Today, Times Internet, the digital arm of Times of India, is announcing a strategic partnership with Business Insider, the online business news site founded by Henry Blodget, for the launch of Business Insider India. The move comes hot on the heels of a similar deal announced between Times Internet and Gawker Media in January 2013, part of its Times Local Partners initiative.
These local sites are due to launch in April 2013, the company says.
The deal will give BI access to a new audience for its content, as well as access to local content written and approached in the same style of quick hits on financial numbers, fast and loose tech and business news, and some opinion and analysis. Times Internet says that partnership is exclusive but is not sharing the financial terms of the deal.
BI has a readership of 15 million monthly visitors worldwide, says Times Internet, and expanding into India makes sense in a couple of regards: it’s a huge, English-speaking audience; and it’s a very tech-forward and business-oriented population, with technology being one of the country’s biggest drivers of its economic growth. (Something that other U.S. tech companies are also noticing.) This has meant that BI has actually already picked up some profile in the country already.
“Business Insider is one of the most successful digital-first news organizations in the world, with a pioneering combination of original reporting, aggregation, and dynamic social engagement tools,” said Satyan Gajwani, CEO, Times Internet, in a statement. “Their bold and direct editorial perspective grips readers, and already today attracts a strong loyal following within India. We can’t wait to expose them to a larger audience and increase their relevance and prominence.”
Henry Blodget, founder & editor of Business Insider, may end up making a move back into trading, but for now he still has to turn around the business at hand. In a profile of Blodget in the New Yorker, it’s noted that BI apparently lost $3 million in 2012, but also that it plans to bring in revenues of some $11 million this year. Deals like this may go some way to hitting those numbers. That profile also, incidentally gives a slightly bigger range to the number of those monthly uniques, between 9 million (comScore) and 24 million (BI’s internal numbers).
In a statement, Blodget also notes the existing base of readers in India that will now be getting more local content: “We have many loyal readers in India, so making it the site of the latest international version of Business Insider makes a lot of sense for us,” he said. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Times Internet – which has such a storied history, and breadth of editorial resources and acumen – and we look forward to working with them to engage readers in India with a Business Insider that’s more tailored to them.”