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Brightcove announces customer wins in Japan
MUMBAI: Online video platform Brightcove has announced a series of major new customers on its platform in Japan including Rakuten, Tokyo Metropolitan Television Broadcasting, Television Osaka, Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting and Aniplex.
The recent release of a fully-localised Brightcove platform has fuelled growth for the company in the market and has accelerated adoption amongst Japan‘s brand marketers and media companies.
Said Brightcove chairman and CEO Jeremy Allaire, “We continue to accelerate our rapid global expansion and our success and broad adoption in Japan is a major driving force to that growth. We‘ve seen strong customer traction in Japan since the launch of Brightcove KK last year, and the recent introduction of our fully-localized online video platform has enabled more leading organizations to take advantage of the dynamic features and functionality that Brightcove offers.”
Rakuten is an e-commerce website operator in Japan with more than 50 million registered users. The site serves as a platform for merchants to sell their products online and is among the top ten largest Internet companies in the world.
Using the Brightcove platform,the company recently launched a video section on their site to complement existing content and to drive purchases through increased user engagement with their online shopping mall property.
The features of the Brightcove platform enable Rakuten to publish and distribute video content to foster a more interactive purchasing experience for visitors.
Additionally, Rakuten is pioneering an innovative new use case in the Japanese market, as online merchants are able to upload user-generated content through the Brightcove platform and add it to their online presence on the Rakuten site.
Rakuten also operates on online DVD rental site at which trailers for campaigns and new releases are delivered by Brightcove.
Many of Japan‘s television broadcasters have recently selected the Brightcove platform to streamline their online video operations, expand their online audience and introduce new monetisation opportunities.
Tokyo Metropolitan Television (Tokyo MX), the only commercial television station in Tokyo that exclusively serves the city, is using the Brightcove platform to drive traffic through engaging online video programming that is accessible throughout Japan, including recent video coverage of the Tokyo election and high school baseball championships.
Additionally, Brightcove is enabling Television Osaka and Shizuoka Asahi Television, two of Japan‘s largest regional broadcasters, to manage their online video content more efficiently and to easily publish new content that is synchronized with aired programs in an effort to drive online viewership.
Brightcove‘s first major customer in Japan, PresentCast is also continuing to roll out the Brightcove platform to additional Web properties. In conjunction with Tokyo Broadcasting System, PresentCast recently distributed full-screen, broadcast-quality video highlights from the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics held in Berlin this year.
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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.
