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India to take over US in digital TV subs by 2017
MUMBAI: India is expected to overtake the US in 2017 in terms of digital TV penetration while China will have the most pay TV subs at 315 million by end-2017, according to a study by Digital TV Research.
India will follow behind China with pay TV subscribers touching 145 million, the study said.
Based on forecasts for 80 countries, the number of digital TV homes will double between 2011 and 2017 to 1,323 million, according to the new report.
The digital TV world household forecasts report estimates that global digital penetration will climb from 48.6 per cent at end-2011 to 86.7 per cent by 2017.
Of the 648 million digital TV homes to be added between 2011 and 2017, 259 million will come from digital cable. Primary FTA DTT [homes taking DTT but not subscribing to cable, DTH or IPTV] will bring in a further 174 million, with pay DTT adding 5 million. Pay IPTV will increase by 114 million, with pay DTH up 66 million and FTA DTH 31 million.
Report author Simon Murray said: “There were still 714 million analogue TV households (both terrestrial and cable, with a few analog DTH ones) by end-2011. However, this total will fall to 202 million by end-2017. Analogue penetration will drop from 51.4 per cent at end-2011 to 13.3 per cent by end-2017.”
There will be 140 million analog terrestrial homes and 62 million analogue cable ones by end-2017. However, digital cable subscriptions will reach 494 million homes, followed by 220 million pay digital DTH and 139 million free-to-air digital DTH.
Pay IPTV will contribute another 165 million households, up from only 51 million at end-2011. Meanwhile, FTA (free-to-air) DTT homes will reach 291 million, with pay DTT generating a further 15 million.
Digital cable will be the most popular TV platform by end-2017, accounting for 32.4 per cent of the world’s TV households, with analogue cable still serving 4.1 per cent of TV homes. Pay digital DTH penetration will be 14.4 per cent, with FTA digital DTH accounting for 9.1 per cent.
Pay IPTV penetration will climb to 10.8 per cent, up from only 3.7 per cent at end-2011.
About 16.7 per cent of homes will be primary FTA DTT at end-2016, with 0.9 per cent pay DTT.
Analogue terrestrial TV will be taken by 9.2 per cent of the world’s TV households, down from 31.8 per cent at end-2011. Of the 648 million digital TV households to be added between 2011 and 2017, 440 million (68 per cent) will be in the Asia Pacific region, bringing its total to 714 million.
China became the largest digital TV household nation in 2010, and will boast 417 million digital homes by end-2017. Second-placed India will overtake the US in 2017.
Global digital penetration will reach 87 per cent by end-2017, up from 49 per cent at end-2011. Regional penetration at end-2017 will vary from 100 per cent in North America to 76 per cent in Latin America. However, Latin America and Asia Pacific will record strong conversion to digital. By 2017, 47 countries will be completely digital compared with only Finland and Spain at end-2011.
Pay TV penetration (analog and digital combined) reached half of the world’s TV households by end-2010, and will rise to 63 per cent by end-2017.
Penetration at end- 2017 will range from 87 per cent in North America to 22 per cent in the Middle East and Africa. Pay TV penetration will remain highest in the Netherlands, at 99.5 by end-2017.
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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.
