iWorld
GroupM’s Goat and Forbes India unveil the Top 100 Digital Stars List
Mumbai: GroupM, the media investment group under WPP, has announced the Top 100 Digital Stars List for 2023 curated by The Goat Agency, GroupM’s influencer and content marketing solution, in partnership with Forbes India. This list showcases India’s most influential digital personalities, celebrating their exceptional contributions across various domains including comedy, beauty & fashion, business & finance, fitness, food, tech, travel, and social work.
The focus is on original content creators, with tech, travel & photography, and comedy influencers constituting over 50 percent of the list. Notably, the list boasts a balanced representation of both men and women, showcasing the diversity of talent in the vibrant influencer community.
“This collaboration between Goat and Forbes India has resulted in the identification of India’s most influential digital stars,” said GroupM India, business head, Goat, Kunal Sawant. “We are highlighting original content creators who are ‘influencing’ their audiences in the best possible way and driving positive impact. Key metrics such as followers, engagement, views, reach and impressions across social media platforms have been taken into account in the curation of this list. We’ve also included the Goat changemakers – a roster of socially conscious creators, and an integral part of GroupM Goat’s Responsible Investment Framework.”
To compile this list, a multi-step process was initiated. Beginning with the identification of top creators in nine specified genres based on engagement rate and follower count, the selection was then narrowed down to the top 100 influencers through a comprehensive assessment of vital metrics, including reach, engagement, impressions, and follower count. Goat’s proprietary scoring algorithm played a crucial role in the process. This algorithm, which compares creators within similar categories, types, and audience sizes, ranks their content based on engagement rate. The careful consideration of authenticity-verified profiles, compliance with disclosure labels, and platform presence ensured a fair and data-driven assessment, highlighting the real impact of these influencers in the digital landscape.
“In the digital age, influencing has been honed into a science, thanks to the availability of gazillions of data that help quantify and measure the degree of influence. The number of followers and engagement metrics like shares and comments help determine the success or lack of it of an influencer. Forbes India-Goat’s 2023 India’s Top 100 Digital Stars takes into account those producing engaging content and with the views, engagement and reach to show for their efforts,” said Forbes India editor Brian Carvalho.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
