Applications
ESPNFC expands availability with Windows 8 app
MUMBAI: ESPNFC, the sports media company’s multi-platform global football initiative, is expanding its availability with the launch of a new free multi-device, multi-screen Windows 8 app which provides football fans a new design and user experience optimised for the new operating system and the variety of devices which will feature it.
Available worldwide now through the Windows Store, the ESPNFC app is optimised for multiple devices, including touch screen tablets and laptops, and desktop PCs. The app utilises the Windows 8 live tiles, which provide users with dynamically updated content, and offers ESPN’s Gamecast function, providing access to the live digital experience with commentary, in-game stats, graphical visualisation, match reports and more.
ESPN Digital Media International VP Arne Rees said, “ESPNFC is increasing the number of fans and brands who connect with our football coverage worldwide. ESPNFC is one of ESPN’s most significant global commitments to the sport of football and leverages the core strength of what ESPN does well – serve sports fans.”
As football heads towards the winter transfer window, ESPNFC has also launched TransferCenter, a responsively-built digital destination that will provide fans a real-time catalogue and multi-media connection to the stories, rumours, updates and player transfer news in leagues worldwide during the run-up to, and throughout, the winter transfer window.
As players complete transfers, ESPNFC will also team with Electronic Arts’ EA Sports to produce images and simulations of that player in their new club kit, based on EA Sports popular Fifa’13 game engine and graphics. Additionally, ESPNFC PressPass, the football debate and discussion TV show, will provide exclusive reaction and analysis video from its stable of analysts and experts throughout the winter transfer season.
ESPNFC is organising a developing worldwide network of writers, bloggers and analysts covering the latest news and developments 24/7, regardless of where they happen in the world. The ESPNFC blogger network includes a roster of its own blogs and contributors, and in the coming weeks will include an expanding affiliated blog network – pulling together some of the top independent voices in the football blogosphere.
Over the coming weeks, ESPNFC will launch half a dozen new blogs, with new offerings around continental European clubs such as Roma, the MLS in the US, as well as subject-specific blogs — for example around the Road to the 2014 Fifa World Cup. These join existing topical blogs such as La Liga, the Boot Room (live matchday blogging), fantasy football, Tactics and Analysis and more.
ESPNFC also features a growing network of correspondents who cover the latest news and stories from key football regions around the globe, including UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, Australia, Latin America and the regional hot-beds of football such as Manchester and London.
Online and on mobile, ESPNFC continues to expand its offering of video highlights and reviews of the key leagues and competitions around the world. In the months since launch ESPNFC has in certain territories globally, launched video around leagues including the UEFA Europa League, Clydesdale Bank Premier League, the FA Cup, France’s Ligue 1, Germany’s Bundesliga and will continue to add more video.
Across the Indian sub-continent, ESPNFC has significantly increased the sports media company’s connection to football fans, and is the fastest-growing digital football destination among leading sites – with unique visitors up 49 per cent year on year.
Across all devices and platforms, fans spent more than 36 million minutes on ESPNFC since the start of the season, up 52 per cent from the same period last season.
On computers and mobile devices, fans on the sub-continent are accessing ESPN football content in increasing numbers, with total page views up nearly 20 per cent from last season to more than 15 million and site visits up 34 per cent. Via the mobile web alone, fans spent nearly 9 million minutes, which is up by 47 per cent from last season.
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.
