MVAS
'Text is the leader, but voice is equally growing'
MVAS, with the entry of 3G, is ushering in more and more players
Deepa Damodaran
Monday, October 13, 2008
CIOL: Which are the regional services that you offer currently?
AS: We have regional language services in four languages other than English.
They are:
HINEWS
KNNEWS
MLNEWS
TANEWS
TELNEWS
HIMOVIES
KNMOVIES
MLMOVIES
TA MOVIES
TELMOVIES
TAMOVNEWS
MLMOVNEWS
KAMOVNEWS
TKMOVNEWS
CIOL: What were the constraints you faced and what will be the challenges in the road ahead?
AS: The biggest challenge we faced was to break away from the norm of offering only paid services by
operators. There were initial resistance, but gradually the operators are realising that through our service, we have created two categories.
One is the premium service, which subscribers pay for and which attracts a small percentage of the total base. While, the other is a free service that attract masses, who are monetised through various other models that subscriber-pay.
CIOL: How is MyToday different from others?
AS: MyToday Dailies is India’s only medium-on-mobile. It operates on a unique opt-in model, which means that its subscriber base, of around four million unique users, comprises wholly of those people, who have chosen to receive messages from MyToday and continue to do so.
MyToday is the largest SMS provider in India, accounting for 4 percent of the total SMS traffic. We deliver over 350 million SMS each month for 11+ million subscriptions across 50 channels of consumer interest.
The only mass scale permission based platform on mobile, it generates response for advertisers on the same platform it delivers content.
CIOL: Which latest technology do you plan to incorporate in future?
AS: We have incorporated voice into our product offering recently. Advertisers can now reach out to our subscribers using this medium. Voice complements our SMS, WAP platforms and allows for enhanced engagement with audiences.
CIOL: Voice or text, which one would be the next phase in MVAS?
AS: Text is the leader and will remain so for some more time.
Voice is an upcoming platform and will certainly grow.