Entertainment
Harshaali Malhotra, Kabir Khan bag ITA Awards
Mumbai: Salman Khan’s “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” received an outstanding response while the film’s director Kabir Khan and child artist Harshaali Malhotra managed to add star power to the 15th Indian Television Academy (ITA) Awards where they were presented with the Popular Director and Best Child Artist award.
Hosted by Manish Paul, Bharti Singh and Krushna Abhishek, the awards show was held here on Sunday. Kabir was the special guest of the event.
Actors Karan Patel, Radhika Madan and Anita Hassanandani were the big winners of the event.
While “Yeh Hai Mohabbatein” stars Karan and Anita bagged the trophy for Romantic Hearthrob – Male and Popular Actor in a Negative Role – Female category, Radhika, who appears in “Meri Aashiqui Tumse Hi”, took home the Best Newcomer (Female) award. Radhika also won the Popular Youth Icon award, which she shared with Shakti Arora.
Ace choreographer-filmmaker Farah Khan was given the trophy for the Most Versatile Personality in Entertainment.
The Popular Choice Award was bestowed on Hina Khan and Karan Mehra from “Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai”, while “Kumkum Bhagya” lead pair Shabbir Ahluwalia and Sriti Jha won the trophy for Popular Couple – Drama.
“Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah” was announced as the Popular Serial-Comedy; the Most Popular Reality Show of Indian Television award was given to “Bigg Boss”, and the longest running TV show “CID” was declared as the Popular Thriller/ Horror Show. “Saath Nibhaana Saathiya” was chosen as the Popular Serial – Drama, and the Popular Serial- Special Mention trophy went to “Balika Vadhu”.
Manish Paul, best known for his hosting gigs on TV, took home the award for the Popular Entertainer, while Shilpa Shinde and Rohitashva Gaur clinched the trophy for the Popular Couple – Comedy.
The trophy for Popular Actor in a Negative Role – Male was given to Mohit Malik.
Mika Singh was given the award for the Popular Singer.
Krushna Abhishek and Sudesh Lehri were chosen as the Popular Comedy-Duo, and popular Comedy-Creators award was given to Cyrus Broacha and Kunal Vijaykar.
Popular chef and entrepreneur Sanjeev Kapoor was chosen for “Zaika-E-Hind” at the event, where actors like Karanvir Bohra, Siddharth Nigam, Priyanshu Jora, Sonia Balani, Gautam Gulati and Krystle D’Souza took to the stage to perform.
The 15th Indian Television Academy (ITA) Awards will be aired on October 18 on Colors.
Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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