MUMBAI: Firstpost.com India’s leading digital news platform known for its path breaking content and remarkable journalism, celebrates 7 years in the industry. The platform was launched in 2011 by Network18 as an exclusive online news and views website and app accessible across platforms and devices. In the short duration of its existence, the platform has witnessed record growth numbers and has been bestowed with some of the most prestigious titles and accolades in the industry. The platform that stands for original, clutter-breaking content and innovative formats, has successfully kept its audiences engaged year-after-year.
Outstanding Growth
Over the years, Firstpost has recorded staggering development with 65% month-on-month growth of unique visitors and a remarkable average of 6.5 minutes spent for every visit on desktop, as per comScore MMX report. Comprehensively, the platform has witnessed an average of 150% month-on month growth in page views on desktop. On mobile, Firstpost has recorded a similar growth trajectory with monthly unique visitors and page views growing at 175% and 280%, respectively.
Innovation
The platform is credited for pioneered a four-hour live Digicast – an amalgamation of broadcast television, web streaming and Facebook Live – during the announcement of the May 2016 election results. Firstpost also became the only Indian publication to be recognized by Facebook as being featured in its Global Case study as one of the most innovative users of FB Live feature, nationally as well as internally. Firstpost has become the most preferred destination for news or any major event, such as the Olympics, elections results and others.
Foraying further into the vast and fast growing digital news content space in Indian languages, the platform announced the launch of Firstpost Hindi in 2016, offering consumers news in Hindi language. Catering to various sections the platform has rolled out Showsha.com dedicated towards Bollywood and entertainment news for cinema fans. Firstpost also has a dedicated platform for cricket-lovers – Firstcricket, as well as First-culture, that brings the country’s various facets to the fore, giving wide gamut of offerings to its audience at a single digital destination.
Digital IPs
Expanding its footprints into creating original content IPs, the platform has launched some amazing digital shows such as 9 Months, Tech2 Talks, Caraoke, WhatTheApp amongst others. A path-breaking show on pregnancy and parenting, 9 Months, garnered over 13 Million views across platforms. Both season 1 and 2 of the show have received tremendous response from its viewers. Firstpost has also recently launched a new chat show – Social Media Star, featuring stars like Sonam Kapoor, Rajkumar Rao and Bhuvan Bham among others to give the audience an understanding of what goes on behind-the-scenes for a social media star. Other captivating IPs in the pipeline include – ‘Better Halves’ and ‘9 Months Season 3.’
Recognition and Accolades
Firstpost’s outstanding news coverage has been widely recognized. The platform has bagged Red Ink Awards for its extensive and in-depth coverage of Marathawada Drought Coverage. It has also received the ‘Best Series of Article – Digital’ honour at Content Marketing Awards 2017 for its excellent coverage of the Rohingya refugees issue. Priyanka Sehgal, VP Content & Marketing at Firstpost bagged the title of Smartest Digital Marketing Leader In India at the World Digital Marketing Awards by CMO Asia. At India’s Buzziest Brand Awards, Firstpost bagged the award under the ‘Websites’ category. Firstpost has also won Citi Journalistic Excellence Award for their reporting on demonetisation, adding another illustrious feather to the hat.
The unprecedented growth stands as testimony to the platform’s efforts in bringing news in a variety of formats to deliver a comprehensive experience to its audience.
Speaking about the platforms 7th anniversary, Azim Lalani, Firstpost Business Head said, “The digital universe is expanding and just like any other sector the digital space too is growing to become highly competitive. So, to have been around for 7 years and to have recorded some great growth numbers certainly speaks volumes about the effort put in and the force that Firstpost is today. We look forward to further strengthen our presence and keep our audiences thoroughly engaged year after year.”
Commenting on the occasion, BV Rao, Firstpost Editor said, “It’s only marriages that wait for the seen-year itch. At Firstpost we itch constantly to break new ground every day. Beginning with the very concept of a breaking views paper to introducing marathon real-time video digicast of elections and budgets, to launching new products such as Firstcricket, Showsha, FirstCulture and Firstpost Hindi the itch to innovate to serve our readers has been a constant companion. And will continue to for several decades more.”
On completion of its 7 glorious years, Firstpost moves ahead with the aim to further strengthen its position in the Indian news genre over the coming years and deliver more quality IPs, compelling social media campaigns and bring newer developments in regional languages, in addition to amplifying the comprehensive user-experience on the platform.
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