News Broadcasting
NDTV Profit, ‘Business Standard’ to share content; Govind Ethiraj joins BS as new media editor
MUMBAI: Leading pink daily Business Standard is expanding its Internet activities and is in the process of stitching a content deal with NDTV Profit to leverage existing resources of both the organizations.
As the first step in this game plan, BS has signed on the former corporate editor of CNBC-TV18, Govind Ethiraj, as editor of its new media initiative.
“We are getting into a content sharing arrangement with NDTV Profit, for mutual benefit. The precise contours of this will be worked out, and depends on what works best,” a source in Business Standard (BS) today admitted to Indiantelevision.com.
The BS source pointed out that Ethiraj will be “driving this (initiative) from Business Standard and will also be in charge of BS website’s content operations.”
Indiantelevision.com learns from media industry sources that the BS-NDTV Profit deal is likely to include marketing and other revenue generating activities like organising and promoting off-line events jointly, apart from content sharing.
However, this deal gives rise to tantalising opportunities of expanding the relationship into other areas of mutual benefit like designing TV shows for NDTV Profit, a business news channel launched in 2005.
Though not ruling out the possibilities of expanding the relationship to other segments of the media, the BS source said at this moment such questions are “premature.”
Broadly speaking, Ethiraj’s area of responsibility is likely to cover Internet, TV, mobile telephony, broadband and, of course, television. However, in the immediate to near term it will be Internet that will be his focus areas. This will also include driving content on BS’ Internet activities through fare generated by the newspaper and NDTV Profit.
It is worth noting here that Business Standard Ltd, a Kotak Mahindra group company, has flirted with television production before. In the late 2000s, it produced business programmes for the national broadcaster Doordarshan through its television division BS TV.
Ethiraj earned his stripes at The Economic Times and moved to CNBC TV18 when the television news business was just beginning to create an impact.
It was in 2003 that BS, the subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra, entered into a strategic investment with global publishing house the Financial Times of the United Kingdom, which bought into the daily by picking up a 13.85 per cent equity stake.
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.
