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Codemasters Online partners with Playspan
MUMBAI: Codemasters Online has revealed details of its new partnership with PlaySpan that offers monetisation solutions for online games, virtual worlds and social networks.
Players will be able to purchase Codemasters Online digital goods and services using more than 56 methods of payment.
The new partnership has gone live just in time for the launch of the latest digital expansion to The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood (due for release on 3 December).
UltimatePay (the combination PayByCash’s 10 years of payment services experience and Spare Change’s social network payment platform) offers many popular cash-based payment methods including CertaPay, CashU, Ecapay, hyperWallet, TravellersExpress, MobilCash, MoneyMail, Mister Cash, myCitadel and Wallie Card.
UltimatePay can be used to pre-order the Siege of Mirkwood digital upgrade as well as many other Codemasters Online products.
This partnership is one of many enhancements that Codemasters Online has made to improve the consumer billing and account experience in the last six months. This addition to the accounts system will facilitate a wide choice of easy payment methods for any customers unable to purchase with a credit card.
Says Codemasters Online VP GM David Solar, “I am delighted to launch this new scheme and think it is fantastic that we can now provide yet another route for users without credit cards and enjoy our games and services. We are working hard to constantly improve our customer experience and this is another step in that direction.”
Avers PlaySpan founder, CEO Karl Mehta, “PlaySpan is excited and proud to partner with Codemasters Online. We’re eager to introduce UltimatePay to its fans and enable more of them to experience Codemasters premium content.”
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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.
