iWorld
Nitin Kothari joins OMTV as chief technical officer
Mumbai: Sanatan storytelling platform OMTV has appointed Nitin Kothari as CTO. He will head the technology part and will aim to make OMTV a media tech company by introducing AR/VR for live darshan shows.
He has been working in the technology space for over 30 years, with extensive experience in design, development, and implementation of complex business software solutions. His expertise lies in business analysis in the finance, manufacturing, and accounting domains. He is an all-rounder, from tech-entrepreneur to product leader and an accomplished tech architect across the complete product suite – mobile, web, and back-end systems. Passionate about design thinking and user interface (UI), he has built and managed web and mobile-based products across various domains for organisations in India, the UK and the US.
He said, “My constant endeavour is to apply business sense in developing applications where the effort would lead to large impacts on business processes and results. I am happy to be part of this organisation which is doing some good stuff and putting technology into this genre, which is considered to be very old school. I get more excited when I am thrown a challenge to execute something new on the platform. I hope with tech availability I will be able to match the vision of the founders.”
OMTV founder and MD Nitin Jai Shukla said, “Over the period of Nitin’s professional expertise, he has proven skills in managing teams to work in sync with the corporate set parameters and motivating them to achieve business and individual goals. In his professional career, he has exhibited excellence in developing, piloting, and implementing new business processes. Nitin has a sound ability to identify risks / issues that could affect the project and put in place the required effective solutions. A thorough professional with a proactive attitude, energetic, self-motivated, and capable of thinking and generating new design solutions and ideas. With a soft demeanour, he is very assertive. A team is only happy when we work with like-minded people, and their passion for technology only helps us to experiment and come up with new ideas. I’m happy to have a person who is like-minded and his passion for technology will help us to make the user experience extraordinary.”
OMTV aims to compete with platforms from the OTT industry. For that, they want to infuse a lot of technology into the whole ecosystem. Spirituality is seen as something very primitive and we need to be tech ready. OMTV has recently closed a pre-seed funding round and is now raising its seed funding to become a revenue-making company. OMTV is also planning to introduce AI in the UGC (user generated content) space and a lot of tech features on the app.
iWorld
Netflix cuts jobs in product division amid restructuring
Layoffs hit creative studio unit as leadership and strategy shifts unfold.
MUMBAI: The streaming wars may be fought on screen, but the latest plot twist is unfolding behind the scenes. Netflix has reportedly begun laying off several dozen employees from its product division as part of an internal reorganisation, according to a report by Variety. The cuts are believed to have primarily affected the company’s creative studio unit, which works on marketing assets such as in app trailers, promotional visuals and live experience content for the streaming platform.
The company has not disclosed the exact number of employees impacted.
According to the report, the layoffs were not tied to employee performance. Instead, the restructuring eliminated certain roles while other employees were reassigned to different teams within the organisation.
The roles affected are understood to include designers, producers and creative specialists responsible for marketing and brand experience initiatives.
The job cuts come as Netflix adjusts its leadership structure and reshapes its product and creative teams. Last month, Elizabeth Stone was promoted from chief technology officer to chief product and technology officer, giving her oversight of product, engineering and data operations across the company.
Earlier, in December 2025, Netflix also appointed Martin Rose as head of creative for global brand and partnerships, a move seen as part of a broader restructuring of the company’s brand and product functions.
Despite the layoffs, Netflix remains one of the largest employers in the streaming sector. The company is estimated to employ around 16,000 people globally, with roughly 70 percent of its workforce based in the United States and Canada. In 2023, the company reported approximately 13,000 employees, indicating that its headcount had grown significantly before the latest restructuring.
The workforce changes arrive at a time when Netflix is navigating a shifting financial and strategic landscape in the global entertainment industry.
The streaming giant recently secured $2.8 billion in additional cash after receiving a breakup fee from Paramount Skydance following its withdrawal from a deal involving Warner Bros. Discovery.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Netflix co chief executive Ted Sarandos explained that the company had evaluated multiple scenarios during the negotiations but chose not to match the competing offer once it learned that a higher bid had been submitted.
Netflix had capped its offer at $27.75 per share and ultimately stepped back rather than pursue Paramount’s $111 billion acquisition deal, which included a personal guarantee.
Sarandos also cautioned that the financing structure behind the Paramount Skydance transaction could have ripple effects across the entertainment industry.
According to him, the debt heavy deal could trigger significant cost cutting, with David Ellison, chief executive of Paramount Skydance, expected to eliminate about $16 billion in costs and potentially cut thousands of jobs as part of the integration process.
For Netflix, the current restructuring appears to be part of a broader attempt to streamline operations while continuing to invest in product, technology and global content even as the streaming industry enters a new phase of consolidation and financial discipline.
