iWorld
AltBalaji’s Manjit Sachdev joins Viacom18 to lead content for Voot & Voot Select
KOLKATA: Strengthening its creative team and focus on building an immersive and inclusive content strategy, Viacom18 has appointed Manjit Sachdev as content head for its leading video on demand brands Voot and Voot Select.
Sachdev, in her new role, will lead the content team at Voot and will be responsible for driving the future original content strategy across the advertising and subscription businesses of Voot and Voot Select.
She will be aligned to Viacom18 Digital Venture COO Gourav Rakshi and work towards building further scale to the platform's diverse content portfolio.
Viacom18 Digital Ventures COO Gourav Rakshi said, “Voot has successfully developed a unique approach to storytelling which has helped create a differentiated perception in the minds of our audiences. I am happy to welcome Manjit to the team to reinforce and further burnish this strategy and build on our current success with Voot & Voot Select. I am confident that her experience and understanding of the nuances of storytelling, will further elevate the content experience on our platforms."
Sachdev comes with over 18 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry. Prior to joining Viacom18 she has been successfully driving the content strategy at various brands in the M&E space like AltBalaji and Sony Entertainment. At AltBalaji she was responsible for leading the content pipeline for the platform across different genres.
Viacom18 has over the last few years built a formidable digital ecosystem that has gone on to emerge as one of the key thought leaders in the category. Sachdev's appointment as head content on Voot will add further depth to our future content strategy.
iWorld
X launches XChat messaging app on iOS with calls and encryption
Standalone app marks shift from “everything app” vision, adds E2E messaging.
MUMBAI: From one big app to many small chats, X seems to be splitting its ambitions. X has rolled out its standalone messaging app, XChat, to iOS users, opening up a new front in its evolving product strategy. The app allows users to connect with existing X contacts through private and group messages, file sharing, as well as audio and video calls. The launch follows a limited beta phase, where the platform tested the product with a smaller user base to refine the experience. Now available publicly, XChat marks a notable pivot from earlier ambitions championed by Elon Musk to turn X into a single “everything app” combining messaging, payments, commerce and more.
Instead, the company under xAI ownership and backed by SpaceX appears to be building a suite of standalone applications, each targeting specific use cases while expanding its broader ecosystem.
At launch, XChat includes end-to-end encrypted messaging, PIN-based access, disappearing messages, and features such as message editing, deletion for all participants, and screenshot blocking. The company has also said the app is free from advertisements and tracking mechanisms, positioning it as a privacy-first alternative in a crowded messaging space.
However, security claims around the platform are likely to face scrutiny. Earlier iterations of XChat drew criticism from experts who argued it fell short of established encrypted platforms like Signal. With the wider rollout, the app is expected to undergo fresh evaluation to assess whether those concerns have been addressed.
Beyond messaging, XChat will also house X’s Communities feature, which is being discontinued on the main platform due to low usage and spam concerns. Migrating these users could provide an early boost to adoption, effectively turning XChat into both a communication and community hub.
The move underscores a broader recalibration at X less about cramming everything into one app, and more about spreading bets across multiple touchpoints, one message at a time.
