MAM
KBC propels Sony to new heights
MUMBAI: The angry “old” man of Indian cinema, Amitabh Bachchan, has once again proved his charisma as he took the fifth season of the game show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) to new heights on Sony Entertainment Television.
Albeit, it was a joint effort as in the history of KBC, it was the first time that a winner was taking home the grand prize of Rs 50 million. The two episodes, on 1 and 2 November, clocked a TVR of 7.2 and 8 respectively, as audiences swelled to watch a common man – Sushil Kumar from Motihari, Bihar, win the amount.
KBC has helped Set to add 51 GRPs (gross rating points) during the week ended 5 November as it marched ahead of Colors, which was at par with the channel last week.
As per TAM data (C&S, 4+, HSM), Set closed the week with 287 GRPs (last week 236), second among the Hindi general entertainment channels.
Set senior EVP and business head Sneha Rajani said, “We are extremely satisfied with the ratings of KBC and humbled by the way audiences have connected to the show. It strengthens our belief and philosophy ‘koi bhee insaan chhota nahi hota‘. The success of Sushil Kumar in KBC is an emphatic endorsement of the fact that KBC is not just a game show, but a melting pot of knowledge and aspirations of the aam aadmi.”
The Wednesday episode (2 November) of KBC5 has, in fact , became the highest TVR grosser among all shows since 2009 when Uttaran on Colors had achieved a 8+ TVR.
Set said that KBC reached out to 25 million people on Tuesday and 27 million people on Wednesday, with 18 per cent reach and 43 minutes of average time spent, the highest for this season.
Set‘s climb was also supported by other fiction properties including Crime Petrol (4.2 TVR), C.I.D. (4 TVR) and Bade Acche Lagte Hain (3.7 TVR).
Set has also broken its nine-year record to reach highest ratings. However, last time, it was on the back of the blockbuster film 3Idiots while the present rise is on pure programming.
Even after scaling to 287, Sony stayed behind genre leader Star Plus which climbed to 335 GRPs (last week 273). All the fiction properties of the channel saw an increase in viewership, helping it to surge ahead.
Colors closed the week with 240 GRPs (last week 236), while Zee TV ended with 143 GRPs (last week 131).
Sab remained in fifth position with 121 GRPS (118 GRPs last week) followed by Imagine TV with 70 GRPs (from 61 GRPs).
Star One closed with 43 GRPs (from 40 last week) and Sahara One with 34 GRPs (30 last week), according to TAM data.
Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
