iWorld
Reimagining SonyLIV: the story begins
MUMBAI: Way before international streaming giants entered the Indian over-the-top (OTT) market, Indian broadcast networks had already rolled out their digital offerings. Sony Pictures Networks India's (SPNI) digital arm SonyLIV – one of the early-movers in the “streaming race”, is now undergoing transformation under a new leadership team. While its business has largely been driven by advertising revenues and catalogue offerings till now, the streamer is all set to increase its focus on subscription and original content.
Led by digital veteran Uday Sodhi for around half a decade, SPNI rejigged its team, plonking in old-time SPNI executive Danish Khan to lead it, adding to his responsibilities as business head of its leading GEC Sony Entertainment Television. Khan roped in the A-Team that works with him at SET, Ashish Golwalkar and Aman Srivastava, to also help him revitalise SonyLIV. Golwalkar, the content head at SET will now help build the streamers slate, while Srivastava, who steered the rebranding and positioning of SET, will also have the digital business marketing title on his visiting card. Amogh Dusad as head – programming and new initiatives, digital business has been given the mandate of strategic planning, operations, viewership management and analytics for SonyLIV.
Golwalkar says his experience at SET will help him steer the streamer’s content play well. “As we jokingly say that on SET, in any case, we make digital content. The digital traction of SET is very good because as a channel we are largely urban. We are focussed on metros and newer metros and the urban markets and digital growth is also happening here which very nicely coincides,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “In terms of learning, of course, it is a different medium. So we will have to evaluate the content basis that.”
“However, there are certain inherent aspects that we have as a network in terms of the ethos of content and the kind of people we talk to. I think we will take a lot of synergies from that piece and we will navigate those people who are already there on the network and look after how we navigate them to our own digital platform as opposed to them straying to some other OTT platforms. I think that’s going to be a challenge but I think we’ll do it,” he adds.
Golwalkar confesses that for any streamer the real traction for subscription is driven by premium sports or premium content and SonyLIV is going to play both. As the network already has premium sports properties, the major focus will be on originals for the next few months. “Anyway, we did not have any significant original content play before this,” he says.
In terms of language, Hindi and English are going to be important languages, followed by Marathi and Bangla as SPNI already has linear television channels in those markets. The platform will also consider some of the south languages also.
“We already have Sony Pictures Television content, some of it is with other OTT platforms. So we will see how we can attract more studios and international content to SonyLIV, the talks are on. These relationships with the international studios are forged over many years. Some of the relationships we already have and some of them we intend to kind of build,” he comments on English content portfolio.
“We have just started SVOD last year. We started the relationship with Lionsgate which gives us almost 400-500 hours of content. Some of the bigger shows from their slate include Power, Anger Management, Sweetbitter. We strengthened our Hollywood offering with SPT content also. We believe that there is an audience for English content also. It has just been six to eight months into the journey. I think we will continue to push and strengthen Hollywood offering,“ comments Amogh Dusad, another key person in the transformation.
“We are looking at the entire piece like a strong SVOD service coming and the idea is to be in touch with the consumers whether online or offline or on any social media or the basic consumptions on the app to ensure that what we show on the app is in sync with his /her taste and preferences. And a lot of work is going to happen in the next two months,” Dusad adds.
The reason for the SVOD shift: with higher investment in originals and acquisition of premium TV content, reliance on just ad revenues is proving a challenge for Indian streamers. The subscription curve is growing at a faster clip than the ad revenue one, although the Indian market is going to remain an ad-led one as per experts. A recent KPMG report projects subscription revenue from OTT platforms to grow to Rs 22 billion in FY20 and Rs 62 billion by FY23.
“The insights tell you what are the triggers that get a person to start sampling the product and what is it that keeps the person as well. So what it helps especially for us is to design the consumer experience around that,” explains Srivastava. “So, one is an experience which is on the app, the other is the interaction with the brand outside the product as well. We will also have to work on is where do you get the consumers as insights will play a role where you find a like-minded set of audiences. All of these help in defining the consumer journey – some of who are on the platform, some of who are not on the platform and some who are not even aware of the platform. So we are going to work around all three sets of people using all kind of insights we get on or outside the platform.”
Is pricing going to stay put or will a new package be drawn up?
“Everything is up for change. As all were saying, all businesses go through a transformation, so SonyLIV, the digital business in SPN, is going through one such transformation and everything is up for discussion. What we are very sure is that we are going to shift the focus more towards subscription, currently, a large bulk of it is ad revenue. It’s a no-brainer that if anyone wants to have a play in this, we will have to drive subscription,” Golwalkar sums up.
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.
