TV18 Broadcast Q2 profit down 95.5% ; revenue up 12.6%

Media firm TV18 Broadcast Ltd on Tuesday reported a 95.55 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 10.28 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2022.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 231.40 crore for the July-September period of the previous fiscal, TV18 Broadcast said in a regulatory filing.

However, its consolidated revenue from operations rose by 12.65 per cent to Rs 1,473.43 crore compared to Rs 1,307.90 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

TV18 Broadcast’s total expenses were at Rs 1,485.95 crore, up 34.59 per cent from Rs 1,104 crore earlier.

According to the company, economic sentiment remained weak during the quarter with high inflation posing a challenge for companies, especially in the FMCG sector.

During the quarter, brands held back advertising spends on new product launches and sustenance campaigns due to these headwinds. Advertising spends by startups and e-commerce players also declined due to the difficult fund-raising environment, TV18 Broadcast said in an earnings statement.

“Total TV ad inventory declined by 3 per cent on a YoY basis with News category seeing a drop of nearly 10 per cent. As a result, ad revenue of our Entertainment segment was flat YoY while News ad revenue saw a decline. The entertainment business was also affected by the drop in Colors Rishtey revenue,” it added.

However, despite such a challenging environment, TV18 Group continued to ramp up its investments across entertainment and news segments, in line with its growth plans.

“While these investments impacted profitability as costs grew faster than revenue, it has had a positive impact on operating metrics,” it noted.

TV18 Chairman Adil Zainulbhai said, “The first half of the fiscal has been challenging for most sectors. However, we believe that this phase should only be a minor bump in the long runway for growth. Our News and Entertainment portfolio already has some of the country’s leader brands and our endeavour is to push for leadership across segments.”

“Despite a challenging growth environment, we continue to make investments which will help us create a strong foundation for long-term and will hold us in good stead as growth returns,” he said.

TV18 Broadcast, a subsidiary of Network 18 Group, owns and operates several news and current affairs channels which include CNN News18 and a host of general entertainment channels like MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon and Colors.

Shares of TV18 Broadcast Ltd on Tuesday settled at Rs 37.55 on BSE, up 3.87 per cent from the previous close. PTI