Asianet News Network has announced its acquisition of Tamil digital news platform NewsFast. With this acquisition, the group’s digital news media reach spans across all four Southern languages and English.
With over 1 million unique visitors, NewsFast is recognised for breaking news, especially in the context of the recent volatility in Tamil Nadu’s politics.
A leader in Malayalam and Kannada with www.asianetnews.tv and www.suvarnanews.tv, Asianet News Digital also recently launched www.telugu.asianetnews.tv
Speaking on the acquisition, Anoop N, Chief Operating Officer, Asianet News Digital, said, “Asianet News Network has been focusing on creating a compelling digital video news platform that addresses the underserved South through its respective local languages and technology innovations in video and content distribution.”
“At Asianet News Digital, we focus on realising the convergence of great high quality content and technology to deliver superior audience experience and engagement,” Anoop added.
Mathivanan M, TV journalist and founder of NewsFast, said, “As a part of Asianet News Network, I and my team will now have access to a wider audience base and a stronger technology platform. We are excited about this next era of our growth.”
Newsable recently inducted journalist and co-founder of Firstpost, Lakshmi Chaudhry, as an Editorial Advisor.
Speaking on her association, Lakshmi Chaudhry, Editorial Advisor, ANN, said, “Asianet News Network can now fully deliver on its promise of being the destination for South India focused video content. Asianet News Network’s strong brand credibility and presence across the four Southern states with strong vernacular teams and deep regional insights, provides us the edge to source and deliver content like none other.”
Through this acquisition, Asianet News network gets a head start in the intensely competitive Tamil digital news space. The network now has the ability to leverage the new Tamil news entity to further enhance the content stream in www.newsable.com, its English digital video platform.
According to a recent industry report, Tamil has the highest Internet adoption among vernacular languages and the Tamil audience is also the most engaged on content with over one-third of them accessing news content online and most of them on mobile devices.
“For brands that work with us, this multi-platform reach across broadcast, print and digital offers a significant opportunity to influence the Southern markets,” added Anoop.
“It allows us to craft digital-first solutions with deep regional relevance, supporting brands that want to look at vernacular markets as the next driver for brand expansion and growth. With the very mature Tamil market now in our scope, the opportunity to disrupt with superior content delivery is significant,” Anoop concluded.