Applications
Online video advertising is gaining popularity in US: comScore
MUMBAI: The comScore online video rankings have shown that while the number of content pieces watched online has dipped but online video advertising is getting popular.
The monthly ranking of the online video market showed that 188.5 million Americans watched 46.7 billion online content videos which attracted 22.8 billion video ad views. This compared with 187 million viewers consuming more than 48 billion online content videos with 19.6 billion video ad views.
As ever YouTube-driven Google sites dominated, boasting the highest average engagement among the top ten properties, taking 167 million unique viewers. The month’s big news in terms of properties though was AOL which captured the number two spot with 71.2 million views, up 57.9 million in July, displacing Facebook to third place with 62.2 million even though the social network added just under a million more viewers. Next was NDN with 50.7 million and VEVO with 49.4 million. August 2013 also saw 46.7 billion video content views with Google sites generating the highest number at 17.4 billion, followed by AOL with 992 million and Facebook with 803 million.
All of this content activity was the driver for an increasingly robust online video where 87 per cent of the US internet audience viewed online video for which the duration of the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes with the average online content video rolling in at 5.2 minutes. Video ads accounted for a third of all videos viewed and 3.4 per cent of all minutes spent viewing video online.
Google sites contributed 3.2 billion video ad impressions out of the total of 22.8 billion for the month. Adap.tv came in second with more than 2.4 billion ads, followed by BrightRoll Platform with 2.4 billion and LiveRail.com with 2.2 billion. Time spent watching video ads was 8.5 billion minutes, with BrightRoll Platform and Adap.tv delivering the highest duration of video ads at 1.1 billion minutes each. Video ads reached 56 per cent of the total US population an average of 132 times during the month. The recently enriched Hulu over-the-top (OTT) service delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 71.
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.
