Applications
BigFlix to offer service in US, UK, Canada
MUMBAI: Movie-on-demand service BigFlix is going to launch its service in the UK, US and Canada this quarter.
BigFlix is looking to take advantage of the sizeable NRI diaspora there. “These are our primary markets as there is a sizeable NRI diaspora there. Later we will go to markets like Singapore, the Middle East, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia etc. The good news is that there are no connectivity issues in these three markets,” says Reliance Entertainment Digital CEO Manish Agarwal.
BigFlix will add content in Bengali and other languages. While half the content is Hindi, the focus is also on beefing up Tamil and Telugu content. Reliance has some Malayalam and Bhojpuri content as well.
“We have 2000 titles and plan to double it in the next three to four months,” says Agarwal.
The monthly fee is $4.99 and a subscriber can watch unlimited movies.
The business model agreement with producers takes different forms like revenue sharing and assured monthly revenue. It would depend on the size of the film, the timeline of the rights and the quantity of films in a deal with the producer.
How much many subscribers BigFlix is targeting from these overseas markets? “It is difficult to give a figure at this stage. We do not know what the cost of customer acquisition or churn rate will be. Piracy, though, is not an issue for us. We are talking to producers and our message is that this is a legitimate form of content distribution.”
BigFlix is learning from Netflix‘s model which relied on premium content. “They realised early on before anybody else that premium content offered on a subscription basis can be monetised unlike user generated content on a platform like Youtube which is difficult to monetise. Netflix transmigrated users from offline to online and changed the paradigm of the business. We have also focussed on premium content,” says Agarwal.
BigFix, for instance, stopped its ad supported model last year in India. The Anil Ambani-owned company also closed down its physical stores in the country as it realised that scale wouldn‘t be possible through this route.
“We work with companies like LG, Panasonic as well as with laptop companies like Lenovo and Dell. Our app is preloaded and one can watch films for Rs 249 a month. We have a partnership with Airtel for their movies service. Wherever net inflection is happening, we want to be there,” avers Agarwal.
Applications
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.
