MAM
IPL TV ratings continue to fall
MUMBAI: The fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), following the cricket World Cup, continues to put up a weaker performance compared to its earlier versions.
IPL 4.0 scored an average TVR of 3.84 for the first 59 matches, according to data from Tam Sports (six metros C&S4+). Last time the matches fetched a TVR of 6.36 compared to a rating of 4.66 in the second year and 5.39 in the first season.
The previous season‘s data for the 59 matches, however, includes the semifinals.
In IPL 4.0, the last 10 matches got an average TVR of 3.32. Only two of them crossed a TVR of 4. The highest rating was the match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab, which got a TVR of 4.42.
Overall, the highest rated match is still the first match which got a TVR of 7.77. It was the only match that touched a TVR of 7. Last year, five matches during the league stage touched a TVR of 7.
According to Alchemist managing director and promoter Manish Porwal, the vanilla reach of the IPL has gone up but people are spending less time on it. They are also coming back to it less often.
“There is fatigue due to the World Cup. The longer duration of the tournament has also affected ratings. There is a limit to the amount of cricket people are willing to watch,” he says.
The addition of two teams has also added to the fragmentation. “Loyalties to some extent are being split. For instance, all of Maharashtra used to watch the Mumbai Indians. Now with Pune coming in, some people in Maharashtra have an interest in that team. The good news, however, is that the drop has not been as bad as was expected,” says Porwal.
Brands
Google completes $32 billion Wiz deal to boost AI and cloud security
Wiz joins Google Cloud but keeps multi-cloud support across rival platforms
NEW YORK: Google has completed its $32 billion acquisition of cloud security company Wiz, marking the biggest deal in the tech giant’s history and signalling a major push to strengthen security in the era of artificial intelligence and multi-cloud computing.
The New York-headquartered cybersecurity firm will join Google Cloud while continuing to operate under the Wiz brand. Crucially, the company will maintain support for multiple cloud platforms, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud, reflecting the reality that most large organisations run their systems across several cloud providers.
Google said the acquisition is designed to help organisations build and scale applications more securely as businesses and governments increasingly move critical systems and data to the cloud. At the same time, the rapid adoption of generative AI has introduced new cybersecurity risks, with attackers also using AI to launch faster and more sophisticated attacks.
Wiz has built a reputation for simplifying cloud security. Its platform maps entire cloud environments, identifying vulnerabilities, potential attack paths and misconfigurations before they can be exploited. By connecting insights from code, cloud infrastructure and runtime environments, it allows security and engineering teams to detect and fix risks early in the development cycle.
Bringing Wiz into Google Cloud will create what the company describes as a unified security platform capable of detecting, preventing and responding to threats across cloud and AI environments. The combined offering will also integrate Google’s own security capabilities, including threat intelligence tools, security operations platforms and the cybersecurity expertise of Mandiant.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the move reflects the growing importance of security as more organisations rely on AI and cloud technologies. “Keeping people safe online has always been part of Google’s mission,” he said, adding that the partnership will help organisations innovate with greater confidence.
Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, said the goal is to make security an enabler rather than a roadblock for businesses building modern applications. He noted that the combined technologies will simplify the complex task of protecting hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
For Wiz, the acquisition opens the door to global scale while keeping its core philosophy intact. Co-founder and CEO Assaf Rappaport said the company remains committed to an open, multi-cloud approach and will continue supporting customers regardless of where their workloads run.
Over the past year, Wiz has expanded its platform to address emerging risks tied to AI applications, including tools that help organisations monitor AI usage, detect AI-specific vulnerabilities and secure AI workloads during runtime.
With Google’s infrastructure, artificial intelligence capabilities and security ecosystem now behind it, Wiz plans to accelerate development of its platform while continuing to serve enterprises, governments and start-ups operating across different cloud environments.
For Google Cloud, the acquisition adds a powerful piece to its security puzzle as competition intensifies among global cloud providers. For customers, it promises a future where building fast in the cloud does not have to come at the expense of staying secure.
