News Broadcasting
NDTV Prime to fully operate on sponsored programmes
MUMBAI: New Delhi Television (NDTV) is carrying forward its de-risking strategy of reducing dependence on advertising revenues. Higher revenues from programme sponsorship had helped the news broadcaster report a small net profit of Rs 2 crore in 2012-13 despite weak advertising revenues, after two years of losses.
NDTV has now brought on board a channel sponsor and a channel partner for its split channels NDTV Profit and NDTV Prime. NDTV has from tonight converted its business news channel NDTV Profit into a dual channel – NDTV Profit will be a business news channel from 9:00 am till 5:00 pm on weekdays and will thereafter convert into a lifestyle and entertainment channel NDTV Prime. Over the weekends, the channel will be entirely NDTV Prime.
The 2-in-1 channel will provide NDTV with two primetime segments, one during the market hours and the second in the evening.
Mobile phone maker Micromax will be NDTV Prime’s channel partner for a three-year period, under a deal, according to sources, that’s valued at a shade above Rs 30 crore. Micromax will gain huge mileage as its emblem ‘M’ will be replacing the character ‘m’ in NDTV Prime.
NDTV has a channel partner for NDTV Profit in the country’s largest exchange the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The channel will carry a line ‘Partnered by NSE’ under the NDTV Profit logo.
A promotional campaign featuring Shah Rukh Khan has already begun through print and TV with the tagline ‘Work Hard Play Hard’ embodying the dual nature of NDTV Profit and NDTV Prime.
NSE MD and CEO Chitra Ramakrishnan said the goals of NSE and NDTV Profit were similar in terms of investor outreach.
Says Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma, “NDTV Prime provides an ideal opportunity for Micromax to reach out to evolved viewers through new programming on lifestyle, reality, automobiles, sports, music, property, gadgets and gizmos and comedy. With digitisation and advancement of technology, we are seeing a trend for greater consumption of high quality
content among the viewers.”
In addition to the channel sponsor for NDTV Prime, the channel will also have sponsor or sponsors for every programme. This is expected to help NDTV Prime break-even within a year.
As reported earlier by indiantelevision.com, NDTV Prime’s big-ticket show will be ‘Ticket to Bollywood’ sponsored by Videocon d2h along with VLCC and Fortis. Prime has been divided into various bands that are sponsored as well.
Education band ‘Mindspace’ at 6:30 pm is sponsored by LIC, IMS, Vidyalankar and Rau’s IAS study circle, Property at 7:00pm is powered by Supertech and indiaproperty.com, Tech band at 8:00 pm is sponsored by Croma, Nokia and Toshiba, Auto band at 8:30 pm is with MRF, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Volvo, VistaTech, Mobil1 and Polaris as main sponsors.
The Comedy band at 10:00 pm and Strip movies at 10:30 pm are currently the only ones without sponsors. “How often do you see a channel which even before launch is pre-sold? People know this channel will work and I was sure we won’t launch it without having the money in the bank,” says NDTV group CEO Vikram Chandra.
Each band will have a different show each day of the week. Along with TV, NDTV Prime will also have exclusive shows on its website www.ndtvprime.com. One of the first is two technology pieces of five to seven minutes that will be exclusively on its website every day.
Does the genre have enough of such content to put out on a daily basis? Tech anchor Rajiv Makhni says, “In technology, something or the other is happening every day. If a mobile is launched say on a Monday why would you wait till Saturday to see a feature on it? So on Prime you will see news, analysis as well as suggestions. Not only will we zoom in on a few best in every category but we will also tell you exactly which product should you buy.”
He also goes on to explain that just because Micromax and Nokia are sponsors, there will be no bias in favour of these brands. “If a product has flaws then it has flaws. You will see it on our shows,” says Makhni.
Men will drive the viewership for NDTV Prime. “A lot of our evening content is aimed for people with interests besides stock market. In fact, now our morning viewership will be a subset of our evening one and the evening will see 10 times more viewership,” says NDTV co-chairperson Prannoy Roy.
With the facelift that NDTV has given to NDTV Profit with a split channel in NDTV Prime, it is also looking at beefing up its distribution with a lot of pull effect coming from people who want to watch Prime, especially Ticket to Bollywood.
“Entertainment and comedy usually has a pull distribution effect. So in this case we don’t have to pay carriage fee as well,” admitted Roy.
Roy, who was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of NDTV Prime, also spoke about the future prospects of NDTV. “Our future has got more to do with the digital platform ndtv.com,” says Roy.
Chandra had earlier said a large part of NDTV’s losses were due to NDTV Profit and now with Prime in place, the company is confident that its profits will get a boost.
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
