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Banff 2011: Lisa Kudrow to receive award of excellence in digital media
MUMBAI: The Banff World Media Festival has announced that actress and comedian Lisa Kudrow will be the inaugural recipient of the Award of Excellence in Digital Media at the Interactive Rockies at this year‘s Festival.
Kudrow will be honoured for her work as co-producer, co-writer and star of ‘Web Therapy’, the web series on lstudio.com that has been a huge success with audiences and critics alike.
In addition to accepting her award, Kudrow will also give a feature interview during the Festival exploring her transition from film and television to the web, the finer points of putting together a successful branded entertainment collaboration, and her take on the direction of digital.
Executive director of the Festival Ferne Cohen said, “Web Therapy is one of those few online series that is truly of the web, and not just on it. Lisa Kudrow‘s work represents a big step forward for online entertainment, and we are delighted to honour her with this award.”
Prior to ‘Web Therapy’, Kudrow was best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay on NBC‘s sitcom ‘Friends’. She has also starred in films like Mother, Clockwatchers and The Opposite of Sex.
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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.
