TV Derana is a household brand in Sri Lanka and is closely associated with the Sri Lankan identity and tastes. In late 2017, Derana became the number 1 channel in Sri Lanka according to LMRB research data and has maintained this position to-date. Rewind to 2005 when Derana entered the foray to make a mark with big players in the market holding a majority of the channel share. The task seemed insurmountable.
In 2007, FortunaCreatives took on the mantle to partner with the newbie TV Derana in their digital efforts as it grew into a terrestrial TV channel. With this partnership, a catalyst was formed.
Image: Studio 24: TV Derana’s state-of-the-art augmented reality enabled news studio which is a one of a kind in Sri Lanka
Digital First: The Catalyst
Our client had realised how big digitalization was for the news industry. As a new player in the media industry, Derana wanted to differentiate themselves from their reputed rivals. They believed a transition from traditional news to digitally disseminating news would achieve this; and they were right.
As their selected technology partner, FortunaCreatives and Derana devised a plan to develop a state-of-the-art web portal with a backend system that provided real-time content updates, on-demand media library, programmatic advertising module, and many other features. This was how Ada Derana was born. Designed to outdo other media rivals, Ada Derana offered faster news updates, live streaming, VOD of the news program, and other video content. Combined with the FortunaCreatives team working on its Search Engine Optimization, the site was able to reach the highest-ranking and garner a higher reach.
Success together
Our team is in constant enhancement of the portal and the mobile applications to offer a seamless user experience. At present, TV Derana conglomerate is the leading media portal in Sri Lanka and has over 3 million mobile downloads. Ada Derana, its news brand, has gained recognition as Sri Lanka’s most viewed news portal, which serves over 250,000 unique users and over 2 million impressions a day. During peak election season, Ada Derana enjoys over 2 million concurrent users; a feat possible due to FortunaCreatives’ scalable portal and seamless Content Management System.
Image – Ada Derana Election portal with its unique all-island cumulative and visual depiction of the electoral map.
Image – Election night: FortunaCreatives Team working hand in hand with the Derana news team during election night to ensure latency-free election result updates.
Digital Diversification
Understanding the importance of different verticals, Derana along with FortunaCreatives embarked to diversify its digital footprint by launching properties such as FM Derana/eTunes, Pulse, Gasma, Nadi, cinema.lk, Ada Derana elections portal, etc.
FM Derana quickly became the number one Sri Lankan music website receiving over 300,000 unique users a month. FortunaCreatives was instrumental in launching an on-demand music player where users could curate playlists, select music genres, etc; a first in the Sri Lankan space.
The lifestyle brand Pulse powered through to the number one spot bypassing established competitors with its fresh youthful content presented in a highly accessible manner. Understanding the target audience, FortunaCreatives crafted a strategy to appeal to the high purchasing power, SEC A and B English speaking audience of Sri Lanka. With its success, Pulse forrayed into its Sinhalese and Tamil Portals; Gasma and Nadi respectively. Pulse enjoys over 15,000 unique visitors a day on its site and over 1 million reach on its social media a week. From the new kid on the block to becoming an iconic trusted news brand, we are proud to have worked with Derana for the past 13 years. Our dedicated team continues to work on the digital presence of Derana conglomerate, ensuring innovation and disruption; a key pillar of our enduring partnership.
Image – Sri Lanka’s one-stop lifestyle and entertainment portal
