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MTV snaps up Social Express to get into social gaming
MUMBAI: Marking the company‘s entry into the social gaming space, MTV Networks has acquired Social Express Inc, a social gaming development company.
MTV Networks will develop social games based on original Intellectual Property (IP) as well as shows and characters from MTV, Nickelodeon and its other brands. The first game would be launched in the third quarter of this year.
MTV Networks will also leverage Social Express‘s expertise to launch a publishing platform for independent game developers.
“Social gaming is one of the biggest drivers of the explosive growth in social media – it‘s fun, it‘s engaging, and it‘s shareable,” said MTV Networks Chairman Judy McGrath. “Social Express brings us strong experience and know-how in this burgeoning space which we‘ll supercharge with the IP and scale of Nickelodeon and other MTV Networks brands to create great new social gaming experiences for our fans and cool tools for independent developers as well.
Social Express will be integrated into Nickelodeon Digital. While Social Express co-founder and CEO Tony Espinoza will oversee the social gaming strategy and development as vice president and general manager of social gaming for MTV Networks‘ Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group, Neil Souza, co-founder of Social Express and FoulPlay Media will be vice president of Technology, Social Games.
Both will report to senior vice president and general manager of Games, Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group Dave Williams who reports to Stephen Youngwood executive vice president for Digital, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids & Family Group.
Social Express‘s management team boasts of former executives and developers from Apple, AOL, Yahoo! and Zynga.
Walt Disney Co. recently acquired Tapulous, a maker of iPhone games, showing heated action in the online and mobile gaming businesses.
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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.
