Applications
Zapak creates special destination for Olympics
MUMBAI: Zapak Digital Entertainment has created a special destination for the upcoming London Olympics to engage users in an Olympic like virtual competition.
The Zapak Gaming Olympiad will offer a digital experience of the quadrennial event on PCs and mobiles and is the first initiative coming from a gaming platform to integrate Olympics with virtual casual gaming. The Gaming Olympiad is all set to go live on the same day as the London 2012 Olympics i.e. 27th July.
Speaking on Zapak Gaming Olympiad, Reliance Entertainment digital head product Deepak Abbot said, “Year on year we see a surge of about 10 to 15% on the website traffic during any sport event. Zapak Gaming Olympiad is the result of the same discovery. The Olympiad zone is Zapak’s initiative to offer one stop destination to our users for everything related to this year‘s Olympic Games.”
He added, “We wanted to develop a platform where users could be engaged in an Olympic like virtual competition while simultaneously can also keep themselves updated about the on-going games, which tends to become a little difficult at times via traditional media.”
The zone will feature live updates on medal tallies, results and updated game schedules. The Gaming Olympiad Zone will also host four simultaneous online competitions across these 4 games – Field Hockey, Hurdles Run, King of the Ring and Table Tennis Pro – where participants can compete in a virtual global ‘Olympic’ styled competition.
As a part of the Olympic destination, Zapak has created a leader board for each competition which will showcase the current standing of the top performers in each sport-based online game. The winner of each game will be awarded a motorbike once the competition concludes on 12 August. You can visit the zone on Olympics.zapak.com.
Zapak also plans to promote the Gaming Olympiad on various digital platforms. The brand is planning to integrate the Gaming Olympiad with Facebook and Twitter to connect with its social communities.
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.
