Applications
Music streaming service Guvera tots 10 million users globally; 3 million in India
MUMBAI: Global music streaming service Guvera has reached a milestone of 10 million users. Achieving yet another milestone since its inception in India, Guvera has now garnered a database of over three million users in India.
Guvera has grown from a user base of 1.5 million users in October 2014, to 10 million users in April 2015 globally. A growth that is a testament to their impact on the music streaming industry globally – with over 35,000 users joining the service each day, across the world, over the past 22 weeks.
This milestone follows hot on the heels of Guvera’s acquisition of blinkbox Music in the UK from Tesco in January 2015, which brought with it 2.5 million registered users. One of Guvera’s fastest-growing markets, India, has also just recently celebrated its three millionth user, representing significant growth since launching in November 2014.
“As a young brand, we welcome the 10 millionth user to the Guvera platform with a real sense of pride and delight. We’re thrilled to see Guvera’s global community growing daily and we hope to bring more music lovers on board as we enter new markets in 2015. We believe our growth is also testament to the success of our unique non-disruptive ad-funded model, which allows our users to discover and play the best expert curated music,” said Guvera CEO Darren Herft.
Guvera’s commitment to providing music via an ad-funded model is continuing to be seamlessly integrated with the user experience via the use of branded channels. Brands including Yes Bank, Harley Rock Riders, Ezeego1 and Shaadi.com have partnered with Guvera to bring the innovative concept of Branded Channels to life, giving Guvera users exclusive access to their playlists, offers and content.
Herft added, “Branded channels are a great example of how users are able to engage with brands in a less disruptive manner. Guvera is putting the consumer in charge of the advertising experience. Moreover, advertisers know that they are paying for ads that consumers want. We believe that Guvera is a platform for advertisers and brands to connect with a significant database of users, made possible with the help of Guvera’s innovative content-targeting algorithm.”
The company will continue to focus on its ‘programmed globally, tuned locally’ approach. Guvera’s growth has been helped by its unique customer focused services that are conceptualized by placing the user at the centre of its innovation.
Additionally, the company has also released listening trends based on the Indian user consumption data gathered by its local team in the market. The research points out that amongst the Indian user landscape, the states of West Bengal, Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu are India’s top music streaming states. Amongst these findings, it was also seen that India’s top 3 streamed artists were Arijit Singh at No.1, followed by Yo Yo Honey Singh at No. 2 and Divya Kumar at No.3.
The top category of playlists that resonated most with the users were #love, #dance, #Rahman (music by AR Rahman) and #Pop. Lastly, the research also throws light on the demographics that are most active with the age groups between 18 – 24 years and 25 – 29 years emerging at the top.
Guvera’s global partnership with Lenovo will also see the Guvera app pre-loaded onto Lenovo smartphones and tablets across a potential 160 markets in which Lenovo operates, giving Guvera huge potential to reach millions more people around the world.
Earlier this month, Guvera debuted its newest innovation Fradio at SXSW. Currently available in the USA and Australia (with plans to further expand in 2015), via iOS and Android, Fradio allows users to host their own radio broadcasts using tracks on the Guvera music library. Friends and fans can then listen to and interact with the broadcast in real time, through live talk-back, comments and track requests.
Applications
With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
