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Fifa to hijack bandwidth and affect online busineses
MUMBAI: Internet cloud security vendor iSheriff has warned that the FIFA World Cup will not only affect worker productivity, but may also disrupt critical Web-based business resources through excessive bandwidth consumption on sites such as YouTube.
The Fifa World Cup is expected to draw a global audience of almost five billion fans.
It probably won’t come as a shock to some employers that workers might be calling in sick the morning after their team has played. Most businesses accept that these kinds of events will distract their staff and reduce productivity at some point. What many companies don’t realize is how events like this can hijack their network bandwidth and disrupt legitimate business functions.
iSheriff CEO Oscar Marquez says, “Fans accessing streaming media and live coverage at work can prevent productive employees accessing online tools such as Salesforce.com or add major delays to file downloads”.
iSheriff says that YouTube often accounts for more than 75 per cent of normal business bandwidth consumption in typical organizations, with that use set to skyrocket during the World Cup. The company suggests that while total bans on social networking and streaming media can be heavy-handed, there are a range of steps that companies can take to manage bandwidth use and mitigate disruption to their business and productivity.
For companies that want to preserve their bandwidth, but don’t want to cut off World Cup news and coverage completely, iSheriff suggests providing dedicated World Cup computers in the staff room or cafeteria alongside television coverage.
“If you establish central World Cup access in your staff common room or cafeteria, you encourage more efficient use of bandwidth while helping workers keep in touch with their teams in a more appropriate way,” adds Marquez.
iSheriff says that its Web Security Service can control access to sites such as YouTube by workstation or user, enabling organizations to lock down work computers during the Cup while allowing free access to sports sites and streaming media from nominated computers.
“However organisation’s choose to manage worker productivity during the World Cup, the key is communication. Keep workers informed of their responsibilities and the organisation’s expectations of appropriate Internet use during the cup and hopefully everyone can enjoy the occasion productively,” said Marquez.
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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.
