Storyboard18’s milestone | Meta’s first-ever CDO | WhatsApp under govt scanner

Storyboard18 presents FAST FIVE

We bring you top five news updates from the world of advertising, marketing, and business of brands

Storyboard18 crosses 1 million monthly active users, marking a new milestone in its growth journey

Less than two years after its launch, Storyboard18 has crossed one million monthly active users (MAUs) in June 2026, marking a significant milestone in its journey to become India’s leading editorial platform dedicated to the business of media, marketing, advertising and brand-building

The milestone highlights the growing appetite for high-quality journalism that goes beyond headlines to explain the ideas, businesses, technologies and leaders shaping one of the world’s fastest-evolving industries

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Meta names marketing chief Alex Schultz as its first-ever Chief Data Officer

Meta has appointed its longtime Chief Marketing Officer, Alex Schultz, as the company’s first Chief Data Officer, creating a new leadership role aimed at strengthening its artificial intelligence capabilities and data infrastructure

The move highlights Meta’s growing focus on embedding AI deeper into its decision-making processes as the company races to build more intelligent products and internal systems

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Govt asks Meta to pause WhatsApp Usernames rollout in India; company says feature is not yet live

The Indian government has directed Meta to suspend the rollout of WhatsApp’s proposed usernames feature in the country, warning that the new functionality could increase the risk of cyber fraud, phishing attacks, impersonation and so-called digital arrest scams

Shortly after the notice became public, WhatsApp clarified that the feature has not yet been launched and will be introduced gradually later this year

“We’ve announced the option for people to reserve their preferred username on WhatsApp. The ability to use a username is not yet live and will roll out slowly later this year,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said

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BARC holds back TV news ratings as MIB suspension continues

The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India will continue to withhold television audience ratings for news channels after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) did not lift its directive suspending their publication pending the rollout of the new television ratings framework

In a communication sent to subscribers, BARC said that they have been advised by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting not to publish weekly TV ratings until permitted to do so by the Ministry under the new TV Ratings Policy 2026. Therefore, its Week 25-26 weekly release will not include audience data for any television news channel

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Is consolidation the next act in India’s microdrama boom?

When Yash Raj Films took a strategic stake in short-form storytelling platform Rusk, and internet major Info Edge invested in microdrama startup Chai Shots, the deals were read less as isolated transactions and more as early markers

For an industry built on snackable episodes, vertical screens and rapid emotional hooks, the message was unusually long-term. Big media and internet companies are no longer just watching from the sidelines. They are stepping in, chequebooks first

The question now is whether these early bets mark the beginning of consolidation as the next phase of growth, or whether microdrama in India is still too young, too fragmented and too experimental to start swallowing its own

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Source: www.storyboard18.com