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Digital penetration growing fast in APac: Study
MUMBAI: The Asia Pacific TV sector has over 150 million digital TV homes while IPTV households have crossed 10 million IPTV households, according to latest figures released by Informa Telecoms and Media.
During 2009 more than 35 million homes upgraded from analog to digital TV despite a global downturn. In the year, 26 million new homes subscribed to pay TV – split among cable (14 million), DTH (9 million) and IPTV (3 million).
India will have a 52 per cent digital TV penetration in 2015, according to the forecast. This stood at 21 per cent at the end of last year, up from five per cent in 2005.
Informa Telecoms and Media forecasts show that those sectors will continue to grow impressively over the next five years. Adam Thomas, Media Research Manager and lead analyst on the research, said: “By 2015 there will be well over 400 million digital TV homes, including 40 million taking IPTV, which in turn will generate revenues of more than $40 billion. There are increasingly positive signs for digital TV in the region. Competition between the platforms is intensifying and this is pushing digital upgrades up the agenda of many operators.”
By 2015, digital penetration will have reached 100 per cent in four markets (Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore), with another four expected to have achieved a penetration rate of 70 per cent or more (Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan), according to Informa Telecoms and Media.
Thomas adds, “While globally IPTV has failed to make any real impact it does remain important in the Asia-Pacific region. We expect IPTV subscribers to grow by 25 million over the next five years, which means that it will become a significant rival to cable and DTH in some markets, notably via SingTel‘s Mio TV in Singapore and Korea Telecom‘s Qook in South Korea.
“Despite this generally positive picture, our research found that digital upgrades will not be easy to achieve in some markets. In the cable sector in particular, subscribers are taking some convincing of the need to upgrade from analog to digital. Although there is good news in China where the government‘s proactive approach to converting analogue to digital is promoting upgrades.”
Digital TV penetration (per cent)
| Country | 2005 | 2009 | 2015 |
| Australia | 30 | 68 | 100 |
| China | 1 | 17 | 54 |
| Hong Kong | 58 | 87 | 100 |
| India | 5 | 21 | 52 |
| Indonesia | 1 | 2 | 14 |
| Japan | 34 | 47 | 82 |
| Malaysia | 40 | 60 | 79 |
| New Zealand | 34 | 65 | 100 |
| Philippines | 1 | 5 | 21 |
| Singapore | 19 | 69 | 100 |
| South Korea | 14 | 44 | 83 |
| Taiwan | 6 | 16 | 70 |
| Thailand | 2 | 12 | 27 |
| Vietnam | 1 | 12 | 57 |
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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.
