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Casbaa makes key level appointments
MUMBAI: The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (Casbaa) has appointed Christopher Slaughter as its chief executive officer designate. The incumbent CEO Simon Twiston Davies will continue and work with the new CASBAA management team until 31 December.
Also, John Medeiros will be promoted to the new role of chief policy officer and will become senior government relations advisor to the Casbaa Board. He will report to Casbaa chairman Marcel Fenez.
Casbaa has appointed Jill Grinda as executive vice president focusing on operations and Casbaa‘s advertising initiatives.
Fenez said, “The Board of Directors is delighted with the appointment of Christopher Slaughter and the enhanced roles being taken up by John Medeiros and Jill Grinda. The new team‘s mandate and combined industry experience bring significant additional capacity to Casbaa and the services it provides to its 130 Members.”
Slaughter is a seasoned industry executive, having worked in Asia since 1986. He joins the Casbaa executive team from his role as managing director at production company APV in Hong Kong. He was previously the Asia Pacific head of The Yankee Group, a telecom, media, and technology research company, as well as the Hong Kong and Shanghai bureau chief for CNBC Asia. He has also worked in Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and India and is a fluent Mandarin speaker.
Medeiros has driven Casbaa‘s regulatory agenda over the past seven years. Prior to this he has held senior leadership roles in several US embassies in the region and in Europe.
Grinda, who joined Casbaa as vice president – operations in early 2011, has more than 20 years experience in global media and communications. She was previously responsible for the launch and distribution of several international television channels across Asia.
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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.
