Thank you, Cite Contribution. Yes, I also recall the times when some job portals were even offering people money to post their CVs or refer friends. I wonder what happened to them. Of course, pretty much "free/low-cost" scripts exist now to set up something like a job portal (we are partly using one, albeit I am not very happy with it - a rip-off, in my humble opinion - but another story for another time).
As you also indicate, a much more expensive spend could be to acquire crowds of CVs to begin with.
Naukri's First-Mover Advantage
Naukri had the first-mover advantage, with a strong prior track, if I remember correctly, of salary surveys. Even they reported only about a 4% odd increment in operating profits FY 2012-13. See:
http://Naukri Profit Down 16.62% In ...re - MediaNama. It is interesting that this was picked up by a "media" site. Also, note this is not only about Naukri but all their properties put together and incorporates the ad revenue/profits they get by serving up ads - a pure play on ads but, of course, dependent upon the crowds.
Monster's Performance
Monster, of course, had a bad 2011 and is only now coming back, but still reported a year-on-year decline of approximately 7% in 2013:
http://Monster Worldwide Inc.: Mixed... GuruFocus.com. It would be interesting to get some hard data on some emerging portals - P&L account of the last few years, for example.
Lest I be misunderstood, please note that I am not trying to put down any portal here - old or emerging. I am just curious to know how they see the market and the data they have or are relying on.