iWorld
Nielsen crowns Bluey, Stranger Things at 2025 streaming awards
INDIA: Nielsen has unveiled the winners of its 2025 Artey Awards, marking a record-breaking year for streaming as audiences clocked an estimated 16.7 trillion minutes of viewing: a 19 per cent rise from 2024 and the highest on record.
Disney plus’s animated favourite Bluey claimed the top streaming title of the year for a second straight time with 45 billion viewing minutes, while Netflix’s Stranger Things emerged as the most-watched original series, drawing 40 billion minutes and helping the platform secure five category wins.
The inaugural Artey Award for streaming icon of the year went to Seth MacFarlane, whose extensive catalogue of television shows and films generated more than 60 billion viewing minutes across platforms in 2025. Nielsen said the honour recognises creators whose body of work consistently drives sustained audience engagement.
According to Nielsen’s streaming content ratings, the Artey Awards are based purely on audience viewing minutes across major platforms including Disney plus, HBO Max, Netflix, Paramount plus and Pluto TV.
Nielsen SVP product strategy Brian Fuhrer, said the awards reflect how rapidly streaming continues to reshape viewing habits, with both established hits and new entrants capturing audiences at scale.
MacFarlane’s long-running series Family Guy and American Dad! ranked among the most-watched adult animation titles of the year, while his films and newer shows added billions more minutes of streaming time across services including Hulu, Peacock and Fox-linked platforms.
iWorld
X launches XChat messaging app on iOS with calls and encryption
Standalone app marks shift from “everything app” vision, adds E2E messaging.
MUMBAI: From one big app to many small chats, X seems to be splitting its ambitions. X has rolled out its standalone messaging app, XChat, to iOS users, opening up a new front in its evolving product strategy. The app allows users to connect with existing X contacts through private and group messages, file sharing, as well as audio and video calls. The launch follows a limited beta phase, where the platform tested the product with a smaller user base to refine the experience. Now available publicly, XChat marks a notable pivot from earlier ambitions championed by Elon Musk to turn X into a single “everything app” combining messaging, payments, commerce and more.
Instead, the company under xAI ownership and backed by SpaceX appears to be building a suite of standalone applications, each targeting specific use cases while expanding its broader ecosystem.
At launch, XChat includes end-to-end encrypted messaging, PIN-based access, disappearing messages, and features such as message editing, deletion for all participants, and screenshot blocking. The company has also said the app is free from advertisements and tracking mechanisms, positioning it as a privacy-first alternative in a crowded messaging space.
However, security claims around the platform are likely to face scrutiny. Earlier iterations of XChat drew criticism from experts who argued it fell short of established encrypted platforms like Signal. With the wider rollout, the app is expected to undergo fresh evaluation to assess whether those concerns have been addressed.
Beyond messaging, XChat will also house X’s Communities feature, which is being discontinued on the main platform due to low usage and spam concerns. Migrating these users could provide an early boost to adoption, effectively turning XChat into both a communication and community hub.
The move underscores a broader recalibration at X less about cramming everything into one app, and more about spreading bets across multiple touchpoints, one message at a time.
