EXCLUSIVE: ‘Indians opening up to non-monogamous life,' Paul Keable

Indians got to know about Ashley Madison when the Netflix documentary lsquoAshley Madison Sex Lies amp Scandalrsquo released in May It dives deep into the data breach the site was subject to and the subsequent public release of personal information of millions of users The site itselfmdashnamed after two of the most popular female names in America by its founder Darren J Morgenstern in 2002mdashis a ldquomarried datingrdquo platform that goes by the tagline lsquoLife is short Have an affairrsquoOn July 15 2015 hackers stole important customer datamdashemails names home addresses sexual fantasies and credit card informationmdashand threatened to post the data online if Ashley Madison was not permanently closed On August 18 all the data was posted onlinePaul Keable chief strategy officer Ashley MadisonIt was supposed to be the end of Ashley MadisonBut after a rebranding and a new CEO in 2024 Ashley Madison has almost 85 million users worldwide up from 35 million in 2015Now as it gets ready to expand its operations in India and revs up to woo Indians into ldquomodern monogamyrdquo midday got an exclusive interview with Paul Keable the Chief Strategy Officer for Ashley Madison Keable currently oversees the brand marketing and communications division of the business and as he told us ldquoinfidelity is the same world overrdquoExcerpts from the interviewhellipWhy IndiaWe have spent the last few years working on and rebuilding the brand and the organisation to deliver on our membersrsquo expectations In a country like India in terms of its scale and unique culture to do well here means we had to have a solid foundation To return to India and really be a successful brand we had to do the work We have done that work Even though we havenrsquot been actively marketing here it ranks up as number 8 in total signups in 2024 Thatrsquos purely on word of mouth Thatrsquos interesting data as we have no marketing presence in the country but the resonance of the brand is so strong By this time next year it will be in the top 3India ranks 8th in total Ashley Madison signups Representation picIndia is a traditional countrymdashand so most people are quiet about their ldquoaffairsrdquo What kind of research did you do that made you thinkmdashyes there is a need or desire or want for something like thatThere are a number of data points that led us to believe that India was a great opportunity for us and culturally a chance for us to open the conversation about modern monogamy When I looked at the overall ages for members in Indiamdashthey are very young The average male age is 28 and average female age is 29 which tracks because Indians get married earlier compared to western countries In the West the average female age is the late 30s and average male age is early 40s But there has been an overall increase in our GenZ memberships So we are optimistic about our growth We are truly one of the largest dating apps in the worldmdashTinder Bumble will be challenged in India as India has a very different relationship dynamic than the West Whereas infidelity is the same the world overmdashrace religion economic statusmdashitrsquos the same And at the end of the day itrsquos about the discretion we offer Thatrsquos our primary offering While Indians may be opening up to nonmonogamous ways of life they still covet discretion And we offer that particularly for women who may think this is not a path for them We have done some academic researchmdashwhich talks of why women cheatmdashand we feel women in India will want to explore this Eighty per cent of women on AMmdashaccording to an independent study done by the University of Missourimdashwere in sexless or orgasmless marriages and they didnrsquot want to leave their husbands They were in love and they wanted to maintain that relationship but they didnrsquot want to compromise And thatrsquos what Ashley Madison can do in Indiamdashfulfil that needWe all have watched or at least know about the documentary that spoke about the data breach In the face of that how are you promising complete privacy and securityThatrsquos the work we have done to rebuild the stress We once had a team that was in charge of securitymdasha chief information security officer a chief privacy officer nowmdashbut itrsquos the responsibility of every single person at Ashley Madison to look at the privacy and security of every single thing we do Every time we develop a new feature or productmdashwe always askmdashhow does this discuss privacy and security Itrsquos a Sisyphean taskmdashitrsquos never done Every single day we keep working on it Think about thishellip this is how we know we have done the job and we continue to do the job In 2015 we had about 33 million members we now have 85 million members We will probably reach 100 million by the end of the year If we werenrsquot delivering on our promise we would have not had this rebirth They all said it was the end of usmdashwe could never come back And almost 10 years later here I am saying we are the number 1 brand in married dating We donrsquot take that for grantedmdashitrsquos about technologymdashbut itrsquos also about priority Itrsquos the number 1 priorityWhat would your elevator pitch to be a middleaged traditional Indian man or womanLaughs My job isnrsquot to tell you to have an affair It exists because monogamy is hardmdashto think that one person can be your best lover partner financial copartner coparent and live with you day in and day outmdashto be that singular resource is a huge burden We live in a world where relationships change during a period of time We work with a therapist called Dr Tammy Nelson mdashand she believes in a monogamy contract Every five years you renegotiate a monogamy contract While everyone stands at the altar and promises fidelitymdashwe donrsquot really know what it means If I sleep with someone else yes thatrsquos infidelity But what if I have dinner with someone what if I watch porn or go to a strip club Are those activities considered cheating People donrsquot talk about that We are essentially the largest marriage counselling service This has been happening for a long time I donrsquot need an elevator pitchmdashI need a product that delivers on expectationsSo what kind of relationships happen on AMmdashflings longtermThis is the interesting part of infidelitymdashthere is no typical affair You may have a need thatrsquos very shorttermmdasha week weekend or a month We have had people who have had affairs for a decade I have also seen people who have married the person they met on AM One couple has been married for 20 years and they met on AM So there is a lot happening and I think people make judgments without really understanding the space85 mnNo of Ashley Madison users worldwideTop Indian cities by signups Bengaluru Mumbai Pune Thane Hyderabad Central Delhi Chennai Kolkata South West Delhi Gurgaon