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BBC, Nintendo launch new BBC iPlayer as Wii channel
MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC and Nintendo UK have unveilled a new version of the popular BBC iPlayer on Nintendo‘s Wii platform.
First made available through the console‘s Internet channel in April 2008, BBC iPlayer will now be available as a dedicated Wii channel to provide Wii users with an experience of the BBC‘s TV and radio on-demand catch-up service. The new Wii Channel is expected to be available from 18 November.
Since BBC iPlayer first launched on the Nintendo Wii, there have been 900,000 requests for TV and radio programmes, and this new version of BBC iPlayer for Wii has been designed to deliver a better and higher quality experience, with a new full-screen user interface allowing the whole family to catch up on TV and radio together in the lounge, the company said in a release.
BBC Future Media & Technology director Erik Huggers says, “We‘re pleased that we‘ve been able to work with Nintendo to evolve BBC iPlayer on the Wii, providing a faster, high quality and improved viewing experience.
“It‘s important that we offer audiences more ways to access the huge range of BBC content available, and this improved version of BBC iPlayer underlines our commitment to reaching new audiences by making BBC iPlayer available on as many platforms as possible.”
Nintendo UK GM David Yarnton adds, “Our partnership with the BBC is another way in which Nintendo is looking to broaden the market for its products by offering compelling and relevant content to families.
“BBC iPlayer offers Wii owners another reason to turn their console on everyday and adds to the already established non-gaming content on Wii that includes Wii channels for news, weather forecasts and an internet browser.”
To use the new BBC iPlayer on Nintendo‘s Wii, Wii users have to download the BBC iPlayer Wii channel from the menu screen of Wii Shop Channel. Once downloaded, users simply click on the BBC iPlayer icon to launch the new full screen service, then select and play their favourite BBC TV or radio programme that they want to watch.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
