Digital Journalism Start-Ups in India

DOI: 10.60625/risj-3gb7-rs13

In this report, we analyse six examples of digital journalism start-ups developing new editorial priorities, distribution strategies, and funding models for an increasingly digital Indian media environment.

The start-ups we examine here are examples of how Indian journalists, technologists, and entrepreneurs are working to develop different content-based (the Quint, Scroll), aggregation-based (InShorts, DailyHunt), or non-profit (The Wire, Khabar Lahariya) models for doing journalism fit for a digital India.

Based on interviews with people involved in these starts-ups, and with others working in and around digital journalism in India, as well as material from news coverage, academic research, and industry publications, we show that – (1) the rapid growth in internet use and digital advertising has been accompanied by a large number of new start-ups, (2) they are developing distinct content and mobile-first and social-first approaches to distribution, and (3) facing strong competition from both legacy media and large international technology companies when it comes to building a sustainable business.

 Published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.