iWorld
Non-metro cities drive 60% of consumption on Discovery+ : Megha Tata
KOLKATA: The leading infotainment network Discovery entered the cluttered streaming space in India last year with the launch of Discovery+. Taking note of the consumer needs, the platform has expanded its portfolio after operating in the market for more than a year, aiming to position itself as a platform that caters to every member of the family, Discovery Inc South Asia managing director Megha Tata said on Wednesday.
“We had an amazing response from our customers, consumers, and partners since launch. It was a pre-crowded market when we launched, with most players fighting the fiction game. We brought about that differentiation in Discovery+ that worked well for us,” Tata said.
However, they soon realised that the platform’s offering was more in the world of infotainment. So, they decided to add more genres to offer a wholesome family viewing experience. The platform has also diversified its content library focusing on fun, facts, and family. A large portion of its content will address those aspects going forward. “We tend to make it more entertaining, interactive and we believe that these two are symbiotic. We are prioritising the kind of content the audience loves watching,” Tata said.
The platform is expanding its library with the acquisition of titles from the A+E Networks’. It is enriching kids’ content portfolio with shows like Mr. Bean, Little Singham, Kids Baking Championship, My Little Pony, Hanuman, Mister Maker. Discovery+ also plans to attract eyeballs of sports buffs by introducing the likes of FIM MotoGP World Championship. These are the three key buckets of enhancing Discovery Plus’ content offering. Apart from acquiring titles, it has also decided not to shift focus from original titles as well.
In the course of realigning the content library, the platform has considered audience feedback through available data addressing the content needs. One of the things the platform observed was that it had certain gaps in content offerings when it comes to kids and family specifically. For instance, it had limited content in store for women but the female viewership jumped immediately after adding Star VS Food.
“One of the surprises was that our content was getting an encouraging response in tier II, tier III markets, because of our language strategy. We got seven languages on the platform, which has brought in engagement from tier-II, tier III cities as well. In fact, nearly 60 per cent of the consumption on our platform is outside of the eight cities and it is increasing quarter by quarter. There is an audience need for content like ours which is being seen in our number as well. Our viewership is a combination of metro cities, tier II, tier III cities,” Tata shared.
Discovery Plus’ audience cuts across age groups, from six to sixty. The platform has rich content created over the years, a library of 3000 hours of content. A lot of this content has not seen the light of the day in India due to the limitation of slots on linear TV. But, Discovery+ has come up with a solution for this.
By adding up new content, the platform hopes to acquire new subscribers more rapidly. On the other hand, it also has an ad-based segment. “Our approach with that line is we are a content creating company and that’s our expertise. We want to bring in our expertise, experience to brands who can create their brand communication through the content we create for them,” she explained.
To reach more viewers, Discovery+ is also striking many partnerships like other platforms and the one with Jio has benefited the platform significantly. Many more b2b2c partnerships will be unfolded in the coming months ranging from smart TV brands, telcos, hardware companies.
In what could be a big boon for the platform in India, if HBO Max content is integrated with the platform in the coming days, the way Disney-21st Century Fox merger panned out for Hotstar. Nonetheless, it is still not clear how the merger will pan out for the platform in India.
“It’s a great partnership. We are excited. It’s a great opportunity to bring these two media companies together and create huge possibilities. Now the business is usual for us and we will continue to focus on our priorities. The merger will bring the two companies that have shared value, complementary assets, iconic brands, franchises. This will be a great marriage which is in the works. And we are looking forward to how this unfolds in the coming months,” Tata signed off.
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
