iWorld
Viacom18 to have 360-degree play for e-sports: Sidharth Kedia
MUMBAI: Esports is at an early stage of development in the country. It is expected to be the future of entertainment and holds an upcoming opportunity for brands and media to promote, reach digital natives and develop new content concepts.
Viacom18 EVP & head corp strategy, M&A, data science and deputy chief commercial officer Sidharth Kedia said, “While e-sports is a youth phenomenon today, its growth pattern will reflect the trajectory it has followed in other parts of the world and we will see people starting to play e-sports at a much younger age group. Other OTT players just have e-sports content but we are doing a whole 360-degree play including live, TV and digital.”
Nodwin Gaming MD Akshat Rathee said, “In about a five-year time, we will be close to the music industry and definitely bigger than all the other industries including comedy.”
Kedia thinks that e-sports on television doesn’t exist. Though all OTT players including Hotstar, SonyLiv and Voot have delved into some kind of e-sports on digital, the industry cannot be defined because the numbers are too small. “We know the number of people that engage in e-sports. About 90 million people play PUBG in India and 30 million people play cricket game every month. These numbers will start translating into this phenomenon which will be on digital, TV and live,” he added.
All youth focus brands and technology brands show interest in e-sports. Voot currently has some 100 hours of e-sports content out of which ESL has 40 hours of content.
“We don’t have an end date to DreamHack since we just started. We believe no one in this country understands both kids and youth better than Viacom does and while television and digital are passive engagement platforms, e-sports is an active immersive engagement platform,” said Kedia.
The state of sports industry over the next three to five years is estimated to grow by 5.3 per cent in Asia and 9.4 per cent in Middle East and Africa (ME&A) according to PwC Sports Survey 2018. Despite the growth in Asia and ME&A, globally the industry will witness a drop by 10.2 per cent. This is because the market conditions across the industry are stabilising as it transitions from traditional to digital media consumption, with sports leaders continuing to predict healthy growth in absolute terms.
Viacom18 on television is experimenting and conceptualising with some interesting formats and that will not be just U Cypher that we saw on MTV. “We believe there are 150 million potential viewers of e-sports on digital and that number is only here to grow,” Kedia concluded.
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.
