iWorld
Discovery to launch digital channels, ties up with telcos
Mumbai: Discovery Communications India (DCIN) is planning to disrupt the digital space with the launch of bespoke direct-to-consumer and mobile-first channels in February 2018. The new mobile-first channels will focus on four core-interest areas—military, girlist, automotive and food. The first two channels to launch will be Veer by Discovery and Rise by TLC in the first quarter of 2018. These will be followed by specialist automotive and food-focussed mobile-first channels later in the year.
With an unrivalled content library across these areas, DCIN is uniquely positioned to launch and further develop these special-interest verticals across various social and mobile platforms while also nurturing and nourishing these audience communities with meaningful content. The initiative leverages on the unprecedented growth of passionate online communities that is driving a sizeable 15 per cent of digital video consumption in India in the lifestyle/factual genre.
Zulfia Waris, VP, premium and digital networks, Discovery Communications India, said, “The clutter-breaking digital-first content proposition of Veer and Rise is designed to help us achieve our ambition of being the number one mobile content brand in the country. These will be independent digital channels and not catch-up TV—from the best in military to girl power to automobiles and world food, our aim is to create and nurture passionate interest-based communities with edgy world-class content that resonates.”
DCIN has identified a big market opportunity in this space in India, which has no major at scale digital/mobile-first channels and all OTT services mostly offer long-form linear content on digital even though the consumption trends indicate that 76 per cent of all online videos watched are short-form (less than 10 minutes long). In the first year, Veer by Discovery and Rise by TLC will offer consumers more than 100 hours of original content in India.
DCIN has partnered YouTube, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Play to optimise the launch of these channels and maximise its reach across social and mobile platforms.
Karan Bajaj, senior VP and GM, Discovery Communications India, said, “We are thrilled to take Discovery digital in India and accelerate engagement with the growing base of young consumers who are increasingly snacking short-form content. These passionate communities form an integral part of the consumption pattern across digital media and we see this trend accentuating further in future. Our digital channels will help us ramp up reach across linear and digital platforms by almost three times making it an irresistible proposition for the advertisers who will now have the option to reach out to premium consumers across our linear network and presence across the most popular social and mobile platforms.”
Also Read:
Discovery APAC MD & president Arthur Bastings resigns
Kids prefer entertainment over edutainment on TV
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
