For vernacular India: Building a news app for next set of internet users

The rising internet and smartphone penetration in India augurs well for the start-up PublicVibe

When Narasimha Reddy first went to the US to work there in 2008, the only way he could know what is happening in his hometown was either through the internet or from his parents. 

But, given his news addiction, the two sources didn't seem enough for him.

Narasimha is now chief executive officer (CEO) of PublicVibe, a hyperlocal news platform that he founded along with Veeram Reddy, Bhaskar Konda and Sridhar Bandlamudi in 2015. 

The CEO says it was his experience in the US that gave him the idea to start PublicVibe. The start-up last week raised an undisclosed amount in funding round led by the Indian Angel Network.

It sources newsworthy content from publishers, the public and ground reporters to provide local news in eight languages. The artificial intelligence-driven platform currently serves over 7 million users thro-ugh its Android, iOS and web applications.

The platform works on a revenue-sharing model, according to which the advertising revenue is shared with the publishers and reporters. It also plans to launch a hyperlocal advertising network to help small businesses connect with potential customers in the neighbourhood.

The rising internet and smartphone penetration in India augurs well for the start-up. According to industry estimates, there are about 450 million active internet users in India and this is expected to reach 650 million in the next five years. 

While, at present, most internet users are from urban areas and understand English, the next set of users are set to be vernacular users. Reddy says that by 2021, nine out of 10 internet users in India would be non-English speakers.

The opportunity definity sounds exciting, but the path to success is not an easy one. The biggest challenge is what most media companies face today — revenue and monetisation. Advertising on vernacular platforms do not yeild anywhere close to what the English audience platforms yield.

According to Reddy, maintaining quality and weeding out fake news and sponsered content are among the company’s biggest concerns. Though the company already has technology in place to check fake news, the CEO says the problem is big and they needs to keep innovating.

How PublicVibe fights fake news

The platform has built AI technologies called ‘content theme detector’ and 'factual boundary' to verify every article before publishing. While the former blocks promotional and click bate content, the latter weeds out fake news.

"The 'factual boundary' constructs a geo-fence for each item and enable content traffic triggers. If there are any triggers enabled for a news item, it will block the content until it finds a match with local trusted content or certified by the local reporters," says Reddy.

Even if the content passes these check and gets published, the company initiates a round of manual inspection in case the story gets good traction.