Broadbandindia Magazine

In India, Consim Info Pvt Ltd, formerly known as BharatMatrimony Group, a provider in online matrimony has launched of the world’s first matrimony channel on the Internet, BharatMatrimony.tv. The website features exclusive and exciting videos that will create an engaging, informative and compelling experience for audiences across the globe said a press release. Tips on what should be worn for weddings, what’s in and what’s not, information about honeymoon  destinations, celebrity wedding shots, video polls, success stories of married couples, trends and other wedding-related information is put up on the channel.

“Online consumption is on the rise worldwide and the launch of this pioneering channel is part of our efforts to enhance and deliver a compelling user  experience through engaging and relevant video clips around matrimony and related content,” said Murugavel Janakiraman, founder and CEO, Consim Info. “In the video space, we see an opportunity to engage our audience and extend our leadership in the matrimony business. Video is a developing medium and it is as good as meeting someone face-toface or watching something happening live in front of your eyes. Plus, there is no location barrier when it comes to a television channel hence we thought of coming up with something like this,” added Janakiraman. It took the company close to two years and an investment of over Rs 30 lakh to launch this free service.

Advertising Opportunities

There are multiple advertising opportunities and Consim is still exploring them. Currently they have some graphic banners as commercials appearing in between clippings on the TV. The firm is waiting for the site to register more number of hits before they sell more ad space.

Apparently, the world’s first matrimony channel on the internet will be producing capsules covering news, events and developments in the world of marriages and, newer video clips in multiple categories will be added to the site on a regular basis. “We see in video content an opportunity to engage our audience and extend our leadership in the matrimony business,” Murugavel added.

Active Matrimony on DTH

Also Consim Info’s BharatMatrimony has launched matrimony services on DTH via Tata Sky. The Bharatmatrimony and Tata Sky property is called Actve Matrimony. For those that missed the bus, there is still DDdirect, Doordarshan’s DTH offering, around in the market. ActveM has been in the works for over a   year and features 1000 new matrimonial listings refreshed every week classified according to languages and communities.

The service isn’t completely platform independent and requires listing codes to be sent via SMS to a shortcode to retrieve contact details. Each query will cause Rs 10 to be deducted (ActveM) from the subscribers DTH account, in addition to the Rs 3 for the SMS. DTH is a very different animal from cable, capable of   reaching rural areas. Do remember services like these are highly watchable, even if it is a meat market under the guise of entertainment. Imagine video profiles of grown men and women talking about their attributes. Dish TV has other interactive services like AstroTV centered around the ‘push the red button’ feature. More cross-media offerings (for eg: Magicbricks, Makaan, etc) may be in the offing. Real Estate TV, a 24 hours TV channel dedicated to real estate and infrastrucutre is in the initial stages of discussions with DishTV, Tata Sky and Reliance. The red button feature itself is a distinguishing feature of DTH, allowing interactivity, albiet limited, on an otherwise top-down platform. Besides running multiple feeds, the platform is also capable of hosting Value Added Services and content based time synched interactivity.

Indian Picture of Matrimony

In the last decade the online matrimonials gained an upper hand. With the internet boom in India, the picture of a marriage broker with a huge diary with tucked-in photographs is slowly phasing out, giving way to a gamut of online matrimonial sites like BharatMatrimony. Indian marriage like BharatMatrimony requirements can, in many cases, be so specific in religion, caste, language, and location needed that the internet suits many potential Indian husbands and wives perfectly. This service provider has used registration profiles to filter preferences and may run several different portals to cater for needs like different languages. India has been rooted in tradition and religious beliefs. A traditional marriage in India depends heavily on tying partners based on certain important characteristics (religion, caste, class, social status, etc.) than a romanticized tying of partners, as is common in much of the Western world. Arranged marriages and marriages within the family has been the usual norm in Indian families. Love marriages are much less common, although this has been drastically changing over the years. The essential marriage broker is a volunteer (person who does introduction between bride’s and groom’s family without any monetary consideration), or a professional, who used to be involved in most arranged marriages, or a combination of a priest and a barber.

About BharatMatrimony

BharatMatrimony is No. 1 as the most trusted Matrimony website combining tradition and technology. A network of 15 regional portals and over 1.5 Crore members, BharatMatrimony has found a place in the Limca Book of Records for facilitating a record number of marriages. BharatMatrimony has been recognized as the Best Matrimony Website 2007 by PC WORLD for technology and performance and is also listed in the NASSCOM’s Top 100 IT Innovators. All the awards we have won have encouraged us and we stand as the most preferred site for matrimonial search according to a study by JuxtConsult. In order to extend its service to customers who do not have access to the Internet, BharatMatrimony.com has setup BharatMatrimony Centres, a network of marriage bureaus across 22 states and over 100 cities in India. The centres redefine the way in which a typical marriage bureau would operate by offering personalized service to customers. BharatMatrimony.com Offices are the direct contact points where you can seek assistance in your partner search and make payments. Our offices are situated in 29 locations and almost all major cities in India. Globally we have major operations in the United States and UAE and we also have a presence in Canada, Europe, Australia and South East Asia. BharatMatrimony effectively operates through strategic partners and hundreds of affiliates across the globe.

About Consims

From uniting people in matrimony, BharatMatrimony has evolved into one of the Leading Internet Groups in India – Consim Info Pvt. Ltd with a significant   presence in other verticals such as Jobs – ClickJobs.com, Real Estate – IndiaProperty.com, Automobiles – IndiaAutomobiles.com, Classifieds – IndiaList.com and Loans – Loanwala.com. The vision of the group is to be a dominant brand for Consumer Services through Internet and Mobile in India. With the trust and confidence of millions of customers and backing of leading investors – Yahoo, Canaan Partners and Mayfield Fund, Consim Info is confident of achieving greater heights. CONSIM is committed to social causes, from helping save lives to saving the environment; BharatMatrimony has been a significant link in various ways. BharatBloodBank.com and BharatEyeBank.com are social initiatives of BharatMatrimony where anyone can come and register as a donor. Thousands of people in need have found donors through the site and have benefited in time.