Media Convergence: The next step of the Internet Evolution
By Vishnu K. Mahmud
JAKARTA (JP): What a year it's been. We have seen a flurry of Internet sites both here and abroad from the beginning of the year. Net stocks rocketed up in the Nasdaq stock exchange making thousands of "paper" millionaires. Venture Capitalists began pouring money around the world hoping for the next Amazon.com or Yahoo! Then the stock market corrected itself and the dot coms started to crash and burn. What's next for the Internet? Is this the end for the dot coms?
Some dot coms today look like body builders; they have massive muscles but no real strength, remarked Peter F. Gontha, President Commissioner of PT. Jaring Data Interaktif (JDI). He made this observation during the signing ceremony marking the partnership of JDI, IndoExchange.com and Kemana.com.
Basically, dot coms today can no longer rely on hype, venture capital or banner ads to support their enterprise, much less take them to their Initial Public Offering (IPO). Internet companies must have adequate revenue streams, controlled expenses, and a definite target market (not just vague demographic studies).
The Internet market in Indonesia is still rather small for local dot coms to survive on. Advertisement revenues alone cannot support the various operational costs since less then 1 percent of the Indonesian population has access to the internet. Costs for the Internet (and telephone charges) are still prohibitively high for the masses to get the free information that is available online. JDI, IndoExchange and Kemana.com hope to change that.
The three companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Dec. 5 to begin extensive collaboration using various assets they have in their portfolios. JDI is a multimedia Service and Content Provider, with Internet Service Provider (ISP) Webs88.com in their collection. Indoexchange.com has been internationally recognized as the leading Indonesian Business and Financial Portal. Kemana.com is an innovative consumer portal, offering an interactive experience that saves its users time and money, while keeping them informed with product and pricing information.
Together, these three companies hope to transcend the Internet and reach out to a bigger audience. JDI has a massive portfolio of media companies that includes a newspaper, a few TV stations (cable only SWARA, which broadcasts live sessions of the MPR/DPR and the Quick Channel, dedicated to the capital and financial markets of Indonesia), as well as Indovision, one of Indonesia's Pay TV companies. Mr. Gontha hopes to efficiently use all this, with the help of Kemana and IndoExchange, to help educate and entertain Indonesia.
Sachin Gopalan, Kemana.com's Technical Advisor, stated that the portal always wanted to be more then just a dot com company. With this agreement, Kemana hopes to produce radio and television programming in the near future with the Kemana.com content and branding. Not only that, but the portal is also open to other media outlets such as magazines, newspapers, and venues (parties/conventions). "The Internet," Sachin says "is just one media of communication."
This joint venture is a signal of how Internet companies can survive. So many have focused solely on the net that they forget that there are other outlets that can reach their audience. Other revenue streams such as print media, radio, professional Internet hosting services, consulting and multimedia productions can help the bottom line. And partnerships are key. One can never endure this dog-eat-dog world of cyberspace without having adequate strength (instead of just looking strong).
The Internet has always been about communication. Many websites see it differently and focus their entire existence on IPOs, stock equity and fast cars. That era of the easy venture capital and millionaire CEO is now over. What can be done now is to focus on products and services that can be of use (and profitable) as any professional business would want to establish. It will only be a matter of time before we have Dick Tracy like watches on our wrists or paper thin pads that constantly connect us to the net, cable TV or newspapers. The partnership of these three Indonesian companies is but one step toward that direction; it's not about radio, the Internet or TV any more, it's about all media.(vmahmud@yahoo.com)