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IBC 2025: IMDb launches new entertainment datasets as streaming wars intensify

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MUMBAI: IMDb is betting that entertainment companies will pay handsomely for insights into what 250 million monthly users are actually watching. The world’s largest film and television database will unveil four new datasets at Amsterdam’s IBC Show next week, marking its most aggressive push yet into the lucrative data licensing market.

The move comes as streaming giants, traditional broadcasters and content creators scramble for competitive advantages in an increasingly crowded entertainment landscape. Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and dozens of rivals are spending billions on original programming, making data-driven content decisions more valuable than ever.

The new offerings include regional popularity rankings for the top 1,000 titles and entertainment professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific, plus historical data tracking weekly rankings since 1998. Companies can slice the data by 13 individual countries, from the United States to South Korea—crucial intelligence as entertainment firms expand globally and tailor content for local audiences.

“Licensing data and insights from IMDb empowers businesses to make data-driven decisions,” said IMDb chief executive Nikki Santoro. The datasets draw from IMDbPro’s Starmeter and Moviemeter rankings, which track page views across the platform’s massive user base—a real-time barometer of viewer interest that predates actual viewing figures.

This granular approach to entertainment analytics represents a significant evolution from IMDb’s origins as a simple film database. The company now positions itself as an intelligence provider for an industry where a single misjudged content acquisition can cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Studios, streaming services, airlines and electronics manufacturers are already using IMDb’s existing data to inform content acquisition strategies and investment decisions. Airlines, for instance, use popularity rankings to curate in-flight entertainment libraries, while streaming platforms analyse regional preferences to guide their international expansion strategies.

The company fulfils licensing through Amazon Web Services’ Data Exchange platform, making it easier for corporate clients to access the information. This integration with AWS—Amazon’s cloud computing arm—underscores the tech giant’s broader ambitions in entertainment infrastructure, complementing its Prime Video streaming service and MGM Studios acquisition.

Industry analysts suggest the timing is shrewd. As traditional television ratings lose relevance and streaming platforms guard their viewing data jealously, third-party metrics become increasingly valuable. IMDb’s dataset spans nearly three decades, offering historical context that newer analytics firms cannot match.

The four new datasets complement IMDb’s existing “Essential Metadata” and “Box Office Mojo” packages. The regional popularity data updates weekly, providing near real-time insights into shifting viewer preferences across different markets. For global entertainment companies, this granularity could prove decisive in programming decisions and talent acquisition.

Santoro will join a panel on women in artificial intelligence and media at the IBC Show on September 12th, alongside executives from Nvidia, Fabric and Backlight. The event, hosted by AWS at Amsterdam’s Apollo Hotel, reflects the growing convergence between entertainment and technology as streaming platforms battle for viewers’ attention using increasingly sophisticated algorithms and data analysis.

The broader implications extend beyond entertainment. As artificial intelligence reshapes content recommendation engines and production decisions, IMDb’s vast trove of user behaviour data becomes a critical resource for training machine learning models. The company’s datasets could help predict which actors, directors or genres will resonate with specific demographics—intelligence worth millions in an industry where hits and flops are often separated by razor-thin margins.

Non-profit organisations and software developers also license IMDb data, suggesting applications beyond traditional entertainment companies. Academic researchers studying cultural trends, app developers building recommendation systems, and marketing firms analysing celebrity endorsement potential all represent potential customers for IMDb’s expanded offerings.

Companies interested in licensing IMDb’s datasets can learn more at developer.imdb.com or arrange meetings by emailing imdb-licensing@imdb.com. With the IBC Show attracting thousands of industry professionals, IMDb’s timing appears calculated to maximise exposure during one of the entertainment industry’s most important networking events.

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Netflix celebrates a decade in India with Shah Rukh Khan-narrated tribute film

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MUMBAI: Netflix is celebrating ten years in India with a slick anniversary film voiced by Shah Rukh Khan, a nostalgic sprint through a decade that rewired how the country watches stories. The campaign doubles as both tribute and reminder: streaming did not just enter Indian homes, it quietly rearranged them.

Roll back to 2016 and television still dictated schedules. Viewers waited weeks, sometimes months, for favourite films to appear on prime time. Family-friendly filters narrowed options further, and piracy often filled the gaps. Then Netflix arrived, softly but decisively, carrying a catalogue of international titles rarely seen in Indian theatres and placing them a click away. Old blockbusters and new releases suddenly coexisted on the same digital shelf.

The platform’s real inflection point came in 2018 with Sacred Games, a breakout series that refused to dilute India’s grit for global comfort. Audiences embraced its unvarnished tone, signalling readiness for stories that did not need box-office validation or censorship compromises. What followed was a steady procession of relatable narratives. Competitive-exam anxiety fuelled Kota Factory. College relationships unfolded in Mismatched. Everyday pressures, not grand spectacle, proved bankable.

Language barriers thinned as foreign series arrived with Hindi, Tamil and Telugu dubbing, expanding viewership beyond urban English-speaking pockets. Marketing mirrored the shift. For global releases such as Squid Game, Netflix leaned on regional creators and influencers to localise buzz and make international content feel native.

The library widened beyond fiction. Documentaries stepped out of festival circuits into living rooms. Stand-up comedians found scale. Established filmmakers, including Sanjay Leela Bhansali with Heeramandi, embraced the platform’s long-form canvas. Subscriber numbers swelled to 12.37 million in India, according to Demandsage, and behaviour followed suit. Late-night binges became routine. Friday release rituals loosened. Watch parties turned solitary screens into social events.

Economics demanded adjustment. Early subscription pricing carried a premium aura that deterred many households. Over time, Netflix recalibrated plans to align with Indian spending sensibilities, conceding that accessibility is as critical as content. To extend momentum around marquee titles, the platform also experimented with split-season releases, stretching anticipation and watch time.

The anniversary film, narrated by Shah Rukh Khan, captures the linguistic shift that mirrors the cultural one: from “Netflix pe kya dekha?” to “Netflix pe kya dekhein?” The question moved from recounting the past to planning the next binge. In ten years, Netflix morphed from foreign entrant to familiar fixture, exporting Indian stories abroad while importing global ones home. The remote no longer waits; it chooses, clicks and moves on. In the streaming age, patience is out, playlists are in, and the next episode is always one tap away.

 

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e-commerce

Tulasi Mohan Padavala elevated to Associate Director at Blinkit

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Gurugram: Blinkit has elevated Tulasi Mohan Padavala to associate director, capping a three-year climb inside the quick-commerce firm and signalling confidence in an executive steeped in ecommerce, category management and on-ground sales execution.

Padavala shared the update publicly, saying he was “happy to share” the promotion, a succinct announcement that nevertheless marks a notable step up within one of India’s fastest-moving delivery platforms. The new role follows nearly three years at Blinkit, where he most recently served as senior category manager from February 2023 to January 2026, focusing on strategic sourcing and assortment planning.

The promotion places Padavala in Blinkit’s mid-to-senior leadership tier at a time when the company continues to expand its rapid-delivery footprint and sharpen category economics. His brief tenure as associate director began in January 2026, with responsibilities expected to span category growth, supplier strategy and cross-functional execution.

Before Blinkit, Padavala spent a short but intensive stint as global ecommerce manager at Wholsum Foods, the parent of Slurrp Farm and Millé, between November 2022 and February 2023. There he worked on digital marketplace expansion and online retail operations, adding a direct-to-consumer and international ecommerce layer to his résumé.

A longer stretch at Amazon shaped much of his cross-border commerce experience. As business development manager for Amazon’s India Global Selling programme from February 2021 to October 2022, Padavala helped Indian D2C brands enter the North American market. His remit ranged from seller recruitment and category revenue management to coordination with industry bodies, regulators and logistics partners. Key outcomes included launching more than 50 D2C consumable brands in the United States, driving a cumulative gross merchandise sales figure of $1m in FY21-22, tripling sales for participating brands during Prime Day through marketing and visibility levers, growing the monthly recurring revenue of more than 10 newly launched sellers from zero to an average $20,000 each, and negotiating ecommerce partnerships that reduced initial launch costs by 20 per cent.

Padavala’s earlier career was forged in the field rather than the dashboard. At Coffee Day Group, he spent close to five years across multiple sales leadership roles. As sales manager in the Greater Delhi Area from July 2019 to January 2021, he led vending-machine and consumables sales for small and medium enterprises with a team of more than 15 assistant and territory sales managers, managed over 2,000 clients, drove upselling and cross-selling, maintained channel partnerships and ensured timely collections. Prior to that, he served as area sales manager in Delhi between May 2018 and June 2019, handling south and east Delhi markets, and earlier in Hyderabad from April 2016 to May 2018, where he led Andhra Pradesh sales for the vending division, supervised service and logistics functions and managed a base of more than 600 machines with a four-member team.

His professional arc began with internships that combined analytics and process improvement. At Boehringer Ingelheim in 2015, Padavala analysed the impact of brand extension on the drug Pradaxa, identified key performance indicators through market research and assessed sales forecasts, recommendations that drew positive responses in pilot studies. Earlier, at Genpact in 2014, he automated manual sales-order backlog reporting using VBA and Excel, increasing efficiency by 800 per cent, and worked on benchmarking metrics within supply-chain planning processes.

From automating spreadsheets to scaling cross-border ecommerce and now steering quick-commerce categories, Padavala’s trajectory tracks the evolution of India’s retail economy itself. Blinkit’s bet is clear: blend data, discipline and delivery speed. The promotion formalises what his career already suggests. In the race for instant commerce, experience that moves from warehouse floors to global dashboards is no longer optional. It is the engine.

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e-commerce

Bharatpe plays a super over as Rohit Sharma fronts T20 push

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MUMBAI: When the stakes rise and seconds matter, even payments need a match-winning finish. That’s the cue for Bharatpe, which has rolled out Super Over, a nationwide campaign led by Indian cricket captain Rohit Sharma, timed neatly ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

The campaign draws a straight line between the pulse of cricket and the pace of everyday digital payments. A new brand film taps into India’s emotional bond with the game, while positioning UPI as the quiet hero that keeps daily transactions ticking along at match speed.

As part of Super Over, users making payments via Bharatpe UPI can bag daily rewards ranging from match tickets and signed merchandise to a chance to watch a T20 World Cup fixture alongside Rohit Sharma himself. Both consumers and merchants are also assured Zillion Coins on every eligible transaction, adding a little extra sparkle to routine payments.

Behind the scenes, Bharatpe is also batting for safety. The platform is backed by Bharatpe Shield, a fraud-protection layer designed to offer enhanced security, comprehensive coverage and dedicated support aimed at helping users transact with greater confidence as digital payments scale up.

Announcing the campaign, Bharatpe head of marketing Shilpi Kapoor said Super Over mirrors the aspirations of everyday Indians, combining speed, security and instant rewards to make UPI transactions feel both reliable and rewarding.

The campaign will play out across digital platforms, social media and on-ground activations nationwide, staying live through the T20 World Cup season proof that in cricket, as in payments, timing is everything.

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