Applications
Richard Welsh Elected President of SMPTE
MUMBAI: The Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE) earlier this week announced the election of Richard Welsh as its new president, taking office on 1 January 2025. Welsh, who previously served as SMPTE’s executive vice president, will lead the organisation for a two-year term, concluding on 31 December 2026.
“I am honored to have been elected SMPTE president and look forward to collaborating with the SMPTE community globally to advance our industry,” Welsh stated. He highlighted that for over a century, SMPTE’s mission has been to bring moving images to audiences worldwide. Given the proliferation of video devices and on-demand content, Welsh believes the Society’s commitment to ensuring high-quality media experiences is more crucial than ever.
As the current senior vice president of innovation at Deluxe, Welsh brings over a decade of experience on the SMPTE board, including roles as vice president of education and governor for EMEA and central/south America. He is also a board member of IBC and co-founder of Volustor, a volumetric asset management company.
Welsh began his illustrious career at Dolby Laboratories, ultimately rising to director of digital cinema services. He also led operations for Technicolor’s digital cinema and localisation services and currently serves as an associate lecturer at Southampton Solent University while co-founding Sundog Media Toolkit
SMPTE executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato praised Welsh as an “innovative thinker with bold plans for the future.”
She highlighted his commitment to expanding the organisation’s reach to diverse audiences and fostering early-career professionals, expressing eagerness to collaborate on turning his vision into reality.
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.
