iWorld
Pocket Aces’ Loco sees over 6x rise in daily active users
KOLKATA: With the lockdown accelerating the growth of India’s gaming market, the country’s leading game streaming and esports app, Loco, has witnessed a 6x growth in DAUs in the past month. The viewership increase has been driven by a growth in the number of active streamers on the platform, including India’s top streamers, who are now actively streaming on Loco. Monthly active streamers have increased by 122 per cent month on month during the last three months and continue to accelerate at a breakneck pace.
Loco sees over 1,000+ hours of live gaming content being streamed per day and this is likely to grow further in the coming months. The platform enables users to watch and stream gameplays of different games such as PUBG Mobile, FreeFire, and Call of Duty Mobile. Loco houses some of India’s top competitive gamers such as Jonathan, Ghatak, IND Snax, and Xyaa, who, along with top teams like Fnatic, IND, 8bit, and Team Tamilas, provide viewers with the very best of gaming entertainment. The platform is also pioneering the regional language game streaming space with regular South India-focused programming being created in association with Sky esports and Midfail, the leading Tamil streamer, streaming on the platform.
Commenting on Loco’s growth trajectory, Pocket Aces founders Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh said, “With game streaming and esports, we are witnessing the rise of a completely new category in entertainment and we are excited to serve this ecosystem through Loco. Over the past few months, we have seen consumption growing rapidly and this has been accompanied by strong positive sentiment from content creators, publishers, and advertisers. The gaming community and culture is getting stronger by the day as the sector transitions from a niche hobby to a mainstream interest. We are now seeing streamers come to the fore from various walks of life and different parts of the country, entertaining audiences in their own unique way. We are really grateful for the support of various ecosystem participants and believe that we are just scratching the surface when it comes to the potential of this sector.”
Loco’s notable growth comes amidst a recent report on India’s media and entertainment sector by FICCI and EY, stating that the online gaming industry grew at a rapid rate of 40 per cent in the year 2020. With a mission of transforming esports into popular culture in India, the homegrown app forged an esports partnership with Redbull, manufacturer of the world’s leading energy drink to broadcast the finale of the Red Bull Flick tournament. The platform has also struck an industry-defining strategic alliance with Fnatic India, where the two will co-create unique esports content together which includes multiple tournaments and non-fiction shows. In August, Loco, in association with the POCO M2 Pro hosted its first ever original PUBG tournament that garnered over three million views, with Team Celtz winning the tournament and 8bit Akshat winning the MVP title.
Being one of the earliest entrants in the Indian game streaming and esports broadcasting space, Loco has cemented its position in the rapidly growing ecosystem which comprises over 600 million gamers.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
