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LiveMedia ties up with Barista Lavazza for branded digital content display
Bangalore: Digital Destination Media player – LiveMedia announced a strategic alliance with Barista Coffee Company Limited through which 200 Barista Lavazza outlets across India will have LiveMedia screens on their premises.
LiveMedia is a young start-up company funded by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Bay Partners and Samsung. It currently runs over 15 different branded programmes, including such hits as Love Unplugged, Humour Live, Dhakkan’s Diary, Yo Mousi, Kittty & Witty, Mr. Wise, Horoscope, Trivia Live and Fashion Live
LiveMedia Ceo Rajan Mehta reveals, “The process of installation of the screens is well underway and nearing completion. We will be developing content specific to the tastes of the youth, upwardly mobile people and young professionals who spend time at coffee shops. Overall, our emphasis has been on having a humour-rich content that is designed to enhance the experience of viewers.”
Claims Barista Coffee Company director and Ceo Sanjay Coutinho, “Barista Lavazza is an experiential brand and we use key touchpoints to differentiate our brand experience. These include store ambience, store experience, innovation and guest service. This tie-up is an initiative to enhance guest engagement elements and provide an additional medium of entertainment to our guests.”
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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.
