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CII to organise Conference on Digital Media on 5 July
MUMBAI: The Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry will enter a new era, owing largely to digitisation of technology and new distribution media like Internet and IPTV.
The increasing use of digital technologies is profoundly reshaping the M&E Industry with significant cost reductions throughout the value chain.
In an endeavour to capture this transformation and discuss the multitude of factors fueling the digital revolution, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is organising a one-day Conference on Digital Media – The Digital Revolution: Managing Media & Entertainment Business in Digital Era on 5 July.
I&B Secretary Raghu Menon will deliver a keynote. Trai chairman Dr JS Sarma will deliver a speclal address on regulation in digital media. There will be a panel discssion on Monetising Digital Opportunities. This panel will discuss the potential of IT solutions for broadcasters and movie studios in highly competitive broadcasting space. Air time sales, Advertisement management, broadcast management technologies with the help of ITand upcoming technologies to be used for protecting the content and restricting piracy.
How broadcasters can better manage and leverage the true value of content post digitisation? What business models will drive the industry? Who will be the winners in the years to come? These are the questions that the panel will look forwrd to answer. Zee director and CEO Punit Goenka will deliver a keynote on this subject. The panellists are Times TV Group MD Sunil Lulla, Nielsen president, India Piyush Mathur, ESPN Star Sports‘ Vijay Rajput, Tata Sky CEO Vikram Kaushik and Reliance Media Works head of strategy, film and media services Patrick von Sychowski.
UTV chairman and CEO Ronnie Screwvala will deliver a keynote at the session on Changing Media Experience. The focus will be on specific case studies- get the first hand insights from the industry on how the use of digital technology has affected routine processes and businesses at large in the entertainment industry.
The panellists are Discovery India senior VP, GM Rahul Johri, filmmaker Mukesh Bhatt, Cisco Systems (India) VP Vish Iyer, Zapak COO Rohit Sharma, Cognizant Technology Solutions Practice Head, Information Media and Entertainment Shailaja Jha and India Times CEO Rishi Khiani.
Another session will examine News in the Digital Age. The panel will discuss the trend of new mediums of news dissemination – websites, blogs, and portals. Issues of content, users and growth of such medium as well as the survival of traditional media like newspapers etc.
The panellists are Press Information Bureau Principal DG Neelam Kapoor, NDTV Group Editor Barkha Dutt, Mid-Day Multimedia MD Tariq Ansari, India Today managing editor Kaveree Bamzai and Malyalam Manorama deputy editor and Chief GM Jayant Mammen Mathew.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
