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Players Network, Ascent Solutions team up for broadband solutions
MUMBAI; Players Network, a new media and entertainment company, has entered into an agreement with Las Vegas based software engineering firm Ascent Solutions to develop the company‘s next generation proprietary broadband-based content distribution and social media platform.
The advanced enterprise web platform is designed for large scale global distribution and monetisation of the company‘s licensed and original content on its multiple Branded Lifestyle Video Channels for viewing by simultaneous users on all digital devices.
The platform is based on a business model that incorporates forecasted online consumer trends and usability. This new generation software design allows for content to be monetised through a variety of methods including subscription, merchandising, micro-transactions, services and targeted advertising. As a part of this development agreement, the company‘s software will also be managed by Ascent Solutions and hosted at Switch Communication, a data center located in Las Vegas.
PNTV CEO Mark Bradley said, “Ascent Solutions has a team of top tier programmers and software engineers who can deliver the cutting edge innovations we‘ve designed to deliver and monetize media in manner desirable to today‘s consumers, and to the businesses and brands who want to connect with them. This innovative upgrade of our proprietary platform software will establish the worldwide standard for how large and small media companies can begin to monetize content over broadband and any interconnected, digital device. Working with Ben Gayheart and his team gives PNTV the competitive edge we need to make 2013 a breakthrough year in terms of our revenue and profitability.”
Ascent Solutions CEO Ben Gayheart said, I‘m very impressed with Player Network‘s timely approach to content monetization and am betting on their success. This is truly a visionary company that has not only challenged us with a great project, but is at the forefront of creating and distributing Media in a way consumers have wanted for a long time.”
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
