Asianet News Network today announced the acquisition of Newsfast, a leading Tamil Digital News platform. With this acquisition the group’s digital news media reach spans all the four Southern languages and English. According to a recent industry report, Tamil has the highest Internet adoption amongst vernacular languages and the Tamil audience is also the most engaged on content with over one-third of them accessing news content online and most of them on mobile devices. With vernacular being the growth driver for Digital News, Newfast though a relative newbie in the space has been a strong challenger to many of Tamil’s more established legacy news brands. With over 1 Million unique visitors that site is recognized for breaking news especially in the context of the recent volatility in Tamil Nadu’s politics.
A leader in Malayalam and Kannada with www.asianetnews.tv and www.suvarnanews.tv, Asianet News Digital also recently launched www.telugu.asianetnews.tv. Through this acquisition, the network gets a head start in the intensely competitive Tamil digital news space. The network now has the ability to leverage the new Tamil news entity to further enhance the content stream in www.newsable.com, its English digital video platform. Newsable recently inducted prominent journalist and co-founder of Firstpost, Lakshmi Chaudhry as an Editorial Advisor.
“Asianet News Network has been focusing on creating a compelling digital video news platform that addresses the underserved South through its respective local languages and technology innovations in video and content distribution” says Anoop N, Chief Operating Officer, Asianet News Digital: “At Asianet News Digital we focus on realizing the convergence of great high quality Content and Technology to deliver superior audience experience and engagement.”
On the acquisition, Mathivanan M renowned TV journalist and founder of Newsfast says: “As a part of Asianet News Network, me and my team will now have access to a wider audience base and a stronger technology platform. We are excited about this next era of our growth.”
“Asianet News Network can now fully deliver on its promise of being the destination for South India focused video content. Asianet News Network’s strong brand credibility and presence across the four Southern states with strong vernacular teams and deep regional insights, provides us the edge to source and deliver content like none other.” says Lakshmi Chaudhry.
“For brands that work with us, this multi-platform reach across broadcast, print and digital offers a significant opportunity to influence the Southern markets” adds Anoop, “it allows us to craft digital-first solutions with deep regional relevance, supporting brands that want to look at vernacular markets as the next driver for brand expansion and growth. With the very mature Tamil market now in our scope, the opportunity to disrupt with superior content delivery is significant.”
