&w=1024&resize=1024,0&ssl=1 "Network18 Media Q2FY25 Results: Net loss widens to Rs 152.31 crore | Company results")
Network 18 Media and Investments on Saturday said its consolidated net loss for the second quarter ended September 30 was Rs 152.31 crore due to investments in sports and digital assets.
The company posted a net loss of Rs 119.18 crore a year ago, according to a regulatory filing by Network 18 Media and Investments, one of the country's largest media conglomerates owned by Reliance Industries.
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However, its consolidated operating income increased by 1.6% to Rs 1,825.18 crore in the September quarter. 1,865.50 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.
“With 6% growth in news business revenue and continued improvement in margins. Overall profitability was impacted by sports and digital investments in Viacom18,” the company said in an earnings release.
Total expenditure rose 1.64 percent to Rs 2,243.13 crore in the September quarter.
Network 18 had a total revenue of Rs 2,059.35 crore in the second quarter of fiscal 2024-25.
Network18 Media & Investments is promoted by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary. It has 20 TV channels, 42 TV channels, JioCinema OTT platform and film studio.
In the September quarter, revenue from the news segment rose 5.9% to Rs 445 crore.
This was “primarily driven by digital segment ad revenue growth across all platforms. TV ads were weak in the quarter as industry ad volume for the news genre declined 20 percent. News' share of overall ad inventory spending also declined sharply by 200 bps. YoY and QoQ”, says
Revenue from the entertainment segment fell 5.4% to Rs 1,339 crore.
“Operating profit for the quarter fell by 5 percent mainly due to lower revenue from the film segment,” it said, adding, “In Q2FY24, Viacom18 Studios released 2 expensive films with no film releases in the quarter, with revenues of Rs 330 crore . The money had an effect.”
JioCinema continues to be the “fastest growing” SVOD platform, surpassing 16 million paid subscribers and Viacom18’s TV viewership grew 100 bps in the quarter.
Further, during the quarter, NCLT approved the “composite scheme for merger of subsidiaries of the company namely, TV18 Broadcast and e-Eighteen.Com (E18) with the company dated April 1, 2023. The scheme came into effect from October 3rd January 2024”, he says.
“The merger creates India’s largest platform-independent news media powerhouse with a broad presence in multiple languages and a streamlined corporate structure,” it said, adding that it also “presents an opportunity for shareholders of the 3 companies to participate in the media business ”. of the group through a listed entity.”
TV18 has a network of around 60 channels in India, covering news, entertainment and sports genres.
The business combination will create opportunities for operational synergies, cost optimization and increased revenue generation, he added.
Adil Jainulbhai, Chairman, Network18, said: “We are delighted to have completed the merger of our news businesses. We are ideally positioned for a strong portfolio of TV channels and digital platforms across the country and its linguistic diversity. India’s favorite news network.”
Earlier, Reliance Industries had announced the merger of its media assets with global media giant The Walt Disney Co's India business, creating the country's largest media empire, valued at over Rs 70,000 crore.
The deal has already received regulatory approvals from fair trade regulator NCLT, CCI and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
(Only the title and image for this report may have been reworked by the Business Standards team; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a distributed feed.)
