News Broadcasting
CNBC-TV18 marks fifth anniversary with Awaaz launch
NEW DELHI: With an aim to empower the common man with business decisions and target regional and smaller advertiser-brands, the Raghav Bahl-promoted Televison Eighteen today formally launched the country’s “first consumer channel”, aptly called Awaaz.
“Our aim is to be India’s largest business and consumer network,” Television Eighteen CEO Haresh Chawla said at press conference to announce the launch of Awaaz, which was reported by indiantelevision.com earlier.
The new channel’s launch, unveiled at a function here attended by prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also marks the completion of five years of CNBC-TV18, country’s first full-fledged business news channel that caters mainly to the upper and upper middle class society.
Pointing out that the business new segment market is worth between Rs. 800 million to Rs. 1 billion — mostly dominated by CNBC TV18 at the moment — Chawla said that the launch of Awaaz and other business channels (from the NDTV stable; Zee Biz has already been launched) is likely to result in doubling of this market segment in a couple of years.
Though TV-18 has a slew of marketing and promotional activities lined up for creating an awareness about Awaaz, which would not be restricted to the TV 18 network channels only, Chawla refused to hold out details saying it may act as a tip off to competition.
According to Chawla, the new channel, carrying the tagline `Awaaz khushali ki’ (the voice of prosperity), should break even between 9-18 months time.
“Our target is to get about 30 million subscribers in three to four months time,” he added, refusing to divulge the price of this pay channel aimed at empowering average Indians to make informed decisions about investing, careers and spending.
According to information available with indiantelevision.com, Awaaz is slated to be a pay channel and priced at Rs 6 on an a la carte basis and will be distributed by Zee Turner. The maximum retail price of Aawaz has been marked at Rs 25, but an effective rate of Rs 6 will be charged from subscribers.
Awaaz is being distributed as part of a new bouquet created by Zee Turner and, according to information available, approximately 3,000 boxes are being seeded in the market place spanning urban and rural areas. “Since we are targeting first time and smaller investors, our focus would be on smaller cities to begin with,” Chawla said.
Awaaz would be on Dish TV’s DTH platform soon and the endeavor, according to Chawla, would be to be present on all DTH platforms, apart from Doordarshan’s free to air KU-band DTH transmission.
Asked whether smaller investors in states like Gujarat and Maharashtra understand Hindi language, Chawla explained, “Hindi, the national language, is understood by more than 65 per cent of Indians and a good 75 per cent of this population falls in the working adult category. There is a fairly large proportion of Hindi-speaking audience that is financially independent and who take investing and spending decisions. There definitely is a need for a channel that understands and talks to the Indian consumer in a language that has wider appeal. With ‘Awaaz’ we aim to fill this gap.”
The new Hindi channel will broadly focus on programmes related to personal finance & markets, guidance on careers, education and consumer based programming, which will help them make more intelligent choices. “Our effort will be to provide jargon free information,” Sanjay Pugalia, editor of Awaaz said.
Besides Pugalia, a former print medium journlaist with experience in the electronic medium too, the editorial team at ‘Awaaz’ includes a mix of print and electronic media journalists like Vivek Law, Gaurika Chaudhuri and Joyneel Mukherjee.
The launch of Awaaz will be phased across various categories of towns over the coming weeks.
Earlier in the day, a CNBC-TV18 India Economic Conclave was held, which was attended amongst other by industry minister Kamal Nath, Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek S Ahluwalia, Arun Jaitley, former commerce and industry, HSBC India hewad Naina Lal Kidwai, first deputy MD of IMF Anne Kruger,, Heizo Takenaka, minister of state for economic & fiscal policy, Japan, and Gordon Astles, president, Asia Pacific, Cisco Systems, Singapore.
Indicative programmes on Awaaz
Investing & personal finance – Interactive shows
Markets Band (Day Band): Coverage from a variety of markets, from small towns to metros, from commodity markets to stock markets, in Hindi, with an educative slant
Aapka Paisa is the smart money manager that offers useful tips on maximizing investment returns in insurance, mutual funds, bonds, etc.
Kaise Kamayen, Kaise Bachayen is an interactive show that covers non-equity queries, such as pensions, loans, credit cards, gold commodities, etc.
Aapka Share will demystify the stock market for viewers with expert perspectives for their call-in queries
Consumer-focused, interactive shows
Aapki Awaaz and Consumer Court air consumer issues from all across the country and focus on consumer rights
Chalti ka naam Gaadi is a weekly guide to the world of auto
Smart Shopping is the Indian consumer’s shopping guide, with buying tips, information on product launches, purchasing options, availability, discount sales and more
News
Hourly news updates, covering a wide range of issues
Hafte ka Audit is a supplement to an in depth news coverage, giving viewers a summary of this week a glimpse into the next
Career, self development & lifestyle
Hum Honge Kamyab is a weekly career guide covering every stage from training to placement. Jiyo Zindagi covers health and lifestyle, with experts perspectives.
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.
