Applications
Nielsen to provide online currency for UK digital industry
MUMBAI: Nielsen has been appointed by UKOM, the UK online measurement body, as its official partner to create the country‘s first currency for planning advertising campaigns on the internet. In India, Nielsen will follow suit and launch a similar standard for internet measurement. |
In addition to the UK, Nielsen provides the currency of choice in France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, Switzerland, China and South Africa. In early September, Nielsen also acquired KoreanClick, a web measurement company in South Korea. Nielsen‘s online division CEO John Burbank says, “As with our strategic alliance in the US to develop products to measure ad effectiveness online with Facebook, we are committed to partnering with our clients to help them compete in the marketplace.” Set to launch in January 2010, the UKOM Audience Planning System (APS), powered by Nielsen, gives advertisers and their agencies the ability to plan media schedules around a single, benchmark source of highly accurate and consistent online data, just as they currently do in the UK for TV, radio and print media. Nielsen associate director, online division Karthik Nagarajan says, “This comes at a time when we are about to launch a similar online audience measurement service in India, which will help media planners and agencies to finally get access to the same extensive and accurate data that has helped grow ad spends in the largest online markets of the world. It will be the first currency for planning advertising campaigns on the Internet in the country”. Providing the online reach and frequency metrics that agency planners require to build media schedules, the planning system will supply UK online audience data for sites with at least 50,000 unique visitors a month, and more. In 2008, according to the IAB, the UK display ad market was worth $1.02 billion – 90 per cent more than in 2005. However, display‘s growth has lagged behind the other two major forms of online advertising – search (up 159 per cent) and classifieds (up 173 per cent). The planning currency will help display advertising grow much faster by giving advertisers the confidence to commit more budgets to this form of advertising. |
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.
