News Broadcasting
Guest column: Embracing uncertainty is the next normal
New Delhi: For the last decade or so, we have often seen many business managers and leaders speak about how we are operating in and living through what we believed are uncertain times. Economic downturn. Inflation. Recovery. Recession again, followed by revival, of a period of sustained growth.
It’s a new world order where economic uncertainty has seemingly become the new normal. Many of us even started referring to this and connecting it with the acronym ‘VUCA’ to describe the more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. Digitisation, technology transformation, changing geopolitics, evolving business models, and a changing consensus on globalisation and trade have further accentuated the theory of uncertainty.
But the Covid2019 pandemic has changed–our collective calculus of uncertainty. There has never been a time, the human world may have faced such a complex situation. There have been flu pandemics. There was the 2008 financial crisis. And there have been threats and disasters with local and/or national implications: Chernobyl, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina. The Covid2019 pandemic turned out to be more global in scope, frightfully impactful on the economy and society, and more complex than any other crisis that today’s decision-makers have experienced or contemplated.
Embracing uncertainty and complexity has today assumed never-before-seen critical importance in our decision-making process.
Consumers too have started reacting to uncertainties with different coping strategies, and we as marketers will need to respond to this, and more importantly, keep this as an essential influential factor in chalking our future business strategies. The unprecedented rate at which consumer behaviour shifts is weakening the predictive power of historical data. This means predictive models built on legacy data must also be supplemented by near-real-time alternatives, acknowledging shifts and adapting to them as they happen.
Today, the power of scenario-thinking and building sensing capabilities in embracing uncertainties is the key.
There is a fine balance between the opportunities created by uncertainty and the comforts provided by certainty. Leaders who achieve the balance will unravel growth. Uncertainty can ultimately enrich our lives, or diminish them. Instead of getting intimidated by it, embrace it.
(The author is COO – TV9 Studio (digital & broadcasting), TV9 Network. The views expressed here are his own and indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)
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.
