News Broadcasting
Slowdown hurts TV18, Q1 net loss at Rs 242.5 million
MUMBAI: The economic downturn continues to hurt news channels even in the first quarter of the fiscal. TV18 has slumped into net loss of Rs 242.46 million, compared to a profit of Rs 126.60 million a year ago, as revenue has slowed with companies cutting advertising spending in a recession-ridden market.
TV18, which owns and operates business news channels CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz, has seen a 24.53 per cent decline in the first-quarter revenue to Rs 568.57 million, as against Rs 753.35 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Operating expenses stood at Rs 471.20 million, as against Rs 469.65 million in the first quarter of FY’08.
Says TV18 MD Raghav Bahl, “While our business news channels have continued to build on their dominant positions in the face of new launches, revenues have yet to recover fully.”
On a consolidated basis, TV18 posted a net loss (profits after tax and before minority interest and ESOP charge out) of Rs 416.35 million for the quarter ended 30 June 2009. This is higher than the year ago loss of Rs 57.65 million.
The consolidated results include financials of Web18, Newswire18 and Infomedia18.
Consolidated revenue for the quarter went up by 15.41 per cent to Rs 1.07 billion, as against Rs 929.92 million in the previous fiscal. Operating expenses surged 41.46 per cent to Rs 1.04 billion (from Rs 732.31 million).
Says Bahl, “We are happy to report an incipient turnaround in the company’s operations, after two extra-ordinarily tough quarters.”
Web18, which houses the web properties of the group including in.com, has reported a net loss of Rs 88.23 million as against a net loss of Rs 81.41 million. Revenue from operations were up marginally at Rs 142.10 million, from Rs 131.58 million in the same period of the previous fiscal.
“Web18 has cut its operating losses sharply, as it moves out of investment phase. In.com, Moneycontrol.com and ibnline.com have strengthened their leadership positions, while other portals are acquiring new audiences,” says Bahl.
Newswire18, on the other hand, has shown a 65.55 per cent rise in revenue at Rs 74.48 million (against Rs 44.99 million). The net loss of the company came down to Rs 14.37 million in the quarter, as compared to Rs 38.04 million.
“Newswire18 revenues have been buoyant, and its operations are close to breaking even,” adds Bahl.
Infomedia18 has posted a revenue of 288.12 million and operating loss of Rs 21.97 million. The net loss (before minority interest) was at Rs 71.30 million.
Says Bahl, “Infomedia18’s operations have been restructured, cutting down operational losses to a fraction of earlier levels. Forbes India has generated a strong launch momentum with paid copies and subscription numbers tracking ahead of business plan. We are satisfied that the operational turnaround is proceeding according to our expectations.”
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI: Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
