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US consumers value programming over picture quality
MUMBAI: Even as consumers in the US race to buy the latest high-definition (HD) TV hardware and start embracing tomorrow‘s television promise, they continue to place more value on the breadth of available programming than on picture quality. Survey findings were announced at ITV Con — an Internet TV and interactive TV technologies conference in San Jose, California. Orb Networks VP, GM television Herve Utheza says, “As content providers race to ramp up their digital offerings, the audience continues to see the true future of television more in terms of additional programming choices than better quality.” — People valued programming choices over TV image quality (74 per cent to 26 per cent) — Looking ahead, to a world where TV will soon be offered on a variety of screens from small, to mobile, to large, the percentage of respondents choosing programming choices jumps to 90 per cent against 10 per cent to image quality — Programming choice preferences were highest for news (87 per cent), comedy (83 per cent) and general TV shows (77 per cent) — TV image quality was cited as most important among movies (45 per cent) and sports events (31 per cent) — Movie audiences are pretty much evenly split between choice and quality — Sports is the only category where image quality is the clear winner, but 41 per cent of respondents also admit not being interested in sports. Utheza adds, “People want their HD movies or sports on the big screen TV in their living rooms, but they also want to see YouTube videos, Johnny‘s baseball game, and their favorite Internet TV program on the big TV. “The Holy Grail for the television industry is creating systems that harness this demand for ‘new media‘ by making it as simple and easy to consume on the TV screen, as today‘s TV content. This is where IP delivered TV truly unleashes the promise of tomorrow‘s television: a hybrid world of pay TV, personal and ‘over the top‘ content where the consumer makes the choice of what they want among branded and ‘long tail‘ programming.”
Applications
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.
