Why short news app Way2News positions itself as the ‘go-to’ platform for hyperlocal campaigns in South India

Raju Vanapala, founder and CEO, Way2News, explains how the platform has been able to connect with Telugu, Tamil and Kannada speaking Indians.

The concept of news in 60 words or less, became popular in India after Inshorts entered the market in 2013. While Inshorts provides short news only in English and Hindi, another short news app Way2News, established in 2015, expanded on the concept and presents news in eight Indian languages. 

Raju Vanapala, founder and CEO, Way2News, says that it’s essentially a hyperlocal short news platform. People residing in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Malayalam and Gujarati speaking regions, can get local news on the platform, based on their location. The app also provides content in Hindi.

“If a brand wants to reach out to a particular pin code or hyperlocal geography digitally, Way2News is the de facto destination for marketers. This is how we’re positioning ourselves in the market,” Vanapala shares.

Talking about the platform’s ad revenue split, he states that 30% comes from the brands that are only active in a particular region, and 35% comes from those brands that are active pan-India, but looking to go hyperlocal.

Way2News has an active monthly audience of 1.1 crore. A majority of the active audience base, hails from the southern states. It is currently focussed on further deepening its connection with Telugu speaking audiences in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, as well as Tamil speaking audiences in Tamil Nadu. 

Way2News started its operations by only catering to Telugu speaking audiences. It gradually expanded its regional dialect offerings to Tamil, followed by other languages. 

Vanapala mentions that the brands in the automobile segment (BMW), mobile manufacturers, telecom operators and service providers (Rapido), advertise on the platform.

“A brand looking to reach out to Tamil and Telugu audiences, in their native region digitally, can choose from many platforms. But this target audience is only a subset of the total geographical demography of other popular digital platforms. Our primary audience is in non-tier-I/II cities in the southern part of India. We try to ensure that the brands can reach their target audiences with their hyperlocal campaigns,” Vanapala adds. 

While bigger (brand) advertisers have shown interest in the platform, a sizable share of its advertisers, are local businesses. The traditional routes that these local businesses take, while advertising, include newspapers and OOHs. 

To reach out to a wider audience base, there’s a need to take the digital route for advertising initiatives, Vanapala opines. Hence, local businesses looking to connect with their consumers digitally advertise on the platform, Vanapala shares.

Vanapala earlier operated a martech business, Way2online Interactive India. It provided brands with consumer insights. He identified a misconception among marketers that impacts advertiser business to a certain extent.

“There’s a perception that people who’re only fluent in a particular local dialect, don’t really engage with brands that offer premium products. We have observed, in our research, that there’s depth in the market. People outside Tier-I, II and III cities, do engage with premium brands, as consumers. Many brands don't address consumers outside of metropolitan cities. However, marketers are getting more cognisant of these non-metro consumers,” he shares.

The platform is currently planning to expand its language offerings. However, the process requires a significant amount of investment in assets and extensive focus on developing resources in the area where a particular dialect is used. So, the company is looking to build an audience through advertising on platforms like Facebook and Google.