News aggregation is a messy business to be in.
Users like to keep abreast of news, provided it comes from their chosen bubble, though they’ll rarely pay for it. Indignant publishers simultaneously depend on and resent aggregation platforms. Advertisers would rather their brands were placed next to happy or positive stories, even though most stories are anything but. And governments always have a view about what kind of news is kosher and what is “fake news.”
It’s no wonder then that the largest of tech platforms the world over have deliberately stepped back from news aggregation. Facebook categorically told told Facebook Press If there were no news content available on Facebook in Australia, we are confident the impact on Facebook’s community metrics and revenues in Australia would not be significant, because news content is highly substitutable and most users do not come to Facebook with the intention of viewing news. Read more Australian regulators last month news content is “highly substitutable with other content” and that news “did not drive significant long-term commercial value” for its business.
Last month was also when ByteDance, the world’s most valuable private startup, shut down shut down Financial Times Matthew Brennan, founder of tech consultancy China Channel, said Jinri Toutiao had been successful in China, where there was a lack of a direct Facebook news feed equivalent. Read more its global news aggregation app, TopBuzz.
Someone forgot to send Dailyhunt, India’s leading news aggregation app, the memo though. With nearly 33 million unique visitors on its app in April, according to a June report a June report Comscore COVID-19 and its impact on Digital Media Consumption in India Read more by media analytics firm Comscore, Dailyhunt is almost five times the size of its next closest rival, Inshorts, which had just over 7.2 million unique visitors.
While the world was grappling with a pandemic and newspapers with lockdowns, Dailyhunt went on a fundraising spree. It first raised Rs 180 crore Rs 180 crore Entrackr Dailyhunt has raised Rs 180 crore from existing investors ByteDance, Falcon Edge, Goldman Sachs and Advent Management Read more ($24 million) from ByteDance, US hedge fund Falcon Edge, and others in April, and then another $35.6 million $35.6 million Entrackr Local language news aggregator Dailyhunt had recently kickstarted its series G funding round and raised Rs 180 crore just last week.
