Stories of unflinching courage battling cancer: Kahaani Zindagi Ki season 2

BBC News Hindi has launched the second season of its acclaimed podcast Kahaani Zindagi Ki based on a true life story. The weekly podcast will follow the journey of Ravi Prakash, who discusses how his terminal cancer diagnosis came as a complete shock to him, how he battles with cancer on each level that entails not just dealing with his personal trauma but demonstrating a strong will to reconstruct his life to live longer with his family, and at the same time dealing with exorbitant medical expenses for cancer treatment.

Each episode is filled with inspiring chronicles by Ravi who was told that he had only eighteen months to live when he was diagnosed with lung cancer in January 2021. Being a non-smoker, it was a huge shock for him to process the diagnosis, but he was determined to surpass the eighteen month timeline. With tremendous positivity, Ravi says: “As a father I am not done with my responsibilities, I want to live at least until the middle of next year when my son graduates from the university. I want to see him settled.”

In this podcast series, the BBC’s Sumiran Preet Kaur, who’s battled with cancer herself, has a heart-warming conversation with Ravi on his hopes and aspirations of fighting terminal cancer. He reflects upon moments of joy and celebration, breakdowns, yet bouncing back with the desire of reconstructing his life. He shares his ‘on the go’ accounts of chemotherapy sessions, or when he goes for a family holiday, and celebrates his birthday.

Rupa Jha, Head of News, BBC India says: “This new season of Kahani Zindagi Ki will take the audiences to a journey which makes one believe in the indomitable spirit of humans. Through the life of Ravi Prakash in conversation with Sumiran, we want to normalise conversation around cancer. This is one series which will be a handbook of life for many of us.”

Listen to ep 1 HERE : https://www.bbc.com/hindi/podcasts/p08s9wv2

BBC News Hindi’s Kahaani Zindagi Ki also delves into the innovative technology that is used in cancer treatment, which comes at a huge cost for the patients. It is often unaffordable without the support of family and friends; as a result a lot of people need to fundraise in order to save the lives of their loved ones.

This podcast series launched on 13th of January and will have a new episode releasing every Friday. It will be available on the BBC News Hindi website, BBC News Hindi YouTube channel, BBC News Hindi FaceBook, and on all major podcast platforms including Gaana, JioSaavn, Spotify and Apple.

The France-based extramarital dating app Gleeden has announced that it has achieved 10 million users worldwide.

Of these, 20% or almost 2 million users are from India. The number, as per the company, has grown by 11 per cent from September 2022.

The company said that the majority of new subscribers (66 per cent) come from Tier 1 cities, with the remainder (44 per cent) coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. It claims that most of the Indian users on Gleeden are from a high socio-economic environment.

"India is a country that whilst worshipping marriages and monogamy, keeps growing as far as subscribers on the app. 2022 alone brought us + 18 per cent new users, which went from 1.7 million in December 2021 to the current 2+ million," Sybil Shiddell, Country Manager India for Gleeden, said in a statement.

Being specifically designed for married people, the rise in Indian users on Gleeden reflects how the traditional concepts of monogamy are gradually changing in the country -- a lot of which may also be consensual, according to the company.

Nation’s Fastest Growing National Hindi News Channel, Bharat24 organized its highly anticipated initiative Super Indians at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi to honour extraordinary individuals for their exemplary and contribution towards the Vision of New India.

Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari was the Chief Guest at the event. Him along with the Guest of Honour, Dr Jitendra Singh, MoS, PMO, felicitated the real heroes of New India at Bharat24’s Super Indians. Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, MoS for Culture and Shri Ajay Bhatt, Minister for Defence & Tourism also spoke exclusively at the gala event

Govinda, as the Celebrity Host along with Bharat24’s known, and trusted anchors hosted multiple-panel discussions on topics varying from Health, Education, Business, Economy and Culture. The star panelists included Bollywood Star Vidyut Jamwal, Swami Nijamritananda Puri, Administrative Director, Amrita Hospital, Mr Sameer Sethi, VP & Head of Brand Marketing, PolicyBazaar, Mr Abhishek Sharma, CBO, VidyaMandir Classes, Ms Anita Nayyar, COO-Media, Branding & Communication, Patanjali Ayurved, among other think-tanks. Meanwhile, Bollywood actors Govinda and Vidyut Jamwal also shared insight on entertainment business and shared experiences of their Bollywood journey.

Speaking at the event, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, Dr Jagdeesh Chandra, said, “Bharat24 shares the Nation’s Vision of New India and is continuously highlights the topics imperative to Nation’s growth”, he added, “Bharat24 will continue to celebrate individuals who are contributing to Nation’s development through their initiatives”

Mr Manoj Jagyasi, Chief Business Officer & Strategic Advisor to Board, said, “After successfully organizing the Rajasthan Chapter of Super Indians, we were able to scale the Delhi edition even bigger and I am delighted to say that Super Indians has become one of the most sought-after IP’s. I would like to thank our partners for their continuous support towards our endeavours”

Consumer Spend Cools and Short-Form Video Paves the Way for Double-Digit Growth

data.ai releases its annual State of Mobile Report which sees consumers spending more than 5 hours per day on mobile

data.ai (formerly App Annie), the leading mobile data analytics provider, reveals in its annual State of Mobile 2023 Report that demand for mobile apps accelerated last year while consumer spend shrank. Downloads grew to 255 billion (+11% YoY), and hours spent peaked at 4.1 trillion (+9% YoY). Meanwhile, consumer spending across all app stores, including third-party Android marketplaces in China, slipped by 2% YoY to $167 billion as economic headwinds impact discretionary spending.

“For the first time, macroeconomic factors are dampening growth in mobile spend,” says Theodore Krantz, Chief Executive Officer of data.ai. “Consumer spend is tightening while demand for mobile is the gold standard. In 2023, mobile will be the primary battleground for unprecedented consumer touch, engagement and loyalty.”

Short-Form Video apps, led by TikTok, dominated consumer attention in 2022. Users of these apps streamed a whopping 3.1 billion hours of user-generated content daily, up 22% YoY, and spent $5.6 billion, up 55% YoY, fueling the creator economy.

More key findings include:

Time spent on mobile increased to 5 hours per day, up 3% YoY in the top 10 markets.

OTT (Over-The-Top) apps such as Netflix and Disney+ grew 12% YoY to $7.2 billion.

Mobile ad spend is set to hit $362 billion in 2023, driven by growth in short-form video and video-sharing apps like TikTok and YouTube.

Spending on gaming apps dropped by 5% YoY to $110 billion, yet downloads reached new records at 90 billion, up 8% YoY.

Spending on other apps (non-gaming) increased by 6% YoY to $58 billion, largely driven by subscriptions and purchases in OTT, dating, and short videos. Downloads increased 13% YoY to 165 billion.

Simulation game genres, including Simulation Driving, Hypercasual Simulation, and Simulation Sports, drove growth YoY for downloads, while Action MOBA and Roguelike ARPG games bucked the spending downturn.

Financial volatility reshaped consumer appetite for risk: in the US, crypto trading and investing app downloads dropped 55% YoY, while personal loan app downloads surged 81%.

Price-sensitivity reshaped consumer retail spending priorities: BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) app downloads grew +47% YoY, Coupons & Rewards +27%, and Budget & Expense Tracker +19%.

Rebounds in travel and interest in language learning command share of wallet despite tightening purse strings. Apps such as Booking.com, Airbnb, and Duolingo saw growth.

This year’s State of Mobile report identifies and discusses macro-trends for leading brands and publishers and what success looks like for mature apps across gaming, fintech, retail, social, video streaming, and more. The report delves deep into demographics and app, and game categories made possible by the more than 250,000 apps categorized under data.ai’s industry-first Game and App IQ taxonomy.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) will hold its annual meeting at Davos in Switzerland from January 16 to 20, bringing together world leaders from government, business, and civil society to discuss the year's priorities. The five-day meeting is centred around the theme ' Cooperation in a Fragmented World'.

India will be in focus this time at the World Economic Forum due to a confluence of factors—economic and growth outlook stands out amid global fears of a recession and slowdown. Its global heft is on the rise, as it has assumed the G20 presidency and will convene the G20 Leaders’ summit for the first time in the country in 2023.

The IMF recently described India as a bright spot on an otherwise dark horizon because it has been a fast-growing pocket amid a slowing global economy. India is expected to drive a fifth of global growth in the coming decade, with some estimates forecasting that it will be the third-largest economy by 2027, adding more than $400 billion to its GDP every year. India has also led the world in building the public digital infrastructure that can be leveraged to facilitate transactions, ease the cost of doing business and better match buyers and sellers.

Moneycontrol, through its comprehensive and on-ground coverage of the World Economic Forum, will shine a light on the challenges racking the global economy, the outlook for 2023 and why India is a bright spot.

Binoy Prabhakar, Executive Editor, Moneycontrol, said, “Global leaders from business, politics and civil society are gathering at the World Economic Forum and Moneycontrol will again be present in Davos to give a ringside view into what is happening and a peek into behind the scenes at this important event. We will provide our audience an array of conversations with business leaders and policymakers and news and context on the big themes from the big stage. There will be insightful conversations to look forward to from global thinkers, economists, CEOs and business leaders.”