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iStream.com bags Internet rights for India-Sri Lanka series
MUMBAI: Online video service iStream.com has acquired the exclusive live streaming and video on demand rights for India for the Micromax Cup India-Sri Lanka series starting 21 July.
The Indian team swings back into action after four months and will be pitted against the Lankans in 5 ODIs and 1 T20. Sri Lanka is one of India’s favourite hunting grounds with a record of 67 wins out of the total 76 played.
The deal was signed with Sporty Solutionz, which has got the Internet and mobile rights for this series from Ten Sports. All the 6 day-night matches starting at 2:30 pm will be streamed live on iStream.com, and will also be available on demand for a month after the tournament.
iStream founder, CEO Radhakrishnan Ramachandran said, “After a relatively long lay off, Indian cricket fans will be delighted to see their heroes back in action. We saw tremendous response to Uefa Euro 2012, which we streamed exclusively in India. This series will further strengthen our sports vertical on iStream.com. We plan to bring in more such exclusive partnerships in the online video space”.
Apart from the matches, iStream viewers can catch special programming around the event, including pre and post-match highlights, team statistics, player profiles, trivia and other related clips.
Integrating social features, iStream will allow Facebook users to live-chat on the site while the matches are played and “like” or “tweet” any clip or statistics.
Sporty Solutionz CEO Ashish Chadha said, “iStream is the pioneer in the internet streaming space and I am sure with their unique technology delivery platform live-streaming of the matches will be altogether a great experience for the Indian cricket fans.”
iStream.com adds hundreds of new videos every day to its library of over a 100,000 clips of premium News Bulletins, TV Shows & Movies in five Indian languages from over 50 channels. It also streams 26 news channels – in English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam – live 24/7.
Last year iStream.com raised $ 5 million from global private equity fund SAIF Partners. It was SAIF’s first investment in the online video space. The $1.25 billion fund counts online travel services from MakeMyTrip and local search company Just Dial among its top portfolio companies.
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.
