News Broadcasting
Walt Disney Internet Group signs distribution agreement with Boonty
MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) has inked a distribution agreement with Boonty, a global expert in the digital distribution of video games, to make some of WDIG’s most popular downloadable games available to consumers in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK.
The agreement further raises WDIG’s profile in the downloadable games category and expands its ability to deliver digital content across multiple platforms.
Disney fans across Western Europe can now access exciting games in local language featuring favourite Disney characters, including The Lion King Grubalicious, the Little Mermaid Bubble Blast, Pirates of the Caribbean Pinball and Aladdin Magic Carpet Racing, by going to Boonty’s network of major portals and online retailers such as T-OnLine, Alice, AOL, TF1 and Eurosport.
“The Walt Disney Internet Group intends to make Disney games content readily available to a broadening audience of consumers around Europe by expanding our distribution channels with leading aggregators. Boonty has the expertise, reach and robust infrastructure required for effective digital distribution, and we are pleased to add them to our network of partners,” said Walt Disney Internet Group, Europe managing director Attila Gazdag.
According to media research consultancy Screen Digest, the European casual gaming market is expected to reach close to $400 million by 2009. Much of this growth is coming from the non-traditional gaming audience – up to 65 per cent of casual game players are female and 48 per cent are aged 35-54 – who are particularly attracted by the Disney-branded games experience.
“We are seeing the gaming industry embrace digital distribution globally with increasingly sophisticated services. The intuitive interface and design simplicity of the Disney games are very appealing to our users and we are delighted to be able to add this content to our portfolio,” said Boonty founder and CEO Mathieu Nouzareth
News Broadcasting
Senior media executive Madhu Soman exits Zee Media
Former Reuters and Bloomberg leader says he leaves with “no regrets” after brief stint at WION and Zee Business
NOIDA: Madhu Soman, a veteran of global newsrooms and media sales floors, has stepped away from Zee Media Corporation after a short stint steering business strategy for WION and Zee Business.
In a reflective LinkedIn note marking his departure, Soman said his time within the network’s corridors was always likely to be brief. “Some chapters close faster than expected,” he wrote, signalling the end of a nearly two-year spell in which he oversaw both editorial partnerships and commercial strategy.
Soman joined Zee Media in 2022 after more than a decade abroad with Reuters and Bloomberg, returning to India to take on the role of chief business officer for WION and Zee Business. His mandate was ambitious: bridge the newsroom and the revenue desk while expanding digital and broadcast reach.
During the stint, Zee Business reached break-even for the first time since its launch in 2005, while WION refreshed programming and strengthened its digital footprint across platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
But Soman suggested the cultural fit proved uneasy. Describing himself as a “cultural misfit”, he hinted at deeper tensions between editorial instincts shaped in global newsrooms and the realities of India’s television news ecosystem.
Before joining Zee, Soman spent more than seven years at Bloomberg in Hong Kong as head of broadcast sales for Asia-Pacific, expanding the company’s news syndication business across several markets. Earlier, he held senior editorial roles at Reuters, overseeing online strategy in India and managing Reuters Video Services from London.
His career began in television and wire reporting, including a stint with ANI during the 1999 Kargil conflict, before moving into digital publishing as India’s internet media landscape took shape.
Now, after nearly three decades in broadcast and digital media, Soman is leaving Delhi NCR and returning to his hometown, Trivandrum.
Exhausted, he admits. But unbowed. And with one quiet line that sums up the journey: he didn’t sell his soul — because some things, after all, are not for sale.
