Applications
BSkyB net profit up 12% to ?1.5 bn
MUMBAI: UK pay TV operator BSkyB‘s net profit rose 12 per cent to ?1.5 billion in the year ended 30 June 2012 on the back of a successful football season coupled with increase in subscriber numbers.
The satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company partly owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch has seen its revenue go up by 3 per cent to ?6.7 billion. Operating profit before exceptional items rose 14 per cent to ?1.22 billion.
The company said it added 312,000 customers during the financial year taking the total number of subscribers to 10.6 million. Sky Broadband, the company‘s internet service provider, has a customer base of 4 million.
The company reported a 12 percent increase in the number of subscriptions to individual products, including line rental and high-definition television.
BSkyB revealed that it will return another ?500 million to shareholders via a share buyback.
The broadcaster said it had renewed several important media rights agreements during the year including Premier League, Spanish football, British and Irish Lions Club rights.
It had also launched an internet streaming service, Now TV, its second service to complement Sky Go and protect its turf from Netflix.
“I think it has been a quarter and a year again where we‘ve been strong across the board, so our operational performance has once again been very strong. We‘ve seen good growth right across our range of products and services, but I think we‘ve combined that well with further improvements in our customers‘ experience,” said BSkyB Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch.
He also reflects on the impact that BSkyB has on the UK economy, “As a company, we‘re contributing something like ?5.5bn to UK GDP. We work directly with over 4,000 suppliers. We probably account for something of the order of 120,000 jobs in the UK and contribute over ?2bn of tax revenue. So I think our contribution is very, very strong.”
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.
