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Soccerex Forum to have special session on digital media in footbal
MUMBAI: Soccerex European Forum, to be held from 30-31 March in Manchester in the UK, will this year feature a special session on Digital Media in football with representatives from Nike, Konami, Facebook and Lionside.
The session, titled ‘Digital Media: The Changing Face of Fan Interaction’, will feature a series of interactive presentations looking at how digital media has moved the goalposts of fan engagement and the different challenges and opportunities presented to the football industry by the new media landscape.
The presentations will be made by Facebook head of Mid Market Sales Europe, Middle East and Africa Rick Kelley, Konami head of online business development Florian Stronk and Nike Football Global Digital Lead Mario Turza.
Stronk said, “The European Forum is a great opportunity for us to present our involvement in football, including but beyond the gaming aspects that Konami has been known for. It is a rapidly changing business field for license owners as well as for sponsors. This session should bring everyone up to date and will surely provide interesting insights into the rapidly evolving monetization and promotion opportunities in the digital space.”
The panel is part of a conference agenda covering topics including the success of the German football model, financial equality, commercial challenges to differing sized clubs and Eastern Europe’s upcoming tournaments and market development.
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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.
