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Ditto TV inks deal with IndiaCast to expand offering
MUMBAI: Ditto TV, the Over-The-Top distribution platform from Zee New Media, has inked a deal with IndiaCast Media Distribution, the distribution joint venture between TV18 and Viacom18, which will take its offering to 50 channels.
The Ditto TV platform will help IndiaCast Media Distribution Private Limited to strengthen its existing viewers and to reach out to new audiences that is increasingly turning to mobile phones, tablets, and laptops for infotainment.
The IndiaCast stable comprises 19 channels with 12 regional, five news, one entertainment and one music channel which includes Colors, MTV, CNBC-TV18, CNN-IBN, CNBC Awaaz, IBN7 and IBN-Lokmat, and the regional channels including ETV Bangla, ETV Bihar, ETV Gujarati, ETV Kannada, ETV Marathi, ETV Madhya Pradesh, ETV Oriya, ETV Rajasthan, ETV Telugu, ETV Urdu, ETV UP and ETV2.
Zeel Business Head-New Media Vishal Malhotra said, "This partnership with IndiaCast Media Distribution spells a momentous occasion for Ditto TV and takes us to the 50-channel mark, ensuring that we continue to delight our customers across the world with rich, premium and quality content, anytime, anywhere."
Ditto TV already has partnerships in place with other leading content providers namely such as Zeel, Multi Screen Media (Sony Entertainment Television), Sri Adhikari Brothers, TV Today Network, BBC, and Big CBS. The Star network of channel is missing in Ditto TV‘s menu.
Earlier, IndiaCast had signed a multi-year licensing deal with iStream.com which will see the online TV service provider carrying TV18 and Viacom18‘s bouquet of 20 channels for its streaming and video on demand services online and Internet-enabled devices including smart phones and tablets.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
