Applications
MySpace.com gets 50 mn US visitors in May: comScore Media Metrix
MUMBAI: comScore Media Metrix, which provides insight into American consumer behaviour and attitudes has released its monthly analysis of consumer activity at top online properties and categories.
The social networking phenomenon continued its stratospheric ascent, as MySpace.com reached new heights with 50 million visitors in May and YouTube.com nearly doubled its traffic from April, reaching 12.6 million visitors.
In addition to shopping for moms and grads, checking out job sites, and staying on top of personal finance and politics in May, Americans also flocked to their favourite TV show and sports sites, including those focused on the World Cup and NBA playoff games.
comScore Media Metrix president and CEO Peter Daboll says, “The popularity of social networking is not expected to wane in the near future. This is a phenomenon we‘re seeing not only in the U.S., but also around the world. The challenge for social networking sites will now be monetisation and how advertisers will respond to the global marketing potential of these sites.”
Americans demonstrated their interest in the World Cup soccer tournament and NBA Playoffs in the weeks preceeding the June tournaments. The NBA Internet Network attracted 6.3 million visitors in May which represents a 24 per cent increase versus April. fifaworldcup.yahoo.com — the official World Cup site — doubled its traffic, reaching more than 788,000 visitors.
Even more impressive was the worldwide traffic to the official World Cup site during the opening days of the tournament, with more than five million unique visitors from around the globe visiting the site on 9 June. Traffic to the site remained strong throughout the opening weekend, with average daily visitors through 11 June surpassing 4.4 million visitors.
Television fans headed to TV web sites in numbers to check out details for the season finales of their favourite shows. ABC, which aggressively promoted streamed versions of Lost and Desperate Housewives was rewarded with a 39 per cent increase in visitors to ABC.com, surging to 6.9 million visitors.
Traffic to the Lost site increased 71 per cent to 1.2 million visitors in May. Meanwhile, the Desperate Housewives site attracted 528,000 visitors, up 36 per cent from the prior month, and the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
site saw a 41 per cent uptick in traffic to 286,000 visitors. The season finale of NBC‘s long running ER drove traffic to the show‘s site, with 236,000 visitors in May, up 49 per cent compared to April.
Applications
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.
