Applications
India helps ESPNcricinfo break new ground during T20 WC
MUMBAI: Leading cricket portal ESPNcricinfo has said it has posted its best-ever audiences for the Twenty20 format of the game during the recently concluded ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. T20 cricket Fans logged more than 800 million page views and spent total of 2.3 billion minutes on the website through all devices and platforms.
India contributed more audience to ESPNcricinfo than any other territory globally, with more than 35 per cent of all total global page views and more than 32 per cent of global total minutes coming from fans in this country. It also contributed the greatest total mobile web usage, logging more than 183 million total page views so far in the tournament and almost 324 million total minutes of time spent via mobile devices.
Additionally, throughout the tournament, ESPNcricinfo said it had an average minute audience of almost 80,000 people across computers, mobile web, and mobile apps – meaning that during any given minute of the 18-day tournament, an average of 80,000 people were engaging with ESPNcricinfo. The average minute audience is four times greater than the 2010 tournament.
Fans also watched 164,000 videos on average per day on ESPNcricinfo during the tournament not counting streaming video which is available in some regions.
The portal said the most dynamic growth in audience and engagement for ESPNcricinfo since the 2010 tournament has come on mobile devices. Globally, the brand saw 678 per cent growth in total page views (to more than 445 million) and a staggering 981 per cent growth in total minutes (to nearly 855 million minutes) via mobile devices, compared to the tournament two years ago.
Across all platforms – online, mobile web, apps and tablets – ESPNcricinfo posted its best day of the tournament on the final day of the Super 8s stage registering 266 million minutes and 101 million page views.
The tournament has also marked a milestone for ESPNcricinfo and ESPN3 in the US, helping expand access to, and exposure for, cricket in the country. US-based cricket fans constituted ESPNcricinfo‘s second-biggest audience globally for the tournament (trailing only India), with nearly 17 per cent of global page views and nearly 19 p er cent of all minutes spent during the tournament – across all devices – coming from the US. US-based fans also accessed more videos per day on average (71,171) than any other territory worldwide.
Meanwhile, UK-based cricket fans engaged more via ESPNcricinfo‘s mobile apps than fans in any country globally. During the tournament so far, more than one-fifth (21%) of the 8.1 million minutes spent daily (on average) with ESPNcricinfo‘s mobile apps came from the UK.
ESPN International vice president, digital media Arne Rees said, “We‘re thrilled fans from around the globe chose ESPNcricinfo as their go-to across all platforms to follow the World Twenty20 Championship. We‘re proud to be serving a growing audience of US cricket fans while continuing our leadership in delivering for fans across the Indian subcontinent, the UK, Australia, South Africa, the Caribbean and around the rest of the world. ESPNcricinfo prepared for one of its most comprehensive tournament packages to date around the World Twenty20 Championship and fans have clearly appreciated that content and connected to it through the devices they use every day.”
Applications
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.
