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Youngsters in India spend more time online than on TV
MUMBAI: Audience and ad measurement platform ViziSense recently conducted a research on the online behavior of youth in India. The dipstick study involved an online survey among 500 young users from within the online ViziSense India panel.
According to the research, Internet is a preferred medium compared to television for youngsters in India. 56 per cent of them spend more than two hours on the internet during the weekday as against just 44 per cent of them spending even more than one hour watching television. The engagement with internet further increases on weekends with 69 per cent youngsters spending more than two hours as compared to 35 per cent spending more than three hours watching television.
An interesting highlight of the study was that youngsters prefer to visit Facebook and social media pages of companies rather than their websites for information around companies and their products/offerings.
According to the research, almost all youngsters (15-24 years) rely on the internet when it comes to mobiles, computers and car purchases. The term computer broadly includes tablets and laptops.
Close to 2/3rd of the youngsters online have been actively using the internet for more than two years making them ‘mature‘ users of the medium. Their confidence in the medium is also reflected by the fact that 81 per cent of users are comfortable sharing personal information online.
The usage of Internet by youngsters further extends to mobile with 50 per cent of them accessing the web daily through their mobile phones. Apart from checking mails and social networking which is done by 79 per cent and 67 per cent of mobile web users respectively, it is seen that they are warming up to mobile e-commerce with 23 per cent of them using mobile to make online payments.
ViziSense GM Amit Bhartiya said, “Online is now entrenched in the daily lives of youth in India, more than any other medium. They show high dependence on the use of the Internet for almost all their commerce, entertainment and other content consumption and this should only reinforce the importance of this medium for marketers. The other strong message that came out through the research is that youth prefer online to other media is because it facilitates two-way interaction and engagement with brands and companies vs. any other media”.
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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.
