iWorld
Times Network hosts Digital India Summit and Awards 4.0
MUMBAI: Times Network, a part of The Times Group, launched the fourth edition of its ‘Times Network Digital India Summit and Awards 4.0. Attended by some of the most valued dignitaries in India, the summit aimed at deliberating on key challenges and laid out key imperatives and framework for turning the vision of ‘Digital India’ into a reality, through a series of panel discussions and deliberations.
The summit kicked off with the keynote address by the Chief Guest, Honorable Union Minister for Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad. The participants at the first session of the panel discussion themed “Digital India- Where Do Things Stand? A Real Time Assessment” were DoT Secretary Aruna Sundararajan; Nasscom President Designate Debjani Ghosh; Union Bank of India MD & CEO Rajkiran Rai; Bain & Co India Chairman Sri Rajan and IBM India MD Karan Bajwa.
Talking extensively about the growth, opportunities and possibilities of the digital connectivity in India, Honorable Union Minister for Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad stated, “Digital India which is a flagship initiative the government is designed to empower and to help the poor and the underprivileged. We are focusing on providing the affordable and inclusive digital media to the masses. Today we have well over 1 billion mobile phones in the country with 350 million being smartphones which defines the digital identity of the nation. Low cost technology for inclusive growth is crucial.”The Honorable Minister also touched upon the benefits of digital India in the wake of enrolling Aadhaar. He added “With enrollment of 1.18 billion Aadhaar cards, we were able to save 49,000 crore of the exchequer which was previously looted by the middlemen in the public distribution system.” Further talking about the inclusion of the digital resources, he highlighted that India has digital aspiration, appetite and customer. We are heading towards a revolution of digital media in this country.”
“Technology is an enabler in bringing women to work and this will add 60 per cent to GDP by 2025,” says
NASSCOM President Designate Debjani Ghosh.
Commenting on Times Network Digital India Summit 4.0, Times Network MD & CEO MK Anand said, “Over the last 3 years, Digital India Summit & Awards, has enjoyed tremendous response from both delegates and particpants alike. With unwavering focus on building a digitally empowered India, the 4th edition of Digital India Summit is another step towards bridging the ‘digital divide’ and finding solutions and opportunities to create a robust security architecture.”
Union Bank of India MD and CEO Rajkiran Rai said, “Digital India is one of the biggest government programs in the world to bring about sustainable and inclusive societal transformation using digital technologies. The process of making India into a trillion-dollar digital economy has begun and Digital India is making this dream a reality. We at Union Bank are committed to help India achieve its digital vision. We are proud to partner Times Network for the last 3 years in this impact initiative.”
In the intriguing session on ‘Digital India- Where Do Things Stand? A Real Time Assessment’, DoT Secretary Aruna Sundararajan, said, “Digital India is an aspiration. We are focused to enable digital opportunities to reach to the masses and leverage them”. She additionally highlighted the issue of data protection in the discussion as she stated, “We are planning a robust data protection framework to empower the digital mandate. Data protection is beyond Aadhaar; issue of privacy is a global threat.”
Stating the issue of data protection in the digital domain, Nasscom President Designate Debjani Ghosh said, “Critical end to end data policy is a must. The emerging technology needs solid building blocks of data privacy which will enhance the dependency on the digital media. Digital solutions can enhance the employment in the rural areas if we cater it to the most underprivileged parts of India.”
COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews speaking on the vision of 5G in India emphasized on the periphery of competitive landscape of the telecom industry. He said, “We need to position ourselves in the telecom industry with the spectrum auctions pricing methodology. We need more spectrum in the upcoming time to leverage the last customer of a telecom company.”
Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Secretary TP Krishnan addressed a panel discussion on the theme of ‘Developing A Digital Workforce- The Ground Realities’. He said “Skills acquisition needs to be more aspirational. Our jobs are not aspirational. Soft skill developments programs including life skills and ITI which are the game changers under the Skill India campaign of the government can play pivotal role in shaping the skill development sector in this country.”
The summit had discussions on the relevance of 5G in India, how Fintech has helped in the growth of Digital India and discussed the importance of data security in India.
The ‘Digital India’ Awardees are:
The session extensively talked about the opportunities and challenges in the digital world when the country is looking for economic independence.
iWorld
Netflix ad revenue set to soar past $8bn by 2030, outpacing CTV rivals: Warc
From $1.5bn in 2025 to $8bn in 2030, Netflix is fast becoming a CTV ad powerhouse
MUMBAI: Netflix is turning heads in the advertising world, with forecasts showing its ad revenue set to surpass $8 billion by 2030, outpacing the wider connected TV (CTV) market, according to the latest Warc Media Platform Insights report.
The streaming giant’s advertising journey gained serious momentum in 2025, generating over $1.5 billion, a remarkable increase of more than 2.5 times compared with the previous year. Management aims to roughly double that figure again in 2026, targeting around $3 billion.
Rather than waiting for the market to grow, Netflix is going after a bigger slice of the existing CTV ad pie, and the strategy appears to be paying off. Analysis by Omdia, cited by Warc, predicts Netflix will account for 9.2 per cent of global CTV advertising spend by 2027. By then, the company’s ad growth is projected to hit 58 per cent year-on-year, while the overall CTV market grows at just 9.9 per cent.
CTV may be booming, but traditional TV continues to shrink, losing spend to digital channels and retail media, according to Warc’s latest Global Ad Trends report, Media’s new normal. Despite this, Netflix is focused on monetising its expanding ad inventory with better infrastructure and smarter tools, turning what is currently a small 3 per cent slice of its total revenue into a high-growth engine.
WPP forecasts that Netflix’s $3 billion ad target in 2026 would place it as the 27th-largest global ad seller, just behind French media group RTL. Yet the company sees its relatively modest ad business as an advantage, providing a buffer against market fluctuations while it ramps up operations.
Looking ahead, a potential acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery could give Netflix even more content to offer and bundle, helping to retain subscribers, attract new members, and sustain long-term revenue growth. For now, the platform is quietly staking its claim as a rising star in the CTV advertising arena.
