India’s Times Internet Thrives Despite Aggressive Competition

India is one of the last growth tech markets in the world, and Silicon Valley tech companies have been pushing aggressively there for years. The fierce competition has leveled many native tech companies, but not Times Internet, an Indian media conglomerate, according to a report.

The company said that its total properties – which include the newspaper Times of India, online outlet Indiatimes.com, advertisement business Colombia, venture arm Tventures and streaming services Gaana and MX Player – reach 110 million users daily and 450 million unique users monthly.

In India, Facebook and Google have about 300 million active users every month. The organization’s news outlets have collected 256 million monthly active users, which is an increase of 44 percent from the previous year.

The company’s streaming service Gaana, which raised $115 million from Tencent and other companies in 2018, reaches 100 million monthly active users, the company said. It also has the MX Player, which is a video playback app and streaming service that the company acquired for $140 million last year. It is one of the most sought after Android apps in emerging markets.

Times Internet also has a knack for hooking into what’s popular in the country, as it did during the IPL cricket tournament, one of the country’s most popular sporting events. More than 118 million people used the service Cricbuzz, which is a news and entertainment feed focused on sports. The company also plans to get into the mobile gaming space.

The company wants to move beyond just being a business that collects ad revenue. Most properties don’t cost users anything for access, as they’re built on top of ads. Online ads can’t compete with TV and print ads in India, so Times Internet has been introducing subscription services throughout its properties.

Satyan Gajwani, vice chairman of Times Internet, said it is a necessary move for the company. “Especially for premium publishers, an ads-only business model is not likely to last or sustain in the long run,” he noted.