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Big TV, Fox Star join hands to promote ‘Avatar’
MUMBAI: Big TV, the Anil Ambani-owned direct-to-home (DTH) company, has entered into a marketing alliance with Fox Star Studios for promoting James Cameron’s magnum opus Avatar in India.
As part of the deal, Big TV will run a month-long 360 degree marketing campaign and will launch a 30-second English television commercial (TVC) featuring the cast of the film. The TVC is expected to go on air across 12 English channels including Times Now, AXN, Star World, Star Movies, and HBO from 15 December.
The DTH operator will also showcase interviews with Cameron and the stars of Avatar. The footage will also include behind-the scenes of the movie.
Reliance Big TV senior VP Umesh Rao said, “This partnership brings in enriched content to our subscribers and delivers larger than life experience through multiple grounds promotions planned across key cities.”
Fox Star Studios and Big TV are also creating special promotional zones across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Pune, Ahemdabad and Jaipur at key multiplexes. Apart from this, tie-ups with Baskin Robbins and Big Cinemas have been finalised to create exclusive zones.
The tie-up is part of Big TV’s content strategy to introduce niche and unique content on its DTH platform, the company said in a release.
Avatar is releasing in theatres across the country in 2D, 3D and IMAX versions on 18 December. Fox Star Studios is releasing the movie worldwide.
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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.
