iWorld
India Vs Pakistan match creates digital viewership record
MUMBAI: The high voltage ICC Cricket World Cup match between India and Pakistan created global history by recording more than 25 million views on Star’s digital platform Hotstar and Starsports.com. This is the highest ever video views for a single game in any sporting event across the globe in one country.
The number has significantly surpassed online views for any sports event in the world. No other sports event, including the National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl or the Wimbledon, has ever received more than five million unique online views on a single platform on a given day.
Star India COO Sanjay Gupta said, “The opening day of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 registered 6.5 million video views and 5.4 million unique visitors across web, mobile and app on our digital platforms. This was over double the prior record high set last year. Next day, the India Pakistan match created history in online sports viewership with 25 million views for the game on two of our digital platforms — hotstar and starports.com. This has set a new record for the highest number of video views on the digital platform ever for a single match of any sport across the globe.”
The prior record highs in video views were set during India – Sri Lanka game on 13 November, 2014 with 3.6 million video views and the IPL Semi-final on 28 May, 2014 with 3.2 million video views.
Hotstar is the newly launched digital platform with compelling content across sports, TV shows and movies in seven languages. With four million downloads in 15 days, the application has witnessed the fastest adoption of any digital service in the world. Hotstar has been built to adapt to Indian conditions and can work on lower bandwidth. It can operate on speeds as low as 64 Kbps, and ideally on speeds of 128 Kbps.
iWorld
Snapchat parent Snap cuts 16 per cent of workforce in AI-driven restructuring
The Snapchat parent is axing around 1,000 jobs and closing 300 open roles to save $500m, as artificial intelligence makes smaller teams the new normal
CALIFORNIA: Snap is snapping. The Snapchat parent has confirmed plans to cut around 1,000 employees, roughly 16 per cent of its full-time workforce, as it bets that artificial intelligence can do what headcount once required. Shares jumped more than 10 per cent in premarket trading on the news, a brisk vote of confidence from a market that has watched the stock shed about 31 per cent this year.
The restructuring, which also closes more than 300 open roles, follows pressure from activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which holds an economic interest of about 2.5 per cent in the company and has been loudly pushing Snap to tighten its portfolio and lift performance. The firm got what it asked for, and then some.
Chief executive Evan Spiegel told employees the cuts would reduce annualised expenses by more than $500m by the second half of the year. The company expects to incur charges of between $95m and $130m related to the layoffs, mostly severance, with the bulk landing in the second quarter. Staff in Snap’s North America team were asked to work from home on the day of the announcement.
The financial backdrop is not without bright spots. Snap expects first-quarter revenue to rise around 12 per cent to approximately $1.53 billion, broadly in line with analyst estimates. Adjusted core profit for the January to March quarter is forecast at about $233m, comfortably ahead of Wall Street’s expectation of $186.8m.
The harder question surrounds Specs, Snap’s augmented reality smart glasses subsidiary, which Irenic has urged the company to spin off or shut down entirely. The unit has absorbed more than $3.5 billion in investment and burns through approximately $500m in cash annually. Snap is pressing ahead regardless, with a consumer product expected later this year, even as Meta leads the market in the segment.
Spiegel is betting that leaner teams, smarter machines and a consumer AR play can restore Snap’s credibility with investors who have run out of patience. The redundancy notices have gone out. The harder restructuring, the one that requires a hit product rather than a headcount reduction, is still very much pending.
