"India Among Our Top 5 Markets"

JOANNE K. BRADFORD, Corporate Vice President and Chief Media Officer, MSN, one of the world’s most successful information and entertainment networks, is in charge of strategy for the MSN brand globally. She spoke to BT’s Anusha Subramanian on India’s place in Microsoft’s global strategy for MSN.

 Where does MSN India fit into Microsoft’s global strategy for MSN?
India is important for Microsoft and is among the top five markets for us after the US, the UK, Germany and China. And localisation is a key factor in our strategy.

How much will you invest in India?
The future investment in India will be in the multi-billion dollar range. We will invest heavily in the search options space and in communications and services such as instant messaging, mail and sharing services. We are also pushing very hard in the online services space.

Which are the potential areas for growth for MSN India?
We see lots of opportunity here in the mobile space. We want to bring content on the mobile in a manner that is easy for consumers to access. The next thing would be to take advantage of the growth in the television and print media and bring a unique content experience to users. The third potential is around social portals.