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DirecTV and Starcom in pact to launch targeted ads in 2011
MUMBAI: In its intension to bring targeted television advertising to the national level,
DirecTV has reached an agreement with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG).
With the agreement in place, SMG will offer its clients like Coca-Cola, GM and Procter & Gamble the opportunity to provide what it expressed in a statement as “scaled, household-addressable advertising.”
Both SMG and DirecTV have said that after the initial testing is completed next year, these ads will reach 10 million subscribers with DVRs based on demographic data and other criteria in the second half of the year.
The Invidi technology, that primarily uses Neilson data, will support this system at the initial stage. Further for more detailed customer segmentations, third-party data providers including Experian can be used as well.
Said Starcom Media Vest chief executive Laura Desmond, “We are finally at the tipping point. Advertisers‘ biggest complaint so far has been that many tests of this service haven‘t been big enough in terms of scale.”
A test conducted by SMG and Comcast last year covering 60,000 households showed that homes with targeted ads switched stations 32 per cent less often than the norm.
According to projections from Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, addressable ads will total $11.5 billion in the US by 2015.
DirecTV has been in plans on this for three years.
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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.
