Pradeep Gupta

Sometime in early nineties, we started contemplating over the future of Media industry--the Internet and multimedia had appeared on the horizon and television was booming.

The discussion basically focused on how IT would influence media: How will media evolve? How will it be impacted? What needs to be done, and so on.

To tap the emerging opportunities, we spun off a new division, the New Media Group. The mandate of the group was to focus on three specific media: Multimedia, Television and the Internet.

Thus, very early on, we concluded that the Internet was the place to be. And with this, CIOL was launched in 1996.

CIOL was one of the first few websites in India and the first one to specifically focus on the domestic ICT industry. CyberMedia being a media company, the driving force behind the entire exercise was very strong content.

There was also much deliberation on what name should we go in for. In 1996, we had quite a few strong brands in our stable, like Dataquest, PC Quest and others. All these print magazines are associated with certain segments. For instance, Dataquest has a strong B2B (Business-to-Business) focus. So, we opted for the umbrella approach, rather than going for unique brands for each magazines, bringing them all under one roof or a single umbrella.

This was quite a judicious decision, as various other media groups first went about creating Internet properties for individual brands and then tried to assimilate them all under one umbrella. The Internet is all about aggregation and our success has validated the decision. Hence, CyberMedia India Online Limited or CIOL, which stood for the group's online media presence.

Net and others

The Internet as a medium has unique advantages over other traditional media. It is more instantaneous, flexible and is almost infinite. The Internet is also a great repository of content, where one can find information on all known subjects and, more significantly, from around the world. 

The other positive aspect of the Internet is its power to micro profile users irrespective of geography. Today, with tools like cookies, marketers can discern a pattern for each visitor and do targeted marketing. The medium also lends itself for direct marketing tools like audience profiling and lead generation.

Often one comes across debates, where the Internet, or the online medium, is pitted against the print. According to me, it is not about this versus that, rather more like this and that. In the past, television was supposed to spell doom for radio; movies on VHS were pronounced as the final nail on cinema's coffin. But all these mediums have co-existed.

Similarly, Internet is also one of the many ways in which information is disseminated. It is my belief that the Internet and other media formats of mass communication will coexist. The different formats of media preference will find a balance in the users who will decide the format of media based on their need and context.

In many ways, the history of CIOL can be equated with the history of the Internet in India and across the globe. First there was innovation, followed by euphoria, then came the bloodbath and finally steadiness and growth.

For instance, during the dotcom heydays, many a website had made an appearance in the same space as CIOL. However, most of them sold out or shut shop later. The believers who stayed put are reaping rewards now.

Crystal gazing

The Future of Internet will be quite different from what we now have. I believe there are three major trends that will shape the future. First is the possibility of granular search. Such a search over a more intelligent Internet would throw up results based on the user's existing search pattern and behaviour on the web, allowing for specific and contextual advertisements for the user.

Second is user-generated content, which will add to the existing limitless and multiplying mass of information available. Blogs, community groups and forums will play a much larger role in the years to come.

Micro profiling comes third, which ensures better returns on investment. Integration of community profiling with micro management will lead to far greater customization of content than that can be envisaged now.

IP as a glue has steadily transformed the landscape by integrating a whole gamut of divergent and often discordant devices and technologies. Today, there is television, telephony, telemedicine, etc. and everything is being built around IP, and is ready to be deployed and delivered over multiple channels or devices.

In many ways, convergence and divergence is taking place simultaneously. Convergence in terms of how everything is coming on the same platform, and divergence in terms of how content is available over multiple devices.

The biggest challenge for media companies in the coming times will be to understand the readers better, keep abreast of their likes, dislikes and needs on a continual basis, and deliver "customised" content in multiple formats.

Coming back to CIOL, I can say that things have very much gone the way we had envisaged, quite in sync with the projections that were made when we set off.

But then, that is history. We know the future stores more excitement. The Internet is growing at a pace hitherto unknown to mankind, throwing up new challenges and an equal number of, if not more, opportunities. What is once again called for is another big leap and embracing the future before others. Just like we had done 10 years ago.

(The author is the chairman and managing director of CyberMedia Group)

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