Applications
Airtel Digital TV Q3 operating profit up amid strong subscriber growth
MUMBAI: Airtel Digital TV, Bharti Airtel‘s direct-to-home (DTH) arm, continued to post operating profit for the second straight quarter amid healthy net subscription additions and a rise in ARPUs while churn rate has improved.
The operating profit was at Rs 147 million in the fiscal third-quarter ended 31 December, up from Rs 33 million in the trailing three-month period.
Airtel Digital TV added net 439,000 subscribers compared to a weak earlier quarter in which it grew just 55,000 new customers.
“Digitisation and the festive season helped us grow our subscriber base in the third quarter. We expect this quarter (beginning January) to be good. Some of the gains from digitisation (38 cities by 31 March as mandated by government), though, will be captured in April,” Airtel Digital TV chief executive officer Shashi Arora told Indiantelevision.com.
Airtel Digital TV‘s subscriber base grew 6 per cent to total 7.9 million.
The company narrowed its fiscal third quarter loss before tax and interest to Rs 1.83 billion from Rs 2.23 billion in the earlier quarter. Revenue grew 29 per cent to Rs 4.28 billion from Rs 3.94 billion.
A striking feature this quarter has been how Airtel Digital TV has lifted its average revenue per user (ARPU) while at the same time improving its churn rate. ARPU increased 5 per cent to Rs 186 from Rs 177 in the previous quarter. The monthly churn decreased to 1.3 per cent in the third quarter from 1.9 per cent.
The improvement in ARPU has been achieved through product innovations, pricing corrections and upselling.
“Our HD (high definition) contribution is relatively higher than the other DTH companies. This has led to a rise in ARPUs for us,” said Arora.
Dish TV, India‘s largest DTH operator by subscribers, marginally increased its ARPU to Rs 160 from Rs 159 in the trailing quarter.
During the quarter ended 31 December, Airtel Digital TV incurred a capital expenditure of Rs 1.35 billion in digital TV services.
Applications
With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
