Yahoo, once an undisputed Internet media giant, faces competition from the likes of Google after losing its edge in search and facing a challenge in e-mail. It is trying to bounce back, aided by a redesigned portal. Arun Tadanki, managing director, Yahoo! India spoke to
Hindustan
Times on why he thinks the game has only just begun.
On new initiatives
In the past, if you did not like it you would leave the page. Now it is about letting the consumer decide what he/she wants to see on the page. It is a big move for a company like Yahoo that touches around 500 million users a month.
On online advertising
There are about 50 to 60 million Internet users in the country, more than the combined readership of all English newspapers, though money has not necessarily moved on. The Internet advertising market at about $125 million or Rs. 600 crore is about 3 to 4 per cent of the total advertising market. Advertisers have a tendency to go with what they know and what has worked, and it takes experience over time before money starts flowing in.
On Yahoo’s identity
Yahoo is the largest news site, and 4 million people visited Yahoo news (in India) last month. Search is the magnified part of the story but Yahoo is a lot more. We are just at 50 million users today (in India). Let’s wait and see how the game is going to be played from 50 million to 200 million. We are the largest mail provider in the world. The game should begin now.
On new users
We are really trying to understand what applications would work for new users. Understanding those insights and building products is really important from the next two-to-three-year perspective.