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‘2010 will be the tipping point for digital advertising’

Alok Kejriwal is among a handful of entrepreneurs globally who emerged unscathed from the dotcom debacle and thrived despite the aftermath.

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Alok Kejriwal, chairman of Contests2Win, Games2Win and Media2Win, is among a handful of entrepreneurs globally who emerged unscathed from the dotcom debacle and thrived despite the aftermath. In a tete-a-tete with DNA Money’s Nirmal John, Kejriwal says he is upbeat about the power of the internet, which has been the lucky mascot for his businesses. Excerpts:

What prompted you to get into the online advertising space with Media2Win?
I don’t believe that traditional agencies in India have a clue about digital media. They never did. They used to pretend that they did, but now they have stopped pretending and have started acquiring. We believe that given the growth of digital media in the coming years, it is a big business. It might look small today at Rs 500 crore, but it can grow to Rs 1,000 crore even before we realise it. And we want to be a part of it. We have worked with Fortune 500 brands all along. So, those brands trust us in this space more than they trust their agencies. We understand what interactive advertising is and we are using that to build IP on a long-term basis with Media2Win.

How far are we from brands realising the power of the Net?
Five years ago we only featured in the presentation material of a company’s marketing plans. When the marketing manger made a presentation to the marketing director, the second-last slide (the one before thank you) was on digital saying, ‘Oh and I did this’. But now, we are in the space of the extra money category. So, if a media plan has been built for say Rs 10 crore, and suddenly it is discovered that there’s still some money left to be spent, then the usual reaction is- ‘arre pachas hazaar bach gaya, internet me dalte hain’ (there is still Rs 50,000 to be spent, let’s put it in the internet). I believe, 2010 will be the tipping point for digital advertising.

Is Games2Win looking more at the international markets?
Making games for brands is what Contests2Win was all about. But with Games2Win, we wanted to separate the brand from the game. We wanted to make games on Indian themes as that was what we felt would sell in India. What didn’t work out was the off-take.  We thought ‘let’s check it out internationally with these games.’ And that is where the tipping point happened. These games are not working for Indians abroad. They are working for the native population in foreign countries. So, we have a whole lot of American and European girls loving ‘dress ‘em up’ games with Indian bridal dressing-up options. So, I think the story at Games2Win is the internationalisation of the Indian gaming content. It is no longer about India for Indians. Eighty percent of the revenues are coming from out of India and the realisation is three times higher than what you get in India. I have set up two subsidiaries in the US.

Why are you still concentrating on online gaming when others are saying mobile gaming is the next big opportunity in India?
From the product’s perspective, the biggest challenge is that mobile gaming is more of a pastime. Would you spend five hours playing a mobile game? I want to engage people; the ability to manipulate 21-inch screens and the richness that it gives you is far higher than what you get through a mobile screen. You will be surprised at the kind of time people spend, especially as offices turn digital. Our peak traffic is on Monday 3 p m. I’m sure Zapak would tell you the same thing. The second thing is that mobile gaming remains at the mercy of the operator. I don’t want to be in a 30% business. As an entrepreneur, that doesn’t suit me. My point is that the advertiser can be the bypass to avoid the operator. And the consumer will come back because of just one word — free. So, if you look at all the bug success models, why is Google free? It’s because of the value that they get from advertisers.

SMS contests is the most popular way these days, not so much the online contests…
We do lot of SMS stuff with Coke, for example. But the point is, when you do an SMS contest, you need a medium to make it popular. So, it is difficult to popularise it, unlike the web. If there is a contest for a car, some one has to message you or you have to see it on TV. There has to be an enabler. It needs media money to really make it successful. Whereas, with internet, I am happy. Around 20,000 people come to Contests2Win a day. I haven’t advertised a single rupee on TV. I have a brand without advertising. That is the beauty of internet.

Most of the prizes on offer at C2W are  small amounts like Rs 100 or Rs 250...
The tragedy with the ‘big prizes more responses’ model is that, the prize is only one. With smaller prizes, there might be a lesser number of responses but the model can replicate itself over and over and over again. You do 100 small contests, 20 medium-sized ones and one big one. Also the human mentality is ‘sabko milta hai, par mujhe nahi milega,’ (everybody gets it, but I never do). So, the idea is that the hours that you have spent here are not wasted.

What is the revenue split between your different ventures?
Media2Win is what generates our topline. I would put it at about 50%. Contests2Win has about 35% share in it and the rest comes from Games2Win.

A lot of your contemporaries in the internet space who were doing well, have now either exited their businesses or have sold part of their companies or even launched an IPO. What has made you buck the trend?
We have sold out two companies already. We sold one firm to Disney and the other to Norwest Venture. I think some businesses are meant to go the IPO way and some are not. I don’t think that IPO is the best way to unlock value for everybody. Every entrepreneur is different. Google didn’t come out with an IPO for a long, long time. Many companies remain private. There is no mantra that private or public means greatness or smallness.

Have you seen any buyout interests? Will you exit?
Very much. In fact, Media2Win gets a buyout offer every month. We will exit when the times are right and with the right vehicle.

China was one of your earlier focus markets…
Not anymore. I think that market is very difficult. You can’t be non-Chinese and do business. You look at case after case after case. Even the big American boys have had difficulties to penetrate. We are through with that market. We badly want to be big in the UK and the US.
n_john@dnaindia.net

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