MAM
Why modern dating is shorter, sharper and more honest: Ashley Madison report
MUMBAI: Romance, it seems, has had a reality check. In a world squeezed by inflation, job jitters and general life overload, people are rethinking what they want from relationships and how much energy they are willing to spend chasing them. The result is a new dating mood that favours honesty, discretion and shorter, sharper connections.
Welcome to the era of the microromance.
According to a recent Ashley Madison member survey, many people are no longer chasing the fairy tale of one partner meeting every emotional need. Instead, they are opting for brief, intense connections that offer comfort, excitement or escape, without the pressure of lifelong promises or neatly defined labels.
Nearly half of respondents, 49 per cent, said that during stressful periods such as a cost of living crisis, they seek additional relationships alongside their primary one. The motivation is not rebellion so much as relief. The thrill of meeting someone new, the boost of feeling desired, or simply a break from routine all ranked high. Women were even more likely to say this than men, with 50 per cent of female members compared to 43 per cent of male members reporting the same behaviour.
There is also a growing belief that spreading emotional needs across more than one partner can make life feel lighter. Forty one per cent of respondents said having multiple partners, each offering different positive qualities, would help them cope better during difficult times than relying on one person to have it all. In short, romance is being redesigned to reduce pressure on everyone involved.
The stress driving this shift is not hard to find. Inflation topped the list of concerns affecting how people approach relationships, cited by 27 pe rcent of members overall. Among women, the figure rose to 33 per cent. Other anxieties included recession fears, political uncertainty, housing instability and shaky employment prospects. With so much weighing people down, it is little wonder that many want to cut to the chase emotionally and connect faster.
At the same time, dating is getting more honest.
After years of carefully curated profiles and polished first dates, many people are tired of the performance. Dating app fatigue has set in, fuelled by mismatches between online personas and real life encounters, and the sting of being ghosted after early promise.
The response has been a renewed appetite for authenticity. People are increasingly upfront about who they are, what they want and what they definitely do not. Tammy Nelson, sex and relationship expert and consultant for Ashley Madison, said she sees this shift clearly in her clinical work.
People, she explained, are exhausted by pretending. Being real on a first date now means setting boundaries early, sharing values and being clear about emotional availability. It also means allowing someone to meet the real person, not a highlight reel designed to impress. This kind of honesty is especially important in discreet or nontraditional relationships, where transparency sets the tone for trust.
Still, authenticity has its limits. While openness with potential partners is in, oversharing with the wider world is firmly out.
Privacy has emerged as one of the most prized commodities in modern romance. After years of broadcasting every milestone online, many people are craving the luxury of keeping parts of their lives off camera. High profile viral moments and everyday incidents alike have shown how quickly private moments can become public property.
In a recent survey, 61 per cent of Ashley Madison members said they chose the platform specifically for its promise of discretion. As Nelson puts it, privacy has become more valuable than lavish dates or expensive gifts. Time spent with someone who understands caution around sensitive details now carries its own appeal.
This desire for clear boundaries also extends to the workplace. Mixing business with pleasure has lost much of its shine, particularly for women. Data from a YouGov study across 11 countries found that almost one in four women said they would never consider a romantic relationship with a colleague, compared to about one in six men.
Women appear more concerned about professional consequences, while men are more likely to worry about personal fallout. Either way, the message is clear. Office romances come with real risks, and many are choosing to keep their love lives firmly off the CV.
As dating adapts to a more stressful world, the trends point in one direction. Less performance, less pressure and fewer illusions. In their place are shorter connections, clearer conversations and a renewed respect for privacy. Love, it turns out, is not disappearing. It is simply learning to travel lighter.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
