Applications
ESS gets Indian fans talking about Olympics with Facebook app
MUMBAI: In a bid to tap into Facebook‘s soaring popularity among Gen Next, sportscaster ESPN Star Sports has launched “My Country, My Cheer” Facebook application to engage Indian sports fans into supporting their national athletes.
Launched to welcome the countdown to the London 2012 Olympic Games, the application is hosted on facebook.com/espnstarsports, and enables visitors to post words of encouragement for their Olympic Games representatives.
In addition to providing a platform to cheer on the Olympians, the application also provides a detailed programme schedule for the lead up, and duration of the Games, to ensure that no sports fan misses any of their favourite athletes or Olympic Games moments!
Fans can also win exclusive ESPN Star Sports London 2012 prizes for writing the most creative and passionate cheer.
In addition to “My Country, My Cheer” Facebook application also launched a London 2012 Olympic Games dedicated page on its website, espnstar.com/london2012, featuring news, videos, TV programme schedules and Games highlights.
ESS is also building up hype towards the Games by broadcasting top class Olympic Games archive programming from over 30,000 hours of historical footage chronicling the last two decades of the Games.
As an official broadcaster of the London 2012 Olympic Games, ESS will offer more than 1,200 hours of coverage across three channels including round-the-clock coverage on ESPN, Star Sports and ESPN HD during the Games.
ESS had secured the exclusive non-standard television rights including cable & satellite television from the International Olympic Committee for the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games for 22 countries across the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia.
The London 2012 Games will be the biggest sporting event this summer covering 302 events in 26 sports, and will feature over 10,000 athletes from more than 200 countries around the world.
Applications
With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
