Dinamalar partners with Yahoo! to launch Tamil news site

This is Yahoo! India's second language content partnership deal after Dainik Jagran.

The Tamil newspaper Dinamalar, has tied up with Yahoo! India to launch a co-branded Tamil news site (available at tamil.yahoo.com). The content will be generated by the editorial teams of both Yahoo! India and Dinamalar.

Speaking on the reason for offering its content via Yahoo!, Adimoolam Lakshmipathy, director, Dinamalar, says, "Our partnership with Yahoo! will increase the reach and availability of our content. It will also help us connect with Tamil audiences across the globe."

Dinamalar already owns a news site,
Dinamalar.com
. Speaking to afaqs!, S Balasubramanian, head, marketing, Dinamalar, says, "Tamil.yahoo.com will only offer the news content, while content on our other site, Dinamalar.com, will also include non-news content/sections such as education and religion." However, Balasubramanian declined to reveal the commercial arrangement between Dinamalar and Yahoo!.

Balasubramanian claims that more than 2 million unique users visited, and 192 pages were viewed on Dinamalar.com in May 2011, according to comScore data. About 40 per cent of the total traffic on Dinamalar.com comes from India. Several weeks ago, Dinamalar.com launched its news applications (apps) for consumption on Apple iPhone and iPod touch. The media firm claims that more than 30,000 apps were downloaded and more than 5 million pages were viewed within six weeks of the launch of the app.

For the record, this is Yahoo! India's second language content partnership deal. It also has a content partnership deal with Dainik Jagran for a Hindi news site (In.jagran.yahoo.com).

Arun Tadanki, managing director, Yahoo! India, says, "We understand that regional language content is largely driven by entertainment and news, both fundamental strengths for Yahoo!. Through this latest association, we aim to leverage Dinamalar's Tamil language experience and editorial strengths to expand our offering to the Indian audience."