations. Expecting competition from the Indian version of YouTube.com, a video sharing site from Google, DailyMotion.com is unfolding its differentiation strategy to gain users in India.

The key to its strategy lies not only in its India specific content, but also in the way it is going to generate the local content. Similar to other video sharing sites, it will have normal users who register and upload videos. But DailyMotion will also promote the original content creators and owners. It will rope in creative people such as filmmakers, film institute students and people from advertising agencies and provide them with a platform to upload their videos.

Raajh Singh, managing director, DailyMotion.com, India, says, “Our core focus lies in our special programme called Motion Makers, which provides a platform to creative people like filmmakers to shoot and upload their videos. Apart from people who come to our site and join the Motion Makers programme, we will actively search for such people, analyse their work, interact with them on a one to one basis, provide them tools for movie making and allow them to upload unlimited capacity videos.” Normal users can upload only 20 minutes of video.

To get people for its Motion Makers programme, DailyMotion has tied up with Whistling Woods International (WWI), a filmmaking training institute promoted by Subhash Ghai and his company, Mukta Arts. Students from WWI will be allowed to upload the videos or films they shoot.

DailyMotion has also partnered with Mid-Day.com, the website of the daily tabloid, and is promoting its citizen journalism initiative. It is providing technology to Mid-Day.com that will allow its users to shoot original stories and upload them on Mid-Day.com. The uploaded videos will also be hosted on DailyMotion.com, on an official channel created for Mid-Day.

DailyMotion.com is also eyeing media and entertainment companies as providers of original content. Media companies can join DailyMotion as Official Users and host their video content on the site. To begin with, DailyMotion is in process to tie-up with Eros, which will upload trailers and uncut videos of its latest movies. DailyMotion is also talking to other media players such as NDTV, Aaj Tak and STAR Network to host their content on the site.

To create a stronger presence in the Indian market and execute its India specific strategy, DailyMotion.com has appointed Hungama Mobile as its strategic partner. Singh says, "Hungama Mobile is going to be our local partner and they will tell us the right companies with which we can forge an alliance."

Explaining the details of the partnership, Neeraj Roy, managing director and chief executive officer, Hungama Mobile, says, "We are the anchor content partner of DailyMotion.com. Since Hungama Mobile already has a tie-up with 250 content owners which offer diversified forms of content such as music, devotional and spiritual, we will help these companies to redistribute their content through DailyMotion. Hungama Mobile will rope in advertisers or provide DailyMotion access to various brands to monetise its content. We will also leverage our partnership with media and entertainment companies like Fashion TV and Sony Pictures to serve their content on DailyMotion."

Roy adds, "Hungama Mobile will help DailyMotion to create its presence on the mobile platform. We will create a special DailyMotion application for mobile phones, which will enable users to upload videos from their mobile phones."

DailyMotion will earn its revenue through various advertising options such as banners and in-stream ads - pre-roll, post-roll, overlays and 3D logo insertion in videos. Singh clarifies, "When we provide a platform to people or companies through our Motion Makers or Official Users programme, we become the licence owners of the content, which we can monetise by roping in advertisers. The revenue we will earn from the licensed content will be shared with the content creators or owners."

Globally, DailyMotion.com has 38 million unique visitors and it receives two billion page views per month. Half a million Indian users have already joined DailyMotion.com.