MAM
Dream Sports partners with Indian government for The India Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai
Mumbai: Sports tech company Dream Sports has announced its partnership with the government of India to showcase India’s resurgence as a hub for growth, innovation, and culture at Expo 2020 Dubai. The India Pavilion, one of the largest among 190 participating countries, will display India’s exceptional fight back against Covid-19 and the country’s emergence as a nerve centre for global business.
Dream Sports will showcase the extensive opportunity that lies at the unique intersection of sports and technology, as well as bring to life the large-scale positive transformation that can be brought about through digital technology and innovation within the Indian sports ecosystem, the company said in a statement.
At the inauguration of the India Pavilion on Friday, FICCI president Uday Shankar said that India is one of the world’s fastest-growing large economies and the third largest startup ecosystem. The India Pavilion will be a global platform for potential investors to experience this growth, leading opportunities, business achievements, and cultural diversity with cutting-edge technologies, he added.
“Over the past seven years, the government of India’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Digital India has reaped benefits with multiple innovation hubs and over 50,000 registered startups, that have set the roadmap for India’s digital journey. Dream Sports is one such success story that truly represents the impact of industry-focused reforms, and the possibilities of digital competencies and advancements that new India can bring to the world,” shared Shankar.
Expo 2020, which was postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will commence on Friday, and conclude on 31 March 2022.
“We are delighted to support the government of India’s initiatives in digitisation and self-reliance. Our vision is to ‘Make Sports Better’ through the confluence of sports and technology. We want to help build an ecosystem that nurtures the growth of sports in India by engaging fans in a much deeper way than ever before,” said Dream Sports CEO & co-founder Harsh Jain. “We hope to contribute significantly to India’s economy by growing the Fantasy Sports industry, investing in several sports companies, generating employment, and supporting India’s athletes through our grassroots initiatives.”
The India Pavilion will mirror India’s celebration of 75 years of Independence. Created on the theme of ‘Openness. Opportunity. Growth,’ it will showcase the latest technologies and create an ambient, futuristic environment with installations powered by augmented reality and projection mapping, said the statement.
MAM
ASCI study uncovers how Gen Alpha navigates ads in endless digital feeds
‘What the Sigma?’ ethnographic report maps blurred boundaries between content and commerce for 7–15-year-olds.
MUMBAI: Gen Alpha isn’t scrolling through the internet, they’re living rent-free inside its never-ending dopamine drip, and the ads have already moved in next door. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Academy, partnering with Futurebrands Consulting, has published ‘What the Sigma?’, an immersive ethnographic study that maps how Indian children aged 7–15 (Generation Alpha) consume, interpret and live alongside media and commercial messaging in a hyper-digital environment.
The research draws on in-home interviews, sibling and peer conversations, and discussions with parents, teachers, counsellors, psychologists, marketers and kidfluencers across six cities. It examines not only what children watch but how algorithms, content creators, peers and parents shape their relationship with the constant stream of shorts, vlogs, gameplay, memes, sponsored posts and ‘kid-ified’ adult material.
Five core themes emerged:
- Discontinuous Generation, Gen Alpha is not growing up alongside the internet, they are growing up inside it. Cultural references, humour, aesthetics and language sync globally in real time, often leaving adults functionally illiterate in their children’s world. A reference that lands instantly for a 10-year-old in Mumbai or Visakhapatnam feels opaque or disjointed to most parents.
- Authority Vacuum, Parents and teachers frequently lose cultural fluency in digital spaces. The algorithm responsive, inexhaustible and perfectly attuned to preferences becomes the most attentive presence in many children’s daily lives. Rules around screen time feel increasingly difficult to enforce when adults cannot fully see or understand the content landscape.
- Digital as Society, Online and offline no longer exist as separate realms, they form one continuous reality. The phone is not a tool children pick up; it is the primary social environment they inhabit.
- Great Media Mukbang, Content flows as an ambient, boundary-less, multi-sensorial stream. Entertainment, advertising, commerce, gameplay, memes and vlogs merge into one undifferentiated feed. The line between active choice and passive absorption has largely collapsed.
- Blurred Ad Recognition, Children aged 7–12 typically recognise only the most overt advertising formats. Influencer promotions, gaming integrations and vlog sponsorships often register as organic entertainment. Children aged 13–15 show greater ad literacy but remain highly susceptible to narrative-integrated, passion-driven and emotionally resonant brand messaging. Discernment remains low across the board in a non-stop stream.
ASCI CEO and secretary general Manisha Kapoor said, “ASCI Academy’s study is an investigation into the content life of Generation Alpha not to judge them but to understand them. Their cultural reference points seem disjointed from those of earlier generations. Insights on how they perceive advertising is the first step towards building more responsible engagement frameworks, given that they are the youngest media consumers in our country right now.”
Futurebrands Consulting founder and director Santosh Desai added, “While earlier generations have been exposed to digital media, for this generation it is the world they inhabit. This report explores not only what they watch but how they are being shaped by algorithms, content and advertising.”
The study proposes four adaptive, principles-led pathways:
- Universal signposting of commercial intent using design principles that make advertising recognisable even to young audiences.
- Ecosystem-wide responsibility shared among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents.
- Future-ready safeguards built directly into children’s content experiences rather than as optional background settings.
- Formal media and advertising literacy embedded in school curricula to teach age-appropriate understanding of persuasion and commercial intent.
In a feed that never pauses, Gen Alpha isn’t merely watching content, they’re swimming in an ocean where entertainment, commerce and identity swirl together. The real question isn’t whether they can spot an ad; it’s whether the adults building the ocean can agree on where the lifeguards should stand.
