In a rare event, world's largest technology companies and rivals, Google and Facebook, are investors in Reliance Industries Limited's (RIL) Jio.
Google’s investment in Jio - Rs 33,737 crore for a 7.7 per cent stake, indicates the size of the possible opportunity, the only reason to put differences with its American rival aside. Facebook had picked up a 9.9 per cent stake in late April for Rs 43,574 crore.
Despite starting off differently- a search engine and a social network- the two have repeatedly chased the same goals as they grew bigger.
In the last few years, Facebook realised video is the next big thing, promoting it in its Newsfeed, pushing Facebook Watch and its videos over Google-owned YouTube’s links. Virtually overnight, YouTube links which frequently went viral on Facebook, struggled to gain traction.
Even before that, Google took a shot at the social media pie with its own Google+. It eventually ended as one of tech’s most famous failures from a giant, but not before Facebook feared the Google challenge and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in one of his famous Roman general speeches, mobilised the company to rise to the challenge.
Broadly, Facebook and Google are courting for the same few data points everywhere. Your location, your consumption trends (video vs audio vs text) and websites you visit, helping them serve up more and more relevant ads. Hence the rivalry. They have fought across countries for acquisitions, investments and ad dollars. So what brings them together today?
Simply, the size of the India digital opportunity. At a time when the US market is saturated, antitrust awareness is higher than ever, and both companies are banned from China, even as the US and the world rebukes Chinese tactics more than ever, India becomes the next battleground for any global technology player looking for its next big growth market.
No other country has these many people discovering the internet at record low data prices. Monetizing these roughly 300-400 million new internet users, along with Reliance Jio’s might in telecom, and its promises in every other sector, make it irresistible for tech giants like Facebook and Google. Irresistible enough to keep aside its differences and become common investors in Jio.
Even as India has the world’s second-largest internet user base today, there is a huge untapped consumer base in the country still. In 2019, India had 560 million internet users, which is still under 50% of its total population.
Comments
0 comment