Somebody buy MouthShut already
If there’s one Indian site that has been executing exceptionally well since the Web 1.0 days, its undoubtedly MouthShut.com. Since inception, they’ve constantly innovated and evolved and over time, have amassed a huge,huge number of user generated reviews. Not to mention the strong community that has developed on the site. Never mind if they dont get as many blog mentions as some of the more newer startups.
So, why should someone buy MouthShut ?
As per a recent survey by Nielsen, 73% of Internet accessing Indians trust online user reviews over other means of advertising. That is more than advertising on TV, radio, magazines and search engine / online banner ads. Considering that MouthShut is the main (and probably only) consumer reviews site for the Indian subcontinent, you can only imagine how much influence it yields on the average, online, Indian user.
So, who should buy MouthShut ?
Amongst the international players, I’d say Yahoo, MSN, eBay and AOL. Yahoo has always been a proponent of community building, but considering the recent turmoil surrounding Yahoo, I’d say they have other things on their mind. MSN and AOL are both laggards when it comes to their Indian presence. Buying MouthShut would give them a good boost in terms of traffic, community and a decent competitive edge over Google and Yahoo. Of course, buying MouthShut would make the most sense for eBay, since MouthShut strategically fits very well into Shopping.com, the reviews site owned by eBay.
Amongst the home grown portals, I’d say HT Media should seriously consider it - they’ve been lagging the other Indian portals as far as their online strategy goes. Since they’re playing catch up, they might as well consider growing inorganically.
I’d love to hear what you have to say.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:47 am
I’m bit surprised by your mention of HT. Why not Indiatimes or Rediff or even NDTV ?
HT’s recent purchase of Desimartini.com has created enough stir. I’m sure HT is not the right candidate to buy mothshut.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:57 am
I feel that most of the reviews at mouthshut are of negative quality as many try to vent their anger there when they receive a bad service from any of the products or service sector, this is clearly evident there.
February 29th, 2008 at 1:13 am
@gautam, the desimartini deal is not the reason why i suggested ht media.
Rediff is already, probably the leader in the Indian portals. They’ve had a strong online presence for some time now (btw, have you read user comments on any rediff story) ..Ditto for Indiatimes….If any of these portal goes for MouthShut, it would bolster their online presence even more. Since HT is playing catch up, they need that extra boost — and hence i mentioned ht.
But you’re right about NDTV. I unintentionally left them out - my bad.
February 29th, 2008 at 1:30 am
@rajesh,
negative or positive - it doesnt matter - they have a gold mine in terms of the number of user submitted reviews.
besides, most of the times, a consumer feels a strong urge to review a company / product only when they’ve had a -ve experience — think abt it. every time your cell phone works exceedingly well, you dont go write a +ve review about it.
thats just human nature.
February 29th, 2008 at 2:22 am
Whatever u guys r talking about. There is a new site, http://www.kyayaar.com, posting real reviews by real people, catching up indian market now a days. The name is good. People handling this site do have nice experience. so will get in market. Because of its name, people do come on site, and write reviews here. thats just human nature.
March 1st, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Pranav,
The number 1 reason why Indian Media companies aren’t shopping for web businesses is that the potential value add is still unclear.
A quick question - do you think Pehredar (IndiaTV) has greater awareness than Mouthshut?
Don’t get me wrong, I really like the team behind Mouthshut and am an Internet Startup guy myself. I’m praying like everyone else that croudsourcing becomes a reality with greater Internet Penetration. I am also an optimist :-).
- Santosh
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Santosh,
If thats the case, then I’d say they’ve got to wake up to the possibility.
Before long, a new entrant will come in and force them to reconsider their web strategy - and may the value add will become much clear to them at that time. If only, it isnt too late by then.
March 5th, 2008 at 2:45 am
I don’t think Rediff can be called the leader in Indian portals. They only have Rediff.com, which is a popular news site. All their other ventures (Rediff Bol, Shopping, Jobs, Matrimonial etc) have been damp squibs. Even with Rediff.com, they were never able to innovate in terms of design, usability or adapting web 2.0 features.
Let’s not comment about the standards of reporting and their infamous comments columns!
March 5th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
@ramesh,
the point of the post wasnt to highlight who is the leader in Indian portals.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:43 am
i will be hurt if mouthshut.com is bought by a bigger player since i use mouthshut and i want it to remain indepnednet.
mouthshut will be killed by google/yahoo/msn if its bought.
but i agree mouthshut has great influence in india/ atleast on me lol
March 8th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I share your opinion of MouthShut. It is to be lauded for consistently delivering a high-end Indian presence - something few have succeeded. I suspect the big American players are still too buys ironing out their issues here. But Mouthshut’s time will come. I think whowever buys it will be well-served.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
@rai ravi @raman — it would indeed be a crown jewel to anyone’s portfolio.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:43 am
mouthshut is very slow. can improve its speed. i use bsnl braodband 500 per month plan.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
This is a proxy blog posted by mouthshut as they are desperately seeking a buyer but I don’t think there is any taker for mouthshut as they have only but a bad reputation. They have a review factory and 50% of their reviews are fakes, they publish fake traffic figures, do click fraud for their advertisers, already Maruti left them as they caught mouthshut red handed doing click fraud (read the news in alootechie.net), they also delete genuine reviews and issue threats to genuine consumers. They are like mumbai mafias and that’s why after 8 long years they are not getting an investor who is interested. Because most of the figures published about mouthshut are fake!
July 30th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Your guys are all losers who are criticizing MS, MS rocks and will continue to rock because it pioneered the user generated content when no one knew about it. Check you the Alexa rank of mouthshut and I am sure you will stop blabbering, actually Faisal need not even care to respond to you crooks, he is far away from your reach guys, I don’t want to take names but check out your Alexa rank man before commenting on Mouthshut.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:30 am
mohit …you may be right , by calling the mouthshut team as fraud… coz i was just looking at their alexa ranking ( 2969 )… God… how did they manage it??? surprising ly they have 5% viewers from America….and 2% viewers from Pakistan….( GOD.. what are americans and pakistani doing with reviews of indian products….) I think it is these kinds of startups who have tarnished the image of internet startups….God help us!!!!!!!!!!