History of Cyber Media [Indias] Ltd.
Established in 1982, Cyber Media [Indias] Limited is a specialty media house, with nine publications in the infotech, telecom, consumer electronics & biotech areas; & an end-to-end media value chain including the internet, events & television. The Comp. has five subsidiaries & two associate companies. These companies as a group are engaged in media services which include market research, content outsourcing, multimedia, gaming & media education.
The group Media business includes the print titles Dataquest, PCQuest, Voice&Data, BioSpectrum, Living Digital, DQ Channels India, DQ Week [Chennai, Delhi & Mumbais]. Cyber India On-Line [www.ciol.coms] is India largest technology website, & includes online editions of all CyberMedia titles. CyberMedia Events, the region largest organizer of IT events, conducts over 100 events every year, including Bangalore IT.com, Nasscom exhibition, IT Kerala, Hi-Tech Pune, etc. CyberMedia TV develops knowledge-oriented general interest programs on mass channels.
Media Services include IDC India, the leading IT & telecom research company in the region & amongst global leaders in technology research; CyberMedia Services [content & publishing BPO servicess]; CyberMedia Research, which focuses on the media & entertainment sectors; CyberMedia Digital, the multimedia & gaming development and distribution company; & the School of Convergence, for content creators & media managers.
Mr. Pradeep Gupta, a first generation entrepreneur, along with his family members promoted CyberMedia in 1982. The Group has the following tie-ups:
* McGraw Hill, the publishers of world largest business magazine, Business Week, to publish an Indian edition of Business Week. This agreement has been submitted to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for its approval.
* International Data Corporation, one of world largest IT market research companies for its operations in India. IDC India is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cyber Media.
* Kaleidoscope Entertainment, producer of acclaimed films like Bandit Queen, Saathiya etc., for media education i.e. the School of Convergence.
* Dice Careers Inc., the world largest tech job board for the establishment of tech job board in India, through a new joint venture company Cyber Media Dice Careers Limited [A Comp. proposed to be incorporated for purposes].
* SRI Consulting Business Intelligence [SRIC-BIs], a Comp. which owns the VALS brand that has propriety methodologies & technologies to segment & understand consumer behaviour based on psychographics factors.
Vision
To expand globally in the knowledge domain through quality media products & services
Key Points
A De-risked Business Model
With a balance in the print & non-print business as well as a balance between the media products & media services, CyberMedia straddles the complete value chain & therefore is not dependant upon the decline of any one part of its business.
Market Leadership Position
CyberMedia publications reach out to 1.2 million readers & 0.5 million online community. Its publications are considered leaders in their respective categories & enjoy strong brand equity in the Indian Information, Communication and Technology [ICTs] industry. CyberMedia gives prestigious awards to key industry performers & also ranks companies annually e.g., DQ Man of Year, DQ Top 20, PCQuest Users' Choice & Voice&Data Man of Year, Biotech etc. These awards have been benchmarks for corporates in the respective IT, telecom and technology areas.
Focussed Strategy
CyberMedia has always looked at a focussed strategy. It started off in IT, expanded into ICT area & is now expanding in the 'knowledge' domain. Due to this focus, CyberMedia has been one of media groups that has withstood the downturn in the ICT industry in the year 2001 and 2002. This is primarily due to the distinct segmentation of each of the publications & clear focus on the target audience. These two factors have assisted the Comp. in maintaining its readership and advertising rates for each of publications.
Intellectual property
CyberMedia has substantial intellectual property through the content that it has been generating primarily in-house over the last 22 years across a variety of sectors & various media including Internet content.
CyberMedia has an extensive database of key players in the IT, telecom & biotechnology industries in India to whom it circulates its publications. This ensures a qualified readership & helps it in attracting & charging a premium for advertising.
One of core strengths of Group is the quality of original content generation. Apart from in-house research, content is also generated through CyberMedia News & CyberMedia Labs.
Industry Relationships
With diversification & strong industry position in publications, research, events, multimedia, TV & new initiatives in education and BPO publishing, CyberMedia has developed strong relationships with companies, both Indian & multinationals, in the IT industry. The Company has the ability to leverage these relationships to address various client needs including advertising, event participation and recruitment among others. This has enabled the Comp. to be a one-stop content & service entity for entire Indian IT, telecom & now biotechnology & consumer electronics industries.
Professional Management
The Comp. is professionally managed with an extensive management structure & enjoys a very low employee turnover. Most of CyberMedia's senior personnel have been with the Comp. for over 5 years. Each of the heads of businesses enjoys flexibility in business decision-making and is also responsible for growth & profitability of each business segment.
Marketing & Distribution Network
The Comp. enjoys a wide distribution network across the entire country. CyberMedia has arrangements with established distributors across India including:
* India Book House [IBMs], the country largest distributor of print titles
* AH Wheeler and Co [AHWs] covering all railway stations across India
* Malik News Agency in Dubai
Recognitions & Testimonials
'One of most eagerly awaited issues is the July issue of DataQuest every year. The annual survey helps position various companies in terms of how they are doing, how they are not doing, where they are winning, where they are not winning'- Azim Premji, Chairman Wipro Ltd
'I have been reading DataQuest for last 20 years. i think it had done a great job in chronicling the travails, the achievements, & the challenges of Indian IT & software industry'- Nandan Nilekani, MD, Infosys Ltd
'DataQuest has been the first journal in IT & it has remained on the top all these years. And it will remain at the top because it has been very sensitive to the needs of IT industry'- FC Kohli, Deputy Chairman, TCS Ltd
'I look forward to reading Voice&Data. It played a very positive role in the Indian communications industry'- Sunil Mittal, CMD, Bharati Group
'Voice and Data has been very attentive to the telecom operators, & has been successfully able to project their many concerns & desires'- Vinod Vaish, former DoT Secretary
'Voice and Data has played a pioneering role in monitoring & promoting telecom scenario in India'- Prithipal Singh, former CMD, BSNL
'BioSpectrum has had a great beginning, wish you an exciting future'- Dr R A Mashelkar, CSIR
'BioSpectrum has played a pioneering role in raising the profile of IndianBiotechnology. BioSpectrum comes across as a responsible & a well researched publication that compares well with its international counterparts. CyberMedia must be congratulated on taking this bold initiative of bringing out a monthly dedicated to a nascent sector like Biotechnology which today enjoys a large readership across industry, government & academia'- Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon
'BioSpectrum has excellent content & get up'- Dr M S Swaminathan, Father of Green Revolution
'BioSpectrum is fulfilling biotech information gap with excellent content'- Dr Manju Sharma, ex-Secretary, Department of Bio Technology [DBTs]
'The DQ Week is an excellent publication which highlights the problems and areas of concerns for channel community very effectively'- JP Modi, Chairman, Delhi Computer Traders Association:
'These days, cases of frauds are happening quite regularly. By highlighting these cases, The DQ Week is doing a noble cause for the channel community'- Shivkumar Bajaj, President, Coimbatore Computer Dealer Association:
'It a huge event, a very impressive one, so i think we can see many more opportunities & further cooperation, further links & that's why, the British Government is taking this event so seriously and regarding it as so important'- Stephen Timms, Minister for eCommerce & Competitiveness, UK on Bangalore IT.com event
SOC @ IMI ranked as India eighth-best niche school in the Outlook annual survey of top 50 management schools in India - 15 September 2003
PCQuest, launched in 1987, is India most influential IT magazine [IMRB I-Tops survey 2003s]
'CIOL is India largest IT related portal in terms of content & the business potential that it offers' - Mediaturf Worldwide
Group Structure
Each of businesses has been segregated into various SBUs, primarily to retain business focus & understand & retain profitability of each unit. Besides the information provided here, CyberMedia also has a 100% subsidiary named Cyber Holdings Ltd., which is yet to carry out any substantial activity.
Key Milestones
Key milestones of CyberMedia over the years are set out below:
Year Milestone
1982 Founded Dataquest, the first computer magazine in India
1987 Founded IDC [Indias] in association with IDC USA Launched PCQuest, one of leading PC user magazines in India
1991 Began Events to provide direct contact between users & vendors
1994 Launched Voice and Data, leading magazine in India for telecom & data communications industry
1995 CyberMedia TV prepares TV programmes on IT
1996 Began Cyber India Online, www.ciol.com, the leading IT portal in India Set up first IT newspaper in India, the DQ Week Chennai Initiated an IT magazine for family, Computers @ Home
1997 Started CyberMedia Digital [formerly known as Cyber Multimedias], a leading distributor & publisher of multimedia in India
1999 Launched DQ Channels India to serve the distributors, resellers & IT dealers
2001 Established School of Convergence, the first, institute of converging media education in India
2003 Launched BioSpectrum, India leading magazine in the biotechnology space Repositioned Computers @Home as Living Digital
Launched CyberMedia Services for Content BPO Services CyberMedia Research focuses on the entertainment industry
2004 JV with Dice Inc.
2005 Tie up with SRI Consulting Business Intelligence for consumer research
-Cybermedia [Indias] Ltd is entering the capital market with a public issue of 28.23 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each. The IPO, priced at Rs 60 per share, is expected to help the Comp. raise Rs 16.94 crore. The issue opens on May 4 & closes on May 9. Khandwala Securities Ltd are the sole lead managers to the issue.
-Cyber Media has been informed by its Joint Venture Partners, Dice Inc, partners in the Company JV Comp. [Cyber Media-Dice Careers Ltds] that they have been acquired by General Atlantic LLC and Quadrangle Group LLC.
2006
-Cyber Media acquires 49% stake in US-based content services Comp. Publication Services, Inc.
2008
- Cyber Media [Indias] Limited has appointed Ms. Shilpi Gupta, Comp. Secretary, as the Compliance Officer of Comp. with effect from April 23, 2008, in place of Mr. Krishan Kant Tulshan, Executive Director and Compliance Officer.
