iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Back here after a hiatus. The State of Play, sports business publication I am building (and write), dropped a scoop. It details the ongoing sale process ft. the two IPL franchises: the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and the Rajasthan Royals. Who's in, what's being pitched etc. Do subscribe and read!

stateofplay.club

Inside the process: how the race for RCB and Rajasthan Royals is unfolding

The race for the two IPL franchises is now down to a handful of serious bidders. Months of exploratory conversations have given way to firmer offers, as buyers begin to confront the numbers and the re...

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

india was rightly called the sleeping giant of women's cricket. now it has woken up, and how! i wrote a few words about the business behind India's women's World Cup win and how that changes the economics of women's cricket (+ sport) globally. www.stateofplay.club/india-world-...

stateofplay.club

The business behind India’s Women’s World Cup win

India’s World Cup win was the result of years of incremental reform, steady investment, and a league that treated women’s cricket as a business worth building.

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

The State of Play’s first subscriber-only story 🔒 is live. It is about how a Mumbai-based tyre manufacturer has been quietly building one of the most distinctive (and eclectic) portfolios in sport. Do subscribe and read. www.stateofplay.club/bkt-sports-s...

stateofplay.club

The calculus of sport: How BKT built a global brand off the beaten path

An Indian industrial brand has rewritten the rules of sports marketing, backing small-town leagues and rural audiences from Italy to Australia, turning proximity into strategy.

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

this is a great, long read. “The screen revolution will shape our politics as profoundly as the reading revolution of the eighteenth century.”

open.substack.com

The dawn of the post-literate society

And the end of civilisation

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

back after a hiatus. early this week, I launched The State of Play, a weekly, subscription-led publication on the business of sport, written from an Indian lens. on Friday, I dropped a scene-setting essay on Indian sport’s $40 billion reset. do read and subscribe (and share, if possible). 👇🏽

stateofplay.club

The $40 billion reset

Capital is flowing, franchises are multiplying, and participation is surging. But India's sporting infrastructure is being constructed in real time — and the gap between commercial momentum and instit...

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

"The hype is quenching brands’ thirst for profit: the value of sales of portable drinkware in America reached $4bn in the year ending in May 2025; some 270m containers were sold in the country, up from 240m two years ago." - fascinating. on the primarily Gen Z-led business of water bottles.

economist.com

Water bottles, the accessory Gen Z is thirsting after

Oversize tumblers reveal more about fashion than wellness

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Reposted by Venkat Ananth

Brent Terhune @brentterhune.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

You’re telling me this guy was on drugs? I’m not buying it.

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Reposted by Venkat Ananth

The Economist @economist.com · 31/05/2025

China has become the most powerful player in the grim drama of Myanmar’s civil war. To see how, follow an oil-and-gas pipeline through three conflict zones econ.trib.al/EaId2hj

econ.trib.al

China calls the shots in Myanmar's civil war

To see how, follow an oil-and-gas pipeline through three conflict zones

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

this is a must-read, and well-reported account of how Columbia University capitulated to Trump and co.

nymag.com

How Trump Defeated Columbia

The inside story of an unconditional surrender.

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

interesting. puma is now returning to its running roots with its “Fast-R Nitro Elite sneakers” Puma was proper pioneer in running with legendary shoe lines such as Osaka, before its eventual pivot to “sports lifestyle” 👟

bloomberg.com

Puma’s New Running Shoes Offer Hope For a Brand Desperate to Win

Once a pioneer in high-performance sneakers, the company is playing catch-up in an increasingly competitive field

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

apple's suppliers shipped ~$2 billion worth of iPhones from India in march, an all-time high: reuters citing customs data foxconn - $1.31b worth of smartphone exports in march (highest ever in a month, and jan + feb combined). total for 2025 ($5.3b) tata - $612m for march, up 63% from feb. wild!

reuters.com

Apple airlifted iPhones worth a record $2 billion from India in March as Trump tariffs loomed

Apple's main India suppliers Foxconn and Tata shipped nearly $2 billion worth of iPhones to the United States in March, an all-time high, as the U.S. company airlifted devices to bypass President Donald Trump's impending tariffs, customs data shows.

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

not going to happen. so well.

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

"Russia ran a trade surplus with America of $2.5bn last year. Had the calculation applied to it, the country would have faced a tariff of about 40%" www.economist.com/finance-and-...

economist.com

Five crazy Trump tariffs you wouldn’t believe

Saint Pierre and Miquelon earns a dubious honour

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

Wow. “Apple is said to have shipped *five* planeloads of iPhones and other products to the US over just three days to stock up its warehouses and ensure prices don't surge.”

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

wow. just saw this shakti concert during an unrelated rabbit hole trip (some other band etc!) bonus: a recreation of the iconic lotus feet ft. shankar mahadevan in the second half of the video! amazing.

youtu.be

Shakti: Tiny Desk Concert

YouTube video by NPR Music

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

wow. on china’s “micro-drama” rage—a new-media format dubbed as a crossover between TikTok and Netflix, where episodes are filmed in a vertical format and last just over a min each. the value of the micro-drama grew 10x between 2021 & 2023. currently valued at $5.3b expected to hit $14b by 2027 😱

economist.com

China’s ultra-short dramas will enjoy long-term success

The market for China’s micro-dramas—mini soap operas designed for the smartphone generation—is growing

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

“This was British politics entirely contorted and angry—hyperfocussed, to use a Muskian expression—by the thumbs and antic mind of a very rich man, very far away.” - great read on Musk’s foray into UK politics

newyorker.com

Elon Musk’s Latest Terrifying Foray Into British Politics

The world’s richest man has become fixated on child sexual exploitation in deindustrialized English towns—much of which took place more than a decade ago.

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

the most WTF headline of the year so far

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

a fun story on the myth of the airplane mode. “The real reason is this: Airlines think people won’t stop yapping on their cell phones during flights, leading to more instances of “air rage.” That’s why regulators continue to ban phone calls and data usage on planes; it’s just plain annoying.”

qz.com

The myth of your phone's airplane mode

Airplane mode hasn't been necessary for almost 20 years, but the myth persists

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

its taken me 17 years in active journalism to realise a dream, and here we go! a front page lead story in the Indian Express for me was a hallowed space to crack. its happened! 😅

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

this is interesting. Netflix winning rights to stream two Fifa Women’s World Cups in 2027 (Brazil) and 2031 (To be Decided). announcement comes right before its streaming of two Christmas Day NFL games. it shelled out $75 mn for each game. beyond anything else, sports allows Netflix to sell ads!

espn.in

Netflix, FIFA sign deal to show Women's World Cup

Netflix and FIFA have agreed a deal for the streaming giant to have exclusive United States broadcasting rights to the next two FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments, global football's governing body con...

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

highly relatable and long essay, this one by @edzitron.com “It isn’t that you don’t “get” tech, it’s that the tech you use every day is no longer built for you, and as a result feels a very specific kind of insane.”

wheresyoured.at

Never Forgive Them

In the last year, I’ve spent about 200,000 words on a kind of personal journey where I’ve tried again and again to work out why everything digital feels so broken, and why it seems to keep getting wor...

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

What a bizarre story re: football ownership. Romanian investor Dan Sucu, according to the club’s official website, owns 77% of Genoa, Italy’s oldest active football club. Except, a US investor called A-Cap (which was a lender to Genoa’s previous owner 777 Partners) has also claimed ownership 😱

bloomberg.com

Fight Erupts Over Who Really Owns Italy’s Oldest Football Club

Romanian investor Dan Sucu realized what is, for many, a dream come true: owning a historic Italian football team.

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

thoughts re: Ravichandran Ashwin’s retirement. (slightly longish thread, so bear with me 😅) the key (and the missing word) in all of this is *clarity* (or the lack of it). and when it came, what Ash did was unavoidable. here’s my unvarnished take.

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

this is fascinating. The battle between the Broccoli family and Amazon over the future of the James Bond franchise. The Broccoli family has creative control of 007 and Amazon owns the franchise (via its $6.5b MGM acquisition) TLDR: Amazon’s hopes of a new Bond film are in limbo

wsj.com

James Bond Outdueled Goldfinger and Dr. No. Can He Win a Battle With Amazon?

A clash between the Broccoli family, which has creative control over 007, and the e-commerce giant, which owns the franchise, has put Bond’s future on pause.

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

india having their best phase of the batting innings with the ball now 30+ overs old. good 50+ run partnership between KL and Jadeja. India need to get to 250 and avoid follow on. that should be that, with inclement weather.

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

good read. why are Christmas films—often cheesy, mindless and with predictable plotlines—widely loved? • 144 Christmas movies released worldwide, 7x from 2000. • hallmark is releasing 32 films this year bottomline: makes business sense (low budgets ~$5m and higher returns) + theme-wise v positive.

economist.com

Christmas films are cheesy, mindless and widely loved. Why?

The obviousness is part of the appeal

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

this graphic neatly illustrates a decline (the average falls to 14 since 2020). fighting form is one thing but fighting a nemesis you thought you overcame is something else. this is the latter, imo.

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

some stat, this: last five years, Kohli has scored 3 100s, all of which have come with him walking in at 187/2, 153/2 and 275/2. without these hundreds, his numbers in the last five years: 62 innings, 1557 runs, 25.95 average, 9 fifties.

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Venkat Ananth @venkat.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

this is a great grouping. much fuller and a touch wider and virat couldn't hold back from fishing. ideally, should have left it alone.

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