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Buzzfeed India edition to be launched soon: NYT
Buzzfeed, the popular news and entertainment website is coming to India. The site is all set to launch Indian edition, and plans to open an office in Mumbai later this year, according to a report by The New York Times.
After UK, Australia, Brazil, Spain and France, India would be its sixth edition. Looks like it has no plans of stopping there, as plans to expand to Germany, Mexico and Japan are also in the pipeline. The report points out that BuzzFeed’s India office will be led by Rega Jha. Buzzfeed has been producing ‘listicles’ based on Indian Indian culture. However, Scott Lamb, the company’s vice president reportedly believes until “BuzzFeed has a team on the ground in India, its content would naturally remain more general interest in nature.”
The team will include four or five other journalists, along with Jha. According to The New York Times’ India Ink, “Mumbai was chosen over Delhi because BuzzFeed sees the world as ‘comprised of cultural capitals where there’s a special mix of art, film, fashion, TV and design,’ and that for their target audience, knowing what’s going on in popular culture is a pastime.”
It isn’t yet clear if Buzzfeed plans to enter the country by teaming up with an Indian news company. In the past, we’ve seen several such partnerships, such as in the case of BGR India and Business Insider.
Medianama points out, “The problem that International publications face in Indian market is local expertise, which is why many of them have launched their Indian editions in association with media companies here.”
It adds,”Huffington Post was also expected to launch its Indian edition this month and was apparently is in negotiation with two companies for this, however it seems to have been delayed now.” The NYT article does suggest that HuffPo is already gearing up for a big India launch.
Moroever, it is believed to be the right time for Buzzfeed to enter the country. The India Ink report further claims, “The demographics are favorable. More than 130 million Indians are now online every day, mostly on their phones. The group is largely made up of the country’s burgeoning middle class, which already laps up English-language entertainment on TV and at the box office.”
Buzzfeed India edition to be launched soon: NYT - Tech2
