Rediff.com banks on iShare

Rediff.com, one of the leading online community portals, is in talks with several media partners for uploading content on 'iShare', a social content-sharing platform and rediff's latest offering for youngsters interested in making friends on the basis of similarity in hobbies and passions.

On iShare, people get to find others on the basis of a content search instead of individual search.

"Since iShare is a content sharing platform, we thought it would be best if we could have a few media partners too to upload content on our site and use it as a platform to interact with target groups," said Manish Agarwal, vice-president - marketing of Rediff.com.

Rediff is also trying to find music groups and bands to upload content on iShare.

"iShare is good place to showcase one's talent in music, photography, and even dance and acting in the form of videos. We would therefore like music bands to participate on this portal and use this platform to reach out to several others," Agarwal said.

Rediff has recently identified 'Aarambh', a musical band, that would upload its music content on iShare.

Rediff would also partner with Zee TV and has initiated 'Voice of Rediff on Zee Saregamapa'. The initiative would provide an opportunity to aspiring singers to showcase their musical talent for the extremely popular musical show, Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. All they have to do is upload their videos and audio files on iShare.

One lucky winner would be chosen from the top five short listed entries by the mentors - Vishal and Shekhar, Bappi Lahiri, Himesh Reshammiya, and Ismail Darbar. The lucky winner would then get an opportunity to perform on the final episode of the show.

Rediff is also looking at in-campus marketing of iShare in colleges and would soon launch an aggressive outdoor campaign in Kolkata to communicate the value proposition of iShare to the youth.

Rediff.com reported revenues of $28.68 million for the fiscal ended March 31, 2007, an increase of 53 per cent in revenues over the last fiscal.

Going forward, Agarwal said that Rediff would bank on product innovation and increased advertising revenues for growth, but declined to comment on ad revenue figures.