Web18, Internet arm of Network 18 has reported a 7.3% YoY rise in net loss to Rs. 85.89 million for Q1 2009-10 whereas revenues showed a 7.9% jump (YoY) to Rs.142.1 million. The operating expenses showed a 5% decline and stands at Rs. 180 million.
Web18, an Online conglomerate owns various Internet properties such as In.com, Moneycontrol, IBNlive, Josh18, CricketNext, Tech2, Buzz18, Compareindia among others. Its major advantage lies in owning vast and popular online properties in India.
Major highlights:
In.com maintains No.2 position among Indian portals.WEB18’s Unique Visitors also Grow By 66% YoY and claims that it is even ahead of Rediff and Sify citing ComScore data.
The company has also conveyed that major investment phase for In.com and several other portals is over and would soon be looking at revenue flows from those portals.The decline in operating expenses also points towards the end of investment cycle for many of its businesses which may become cash accretive in future.
The situation may have bettered in terms of growing losses but revenues figure points a gloomier picture. It looks as if Web18 has not been able to monetize its portal in a significant way as the 7 per cent jump in revenues is nothing compared to the traffic growth it has seen.
The monetization aspect is also seeing a major shift as advertisers are flocking towards social media channels rather than plain banner ads. Web18 also needs to focus on making its services more sticky as many portals under its umbrella including In.com currently has very low page views per visit of only 5-6 as per Alexa.
Web18 should be given few more quarters to show real numbers as it is yet to reduce big operating expenses and monetize its growing traffic by giving Unique Ad proposition to its advertisers.
