Based on accounts from several reliable sources, the operations of online publication Inquirer.net will be folding back and joining the Philippine Daily Inquirer publication anytime now.
The site Inquirer.net will not be closing down, contrary to earlier rumors but will be consolidated with the operations of the print publication. Although the Inquirer.net team has not yet moved offices, the status of this consolidation is still “on hold”.
Several key people have already resigned from the team, including Editor-in-Chief JV Rufino and VP & Executive Editor Leo Magno, a couple of weeks ago.
Apparently, the online advertising business model that Inquirer has been swimming on in the last decade didn’t really pan out. While operations grew and content creation expanded to web videos and a blog network, the ad money wasn’t enough to sustain the business. Some part-time bloggers in the Inquirer Blog Network were also asked to stop writing a few weeks back.
Inquirer.net used to be Inq7.net which is a joint venture between PDI and GMA 7 until the latter bolted off of the partnership to put up its own website, GMA-News.tv. Inquirer.net is the top online destination in the Philippines and this development could have a huge impact in the online publishing industry in the Philippines.
this is bad news for pinoys
Wow! Unbelievable. All the while I was thinking that the site was going strong. I visit it daily to have a peak of everyday news. I hope it doesn’t crumble soon.
Ironically, this news should have been reported in their site. lol
yeah that bad news for a news site.
dont worry, there’s still philstar.com and so many other news and gossips websites for all Filipinos around the world.
yeah, with all the ads posted all over their site you would think they’re raking in profits… and it’s just odd, the internet is supposed to be the future of future media… is it a case of mismanagement?
Someone is sleeping on the job.
How come the number one news site in the Philippines cannot make a profit a 13 year old can make thousands blogging? The content and the articles are on par with the news publication but the way it is managed and presented leave a lot to be desired. The links are a mess and I cannot find what I want quickly. It is just not steamlined enough. Typograpgy is bad, it is hard to post content, not enough images,and there are better news blogs that look better.
A revolution wordpress theme and some plugins will work better than what they have now. hehe
Not enough Internet Marketing
I wonder what the most profitable website in the philippines is? We also hear how easy it is to make money in the internet… but significant money?? It’s hard!
I wonder what the most profitable website in the philippines is? We always hear how easy it is to make money in the internet… but significant money?? Not Easy!
Twitter: kzapkzap
says:
too much expense maybe, i thought they made lots… time for someone to influx cash and fix things up
blame pep.ph, pinoys love showbiz more than your regular current events
Not enough Internet Marketing? – NOPE
How come the number one news site in the Philippines cannot make a profit – It’s because 75% of their news are outsourced. If you notice all of their news, 15% are local current event news and 5% local technology news, 10% local showbiz, and 75% are outsourced from either Associated Press, Reuters, and many more.
If and only if they created their own news, that will never happen.
Actually, there’s this news that I’ve seen last december which is about what happened in the Discovery Suites. I was the first one who created the news article before ABS-CBN and INQ7 posted theirs. When I checked Google, my website is on the top SERP when I typed the keywords that ABS-CBN and INQ7 is using.
News from their website most of the time are late.
Believe me mis management yan specially sa TECH department. I was there with my team. Cream of the crop yung batch namen but eventually lahat yung umalis at napalitan ng mga inexperienced staff. There best people left dahil sa mis management ng TECHNICAL head and conflict of interests. and other dept ng inq7 can agree with that. tsk tsk super sayang ganda ng potential ng company nde na maximize bec of incompetent people.
Twitter: techathand
says:
I think what they need to do is somebody who can convert those visit to money. Inquirer.net is really of big help to us OFW.
I am just wondering how come that a blog can earn much with a few traffic and a bog news network with huge traffic cannot earn.
It is just a matter of a right person in a position
Actually, Marvin is correct… There’s the one guy in upper management that they should fire. We all have same feelings toward him because his management inexperience and very poor understanding of the technology side. He always relying on the skills and expertise of others and claim all the glory to himself. No wonder talented individuals come and go, it’s because of this guy. I just wonder what he did to the board of trustees at Inquirer and made them think he’s the right guy for the job. He is also the cause of the other people in the other departments to leave. They don’t like him to.
maybe their cost of “production” exceeded their profits. there are a lot of people maintaining the site – “too many people to employ”.
in anycase, if the site’s still going to be up, then it’s just a matter of “changing of the guard” and not really bad news for pinoys.
jomar hilario
Well, it’s sad to hear that… We worked so hard when it was just a startup company, I came from GMA during that time and I asked to be transferred to the partnership. We did well on the ratings and I guess, the sales and marketing team were doing so great at that time. I had a wonderful opportunity working with the most creative multimedia team ever- Chuy, Brian, and Roy. We serviced all departments at INQ7. The editorial team was topnotch, back then our EIC was Rigoberto Tiglao who’s now ambassador… JV did excellent work filling in his shoes! My hats off to his work ethics, he’s a workaholic. So too with Leo Magno who always impresses me with how he always seem to get the job done. Joey, Erwin and Gerry and Ms. Linette were the team to beat at the newsroom writing news 24 hours as it happened, of course with the hardworking interns from St. Benilde and St. Paul, QC. The power team of Ms. Edna Belleza kept finances steady with Marilyn Dee doing marketing and Mike See handling the accounts, they got it all covered coz we were happy to receive our year-end bonuses. Who would never forget Dennis Valdes, he’s a great man to work with! I look up to his management practices and ideas, my only regret was he left the fledgling news website too early not to see what would later happen. Haay! Reminiscing the good days with INQ7. I miss the dining at the pantry with Ms. Lina, Ms. Joveee and Mang Nestor!
My decision to leave INQ7 was the hardest. It was funny coz my team wanted to leave more than I do but I surprised them by being the first to resign but I talked them stay on. I loved working for the company, INQ7 was the turning point of my career… We received a Hall-of-Fame award for best current affairs website! We beat them all… everytime! We were innovative, we were dreamers and took pride of serving the Filipinos all over the world. We had the best programmers ever, you wouldn’t believe that INQ7 only had 3 senior programmers-Maui, En and Twinkle and 4 junior programmers, Tikoy, Karlene, Percy and Gabby not to mention Jesse the sole system adminstrator of the entire site. They are all very successful in their own businesses and careers. It’s really unfortunate that there were just some changes that I didn’t like and did not accept… The company had tremendous potential. I think it still has… I would be a dream to manage it and sail it back to sea again.
Twitter: kzapkzap
says:
maybe a lot of ad buyers cancelled upcoming campaigns due to the economy and are late on current payments. nevertheless you would think the #1 website in the Philippines can do better?
I am so sad about this very bad news…and so surprised that the country’s top website is not making any money.
@Israel
maybe u just using the internet a year ago, do u know that before wordpress was born, there’s already inq7.net ?
better check internet history 101
Mismanagement and expensive maintenance costs?
I think it’s more of the former than the latter, really surprising to know that will all those ads plastered all over the pages, they’d be doing well.
It’s high time to put new minds and vision in the driver’s seat.
They already have the traffic.
The best move is to streamline the operation.
Keep only the best people (or whatever is left of the best).
Improve the website appearance — a little less clutter will make it easily readable.
Get advertisers who will pay for a premium. (Most of their advertisers now are real estate companies)
Bring back that start-up entrepreneurial spirit as described by Sir Leo Santos.
I feel very sad to learn about this too… INQ7.net was my first ever job after college…thanks to Leo Santos ^ who took me in as intern for his multimedia team in 2003, and then to JV Rufino, Leo Magno and Joey Alarilla who became my 3 “bosses” when I moved to the the editorial team after =) I have nothing but good memories from INQ7.net and will miss visiting the office whenever I’m in the area =(
Or maybe because those times, INQ7.net has no “real” competition, so everything they do is a real success.
I was with INQ7 as a senior developer for over 6 years. In that time, I got to work with such great people. I got to work closely with the editorial team. JV Rufino and Leo Magno have always been years ahead in terms of visions and plans for the web site. I remember getting emails or calls in the early morning for updates and changes and plans
The editorial team worked in shifts, 24/7 to make sure that the latest news be available to everyone. On those times like the Impeachment or Edsa II, some worked even longer than that, not just because they were asked, but because they WANTED to cover it.
The tech team shared the same spirit in pulling all-nighters, as well as hours of research, just to make sure that the readers who have no access to local tv or radio, get the news on time and as it happens. The goal was to have a site up hours or even minutes after an event happens
It was exciting stuff.
I remember that the Marketing and Sales team’s biggest challenge in the first few years was explaining to prospective clients, not just what INQ7 was or why it was a good idea to put up ads, but what the internet or web site was. They did a great job at getting advertisers and coming up with promos.
Though this is a truly sad development, I do hope that for the next incarnation of the Inquirer news site, for whatever mistakes or missteps were made in the previous one, that the current team be successful in managing it, not just for their sake, but for all the millions of Filipinos who patronize Inquirer.net.
btw, the first marvin’s comment is an impostor, wla na bang available n pangalan and website na magamit at pati un sakin ginamit pa para manira?