News Broadcasting
Despite revenue drop ZMCL EBITDA up in FY 2020
BENGALURU: The Essel Group’s News media arm Zee Media Corporation Ltd (ZMCL) reported an eight percent decline in revenue from operations to Rs 631.75 crore for the year ended 31 March 2020 (FY 2020, year or period under review) as compared to Rs 686.92 crore reported for the previous year FY 2019. ZMCL reported a loss of Rs 1.6 crore for FY 2020 as compared to a loss of Rs 0.03 crore for the previous year.
Due to provision for impairment loss to the extent of Rs 332.92 crore for its entire investment of non-convertible and non-cumulative redeemable preference shares in respect of its investments in Diligent Media Corporation, the company reported a negative total comprehensive income (TCI) of Rs 272.72 crore for the year under review as compared to a negative TCI of Rs 6.35 crore for the previous year.
ZMCL’s EBITDA for FY 2020 increased 5.1 percent to Rs 182.5 crore (28.5 percent of operating revenue) as compared to Rs 173.64 crore (24.9 percent of operating revenue) for FY 2019.
Operating revenue break up
More than 90 percent of ZMCL revenue was advertisement or ad revenue during the year under review. Ad revenue for FY 2020 declined 5.3 percent to Rs 583.5 crore (92.4 percent of operating revenue) from Rs 616.13 crore (89.7 percent of operating revenue) in the previous year. Subscription revenue for the period under review declined 19.5 percent to Rs 38.16 crore (6 percent of operating revenue) from Rs 47.37 crore (6.9 percent of operating revenue) in the previous year. Other sales and services revenue decreased 56.9 percent in FY 2020 to Rs 10.09 crore (1.6 percent of operating revenue) from Rs 23.4 crore (3.4 percent of operating revenue) in FY 2019.
Let us look at the other numbers reported by ZMCL
ZMCL’s total expense in FY 2020 declined 4.3 percent to Rs 561.23 crore from Rs 586.68 crore in the previous year. Operating costs in FY 2020 declined 3.7 percent to Rs 109.52 crore from Rs 113.77 crore in FY 2019. Employee benefits expense for FY 2020 increased 4.7 percent to Rs 159.41 crore from Rs 1522.19 crore in FY 2019. Finance costs in the period under review increased 33.3 percent to Rs 24.01 crore from Rs 18.01 crore. Marketing, distribution and business promotion expenses in FY 2020 declined 35.8 percent to Rs 52.41 crore from Rs 81.61 crore in the previous year. Other expenses during the year under review declined 22.8 percent to Rs 127.91 crore from Rs 165.71 crore.
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:Â 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.
