IFRA

Mariam Mammen Mathew, CEO of Manorama Online painted an altogether brighter picture drawn from the other side of the world. Being from India “best known for its technology boom and the film Slumdog Millionnaire”, Mathew sketched a market many in the room could only dream of; 1.2 billion citizens, 60,000 publications, more than 4,000 daily newspapers selling 100 million copies and the only market where newspaper circulation is rising– the numbers were staggering. What also became clear was that Mathew wasn't simply telling us of a far off place in terms of geography, but also in terms of time. Manorama is based in the southern Indian state of Kerala and her observations came from far away not only in geography but also in time. “Thanks to watching the US and Europe we had the benefit of hindsight and we didn't let go of classifieds. We didn't want a Craigslist or a Monster taking away our strength and so we created sites like M4Marry – a matrimonial site capitalising on a niche audience but one that today has more than 300,000 profiles and it's subscription based so profitable in its own right as well as bolstering our print classifieds. The way it works in India is that the paper edition builds credibility but the transactions are enabled through the website.” M4Marry is only one of a number of niche products playing to the hyperlocal market in Kerala (another surprise success turned out to be the obituaries section), all of which are beefed up with blogs and UGC. “The next big thing in India is mobile” explained Mathew pointing out that SMS shortcodes and downloadable apps for online content have already proved highly profitable; a situation capitalised on by Manorama's use of both media-specific sales team and Junction K – it's cross media integrated sales team which spreads campaigns across all platforms and enables the paper's claim that “you talk to us and you talk to Kerala”.