iWorld
Disney+ Hotstar to stream UK show featuring David Beckham on 9 November
Mumbai: OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar has debuted the official trailer for the UK original series, Save Our Squad with David Beckham. The series is set to premiere exclusively on Wednesday, 9 November at Disney+ Hotstar. The announcement was accompanied by four new images from the series.
It is co-produced by Bafta and RTS Award-winning production company Twenty Twenty, and Studio 99, the global content and production studio co-founded by Beckham. Save Our Squad with David Beckham is a series that sees David Beckham return to his East London roots to mentor Westward Boys, a young, grassroots team who are at the bottom of their league, facing relegation. However, this isn’t just any league… This is the same league that Beckham played in as a young boy. Working with the head coaches, he’ll try to turn the team’s fortunes around.
Beckham mentors the young squad, sharing stories from his own playing career, which spanned over 20 years and saw him play for some of the most successful clubs in the world, to help them learn valuable lessons about practice, ambition, and teamwork. Off the pitch, Beckham gets the chance to spend time with players and their families, learning about their lives, hopes and concerns and talking to them about the importance of collaboration, work ethic and community.
In the trailer, we see the first time the squad meets David Beckham, with one member of the team quizzing him on missed penalties. For David, this role is about giving back, as we see him mentor the boys, give them inspiring team talks, and even get his boots back on to try to score a trademark Beckham free kick against our young team.
Save Our Squad with David Beckham builds on the company’s commitment to source, develop, and produce original productions. Disney’s International Content and Operations team plans to create 60 local productions in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa alone by 2024 as it continues to collaborate with outstanding creators and premium producers.
e-commerce
Visa report tracks rise of India’s affluent, experience-led spending
Affluent base doubles to 130 lakh, travel 58 per cent of elite spends.
MUMBAI: In India’s new luxury playbook, it’s less about owning more and more about living better. A new whitepaper by Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA) maps a decisive shift in India’s affluent economy, where spending is becoming more intentional, experience-led, and closely tied to personal identity rather than pure income growth.
Titled India’s Affluent Economy 2025–2026, the report draws on a Visa-commissioned Yougov study and VisaNet data across travel, dining, retail and lifestyle categories. The headline number is hard to miss: individuals earning over Rs 10 lakh annually have nearly doubled from 69 lakh to 130 lakh, significantly expanding the country’s discretionary spending base.
But it’s not just about scale, it’s about behaviour. As consumers move up the affluence ladder, discretionary categories are taking a larger share of credit card spends, positioning cards as key enablers of premium, lifestyle-driven consumption.
The geography of wealth is shifting too. Affluence is no longer confined to metros such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, with cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Jaipur and Lucknow increasingly mirroring metro consumption patterns.
The report highlights a clear pivot from ownership to access. More than 50 per cent of affluent consumers now use cards for elite memberships, while 7 in 10 are drawn to limited-edition drops and curated collections. Increasingly, luxury is defined by seamless access be it concierge-led travel or curated dining where time saved is as valuable as money spent.
Spending patterns reinforce this shift. Among the ultra-elite, travel accounts for 58 per cent of discretionary spends, far outpacing retail and luxury combined at 28 per cent. Cross-border spending penetration stands at 63 per cent, signalling a growing global outlook among India’s affluent.
Closer home, indulgence is becoming routine. Nearly 4 in 5 affluent consumers dine at premium establishments at least three times a year, while 1 in 4 visit luxury venues more than five times annually. Dining spends are also climbing, with Rs 20,000 emerging as a new entry-level benchmark per experience and Rs 50,000 marking premium territory.
Retail, meanwhile, is becoming more selective. Three in four affluent consumers make a high-end purchase at least once a quarter, while one in four shops premium every two weeks. Luxury retail intensity is also rising, with 2 in 5 consumers spending over Rs 5 lakh annually, and a smaller but significant segment exceeding Rs 10 lakh.
Technology and wellness are carving out new roles in this ecosystem. High-end gadgets now see average spends of Rs 60,000 or more per purchase, while ultra-elite consumers are eight times more likely to visit spas and show five times higher engagement with cosmetic stores than non-affluent groups.
The broader takeaway is structural. Affluent consumers are no longer buying products, they are buying ecosystems. Integrated experiences across travel, dining, wellness and payments are becoming central to how this segment lives and spends.
As India’s affluent base expands beyond metros and aligns more closely with global consumption patterns, the real opportunity lies not just in size, but in speed. For brands, the message is clear: relevance will be defined by how early and how seamlessly, they plug into this evolving lifestyle economy.
