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Youku in online broadcast deal for soccer World Cup
MUMBAI: Chinese video site Youku.com has announced that FIFA and CCTV have jointly authorised Youku.com with online broadcast rights to all Fifa 2010 matches.
CCTV has also granted rights to Youku.com for on-demand broadcast of CCTV’s self-produced FIFA programmes.
With these agreements in hand, Youku says that it is now positioned to offer the most complete range of World Cup broadcasts of any online video site in China.
Youku.com’s new World Cup Channel will be dedicated to broadcast of matches as well as interactive activities for football fans. Programming will include match play, an extensive collection of highlights, background
information on teams, and much more. In addition, the Youku World Cup Channel will also broadcast all Fifa-related programming airing on CCTV.
Working with many of its over 2000 media partners, Youku will leverage both online and offline entertainment activities around the World Cup to encourage deeper participation from football fans.
During the Fifa season, Youku will also invite experts, entertainment stars and well-known figures from the world of sports as well as celebrities from the entertainment world to interact with Youku users.
According to the data provided by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), over 60 per cent of Chinese netizens followed the 2006 Fifa World Cup in Germany online. With more than three years of development, online video sites are better equipped than ever to offer marketing value, an excellent user experience, and deep level of user engagement for this long anticipated event.
With daily video views averaging over 200 million and 30 million unique visitors, Youku has established itself as the leading brand in China’s online video market, occupying more than half of the market by total time spent online. The World Cup Channel takes its place beside Youku’s other leading content channels — Youku Information, Box Office Hits, TV Serials, and Youku Entertainment.
Youku has also announced plans to host a conference in the near future, inviting brand advertisers and partners to discuss ways to best use Youku World Cup Channel for building brand value and developing optimal content.
With the Fifa license and Youku’s natural marketing advantage, Youku invites brand advertisers and partners to explore this opportunity.
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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.
