News Broadcasting
Ad breaks took a break on the news channels
In the aftermath of Tuesday’s horrific multiple terrorist attacks on America’s institution’s of military and financial might, literally all eyes have been and are on the unfolding story. The US has been hit and the world is shaken to the core. Richard Sambrook, director of BBC News on the US disaster, was probably speaking for the media community at large when he said: “I doubt many of us have ever been confronted with a story of such magnitude.”
On a more banal level, there is a huge opportunity here for the various news channels due to the phenomenal increase in eyeballs that an event like this engenders.
So have the ad sales managers been working overtime to bung in as many ads as possible? Quite the opposite actually. On the day of the attack (Tuesday) all the major news networks beaming in India opted for total and blanket news coverage without any ad breaks.
While CNN went the whole hog (understandable it being an American news channel) and has been operating a single news service feed to all its audiences around the world and is still broadcasting without any ad breaks, the other channels began doing so from yesterday. India comes under CNN’s South Asia service.
Business news channel CNBC India’s CEO Haresh Chawla pointed out that during such times as these the only issue with any news channel was to make sure that as comprehensive coverage as is possible is delivered to audiences. Queried about whether advertisers would want to position their products to cash in on the increased viewership he said the channels would not agree to it in the first place and secondly, even advertisers would be reluctant fearing a negative backlash.
Star India’s executive V-P ad sales, Raj Nayak, ruled out any attempt to cash in as it were on increased traffic. “As a news channel, we will not capitalise on tragedies,” Nayak says. Nayak added that the logs for ad breaks were sent (to Hong Kong) 48 hours in advance, so even if there was pressure to increase ad time it could not be done at such short notice.
Nayak added that all programming on the Star World channel was switched to Fox News once the gravity of what had happened in New York and elsewhere in America became clear.
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.
