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FremantleMedia adds 2 German channels to YouTube originals
MUMBAI: FremantleMedia, creators and producers of entertainment brands, is bringing two additional channels to YouTube. The announcement was made at the Mipcom TV market.
FremantleMedia‘s German production arm, UFA, will create an urban life channel and a crime channel for the online video platform. These two new original channels YouTube is set to launch across the UK, France and Germany.
UFA‘s crime and urban life channels add to the two channels created and launched by FremantleMedia as part of YouTube‘s original channels initiative in the US earlier this year – The Pet Collective, (created and produced by FMX, FremantleMedia North America and FremantleMedia Enterprises) and THNKR (created and produced by @radical.media).
In total, FremantleMedia now operates 90 YouTube channels across 18 territories.
FremantleMedia CEO Cécile Frot-Coutaz said, “We are experts in producing original, quality programming across evolving media platforms, and have built a formidable and unrivalled position as the highest rated TV producer on YouTube. Around the world we‘re opening on average one new channel a week on YouTube, with views of our content reaching more than 2.5 billion in this year alone. We are exceptionally pleased to be building on our long-term relationship with YouTube with these two new channels from UFA in Germany, as we continue to engage viewers and monetise our content far beyond a traditional linear broadcast model.”
UFA‘s urban life YouTube channel will be centred on Berlin, tapping into the city‘s cultural zeitgeist and inspired by its rich mix of inhabitants. The channel is the brainchild of UFA Lab, which will also produce the content, supported by teamWorx and Grundy Light Entertainment. Kristian Costa-Zahn, Head of Creation at UFA Lab, will act as creative producer for the channel.
UFA is also launching an innovative crime channel that will feature expert analysis of real life crimes, criminologist insights, true crime stories and “chilling” revelations. The channel is a collaboration between UFA Lab and UFA Fernsehproduktion. Jörg Winger, the Soko Leipzig producer, will head the channel.
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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.
