A disruptive online marketplace for making the hyperlocal content available across the globe, Pebble has been launched. Pebble is a content marketplace for all reporters/journalists across the world to sell original
stories at a price decided by them. This will be easily accessible to the publishers /media houses, who can buy these stories of interest for a particular geographical area or genre. The stories are available in all formats and languages. Currently, News18 Network, Punjab Kesari, Opera, among others, are already using Pebble platform. India is a nation with over 1600 dialects and 30 languages, spoken by more than a million native speakers each. The demand for digital content in language is observing massive growth. According to a KPMG report, Indian language internet users grew from 42 million in 2011 to 234 million in 2016. An average rural user spends 15% more time consuming digital news than the urban counterpart. Tier 2 users seek unique, hyperlocal news/content relevant to them.
Speaking about the launch, Anil Kumar, Founder & MD of Pebble, said, “The content creation in hyperlocal audience is costly, fragmented and inefficient. Pebble aims to help media organizations gain new markets and audiences. Perhaps for the first time in the world, Pebble allows a stringer to set the price of his content piece. We want to be the default choice of reporters and news publishers in the world, for discovering hyper local content and its value in a transparent and efficient manner. Pebble would help the publishers with additional audience and revenue stream. For journalists, it would be a new avenue helping them grow in their career and provide wider reach to their content in all formats.”
Pebble brings in focus and innovation, which is one of its kinds. If you are a writer, you can submit your stories in any language or format. It is a unique way of solving an existing problem of content discovery in the media industry. It is focused on providing efficient methods of content discovery to writers and publishers both. Pebble has been designed with active feedback from editors, content writers and publishers. It leverages already existing innovations in the industry and adds innovative technology, processes and best practices available in other industries. Pebble allows you complete control over pricing, exclusivity/non-exclusivity, duration of your content in the marketplace.
Pebble offers advantages to both publishers and journalists. Publishers pay per story, hence cutting a huge cost on setting up a bureau in smaller locations. Journalists in smaller areas get an exposure in a digital platform, an additional and assured income and recognition beyond their vicinity. Pebble will add to the power of stringers who would provide hyperlocal content to the publishers.