Applications
BBC iPlayer Radio app scores high on downloads
MUMBAI: BBC has announced its iPlayer Radio app, launched in October this year, has been downloaded more than a million times. The most popular activity to date in the app has been listening live to The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw.
BBC iPlayer Radio, the new dedicated home for BBC radio, has seen record-breaking audiences since launch, with around six million UK unique weekly browsers, an increase of 30 per cent compared to October 2011 and nearly a third of traffic from mobiles and tablets. Audiences can now wake up to their favourite BBC station and listen on the move, discover the full breadth of BBC content across PC, mobile and tablet, and catch-up on programmes, clips and videos when they want.
On the BBC iPlayer Radio app:
– The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw tops live listening in the morning, with Radio 2’s Chris Evans Breakfast Show and Radio 4’s Today in joint second place
– The most popular on-demand programme to date is Radio 4’s ‘I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue‘, with comedy the top search category
– On-demand listening increases in the evening, with dance music shows by Radio 1’s Annie Mac and Pete Tong performing strongly
– After 10 pm, Radio 4 overtakes Radio 1 for live listening, with programmes like Book at Bedtime proving popular
Since launch, the BBC has released a number of updates to BBC iPlayer Radio including the optimisation of the app for iPhone 5 devices, together with improved programme search and the ability to favourite a specific series on the website.
BBC Future Media head of radio and music and audience facing services Andrew Scott said, “With over one million downloads of the app and record-breaking audiences to BBC iPlayer Radio, we are thrilled that more and more listeners can take BBC Radio with them whenever and wherever they want. We’re looking forward to bringing even more exciting features over the coming months, and to launching the app on other mobile platforms in 2013.”
Applications
Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
