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Pay-TV operators in Europe and Asia bet big on OTT
MUMBAI: Low ARPUs, growing competitive threats, and rival multi-screen services are driving many pay-TV providers in Europe and Asia to explore new business strategies in video services, according to international research firm Parks Associates.
TV Everywhere: Growth, Solutions, and Strategies – Europe and Asia/Pacific, a new report from Parks Associates, indicates multi-screen services now reach 66 per cent of pay-TV subscribers in Western Europe, 21 per cent in Eastern Europe, and 9 per cent in Asia, compared to 90 per cent in North America.
Many pay-TV providers are now leveraging their multi-screen services to offer over-the-top (OTT) services to non-pay-TV subscribers. The UK satellite provider Sky is offering Sky Go, which features live TV and on-demand content, to non-Sky TV customers via PCs, smartphones, and tablets, with monthly subscriptions at ?15-40.
Italian pay-TV providers Telecom Italia, Mediaset, and FastWEB, Romanian incumbent Romtelecom, UAE-based Etisalat, and South Korean cable operator CJ Hellovision have all launched video services that are available to anyone with a broadband connection.
Operators with niche content, such as Telecom Serbia, have also launched new, local-language services to reach segments of consumers outside their home market.
In India, Zeel made its foray into OTT with Ditto TV which will also be available in UK, UAE, New Zealand and Australia. The OTT platform currently offers 35 channels across genres.
"Now that Netflix has entered Europe and large players have acquired OTT services such as Lovefilm and Acetrax, the video services market will be increasingly competitive, forcing pay-TV providers to test new services and business models," said Parks Associates Director-Research Brett Sappington.
"Operators in Europe and Asia have dramatically increased their multiscreen offerings, and some are expanding into pure-play OTT services, with offerings available outside their network footprint."
These efforts will increase as new OTT offerings throughout Europe, including Netflix and HBO, threaten operators‘ premium TV revenues. Parks Associates‘ report examines the development of TV Everywhere/multiscreen services in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Asia/Pacific region.
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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.
