iWorld
ABP continues to capture most video views on Facebook in Aug ’17: Vidooly
MUMBAI: For the second month on the trot, it has stayed at the top. Repeating its performance of July 2017, the Hindi news TV channel ABP News, has netted the most viewed videos, according to Vidooly’s most popular ‘Facebook Video Publishers’ from India report for August 2017.
ABP News was the numero uno on the list with around 290 million views, even as sister channels — ABP Live and ABP Majha — captured the fifth and sixth slots with 132 million and 120 million views, respectively.
Aaj Tak came a close second with around 227 million total views for its videos. Dainik Bhaskar was at the third position with 202 million views, and Vijay Television at No 4 with 140 million views.
Star Plus occupied the 22nd spot with 50 million views while Zee News occupied the 26th position with 48 million views. IndiaTV News was at the 29th position with 42 million views.
Dainik Jagran stood at number 21 with a total viewership of 51 million leaving behind News18 Hindi at the 33rd spot. The business channel Quint was placed at the position of 59, Times Now remained at the position of 100, garnering only 12 million views on its page in August.
Video marketing and analytics software Vidooly has launched a report that analyses top Facebook pages from India that focus on online videos. The ranking is based on the number of views clocked only for the month of August 2017 and does not consider pages of political parties/personalities, pages that freeboot videos or only upload video memes, pages of movie stars, singers or brands like Amazon, Cadbury, etc.
The report has been broadly categorised into eight major genres — food, lifestyle, new age entertainment, traditional entertainment, new age news, traditional news, independent creators, and sports creators. And, it rates pages according to popularity (number of likes) and video viewership.
In the sports category, SportsKeeda Wrestling generated more viewership than ESPNCricinfo and Cricbuzz while Lallantop continued to remain the most viewed Facebook page in the category of new-age news.
National Geographic India became the top channel in traditional entertainment with 61 million Facebook page likes beating Zoom, MTV India and Colours channel.
In the traditional news space, Hindi news channel Aaj Tak became the most liked page on Facebook followed by ABP News and Dainik Jagran in the second and third places, respectively.
Vidooly will soon launch its report for YouTube Creators for the month of September. It will be interesting to see that report to find how well are Youtubers leveraging the digital platform.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
