UCWeb's Rs 200 crore investment to push content in India

UCWeb, the Alibaba Group Company, will focus on tapping the potential of user-generated content through UC News.

For UCWeb - a business within Alibaba Mobile Business Group which provides mobile internet software and services, the next few years are going to be all about creation and curation of content.

Announcing UCWeb's plans to invest Rs.200 crore over the next two years in Indian and Indonesian markets in January, Jack Huang, president of overseas business, Alibaba Mobile Business Group, said "There are more than 600 million mobile users and 20 million online content creators in China whereas India currently has 371 million mobile users with a miniscule contribution from self-publishing, outlining a huge demand-supply gap."

Hence, with the launch of UC News in June last year, and given the changing mobile internet landscape, UCWeb adopted the strategy of becoming a content distribution platform from being a browsing tool. It engages and aggregates entertainment-based content on its platforms - UC Browser and UC News.

The company is betting big on UC News - a big data-powered content distributor (or simply, content/news aggregator app such as Inshorts, Dailyhunt, and Flipboard), and major product of UCWeb Inc. It integrates trending content from social media and partners with traditional media, self-publishers and key opinion leaders for original content.

Recently, UC News also came up with a campaign - #TrendOrNothing, featuring actor Anushka Sharma. Conceptualised by Cheil and implemented by Xposure, it is currently running across Hindi and English entertainment, music, movie and news channels, with regional inputs in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Commenting on the strategy going forward, Kenny Ye, general manager of overseas business, Alibaba Mobile Business Group, says, "Our investment will primarily be used to tap the huge potential of user-generated content in India via the news distribution and content platform,"

On the challenges of being a content-distribution platform in India, he adds, "With increase in purchase capability of majority Indians and lower phone prices, there is increased adoption of smartphones in the country. Increased penetration of mobile internet along with the growth of 3G and 4G users is leading to creation of more and more content for online consumption. India is experiencing an information explosion. Content providers are facing difficulties in distribution while consumers are feeling lost in the ocean. So content curation is a key challenge and remains a focus area for us."

Also, as the user base grows, it becomes important to provide content in local languages. As of now, UC News is available in Hindi, English and Tamil.

In November 2016, UC Browser crossed 100 million monthly active users (MAU) in India. With 57 percent market share (as per Stat Counter), it is the largest mobile browser in the country, followed by Chrome (20), Opera (11) and Safari (2). According to the brand, 73 per cent of its 80 million MAU (as of June 2016) were tagged as "News Feeds Consumers", each consuming an average of six pieces of news/feeds per day.

By crossing the 100 million MAUs mark, UCWeb envisions itself to be as powerful as Google and Facebook and plans to bring global mobile internet to an era of 'GUF' (Google, UCWeb, and Facebook). "The browser also tops download charts in China, Indonesia and Russia. Now, our open platform - We-Media, where ordinary users and bloggers can become publishers and post content, will help us become the No.1 content creator and distributor in India," states Ye.

Ye defines this new set of consumers as "prosumers" - consumers who also contribute to content production. Last month, UC News announced a detailed monetary compensation plan for writers, bloggers and self-publishers under its We-Media programme, which can be considered a near-equivalent of Google's Blogger, but with the major distinction of commercial rewards for blog posts by all content providers who meet the set requirements.

"With the growth in consumption of information feeds, non-conventional news feeds (including blog posts), independent write ups, imagery feeds, videologs, short video content and more have become a huge hit. In the near future, we believe that more professionally trained content contributors will establish themselves as "We-Media", a collective term for those who turn themselves into independent media brands," he says.

The We-Media programme, shares Ye, has seen an increase of 184 per cent and 348 per cent (MoM) in page views of English and Hindi content respectively in November 2016 in India. Humour and off-beat content are most popular amongst audiences reading in Hindi, while entertainment and lifestyle score higher with users reading in English.

The aim is to reach out to 30,000 self-publishers through the We-Media programme in 2017.

Ye informs that entertainment is the most consumed genre in India right now, and to tap into the opportunity it presents, UCWeb recently associated with Colors TV as 'Trending Partner' for popular shows such as 'Jhalak Dikhla Ja' and 'Bigg Boss'. The exclusive launch of Bollywood movie 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil's 'The Breakup Song' on UC Browser claims to have received 6 million views.

The brand also partnered with Chetan Bhagat for the launch of his latest book, 'One Indian Girl'. As a part of the We-Media programme, Bhagat wrote exclusive blog posts on UC News and conducted a live chat on UC Browser.