News Broadcasting
Formula One needs to increase appeal in the Far East
MUMBAI: In the future one of the main challenges that Fomula One will face will be to increase its appeal in the Far East without losing viewers in its core markets, i.e. Europe and South America. This will enable it to grab a larger slice of the sports viewing share on television.
This information is contained in a study conducted by research agency Intiative.
In 2004, the global cumulative average audience was 800 million. This audience is distributed across the globe, but is concentrated in those markets with most F1 and motor sport heritage. Europe alone accounts for 75 per cent of the global audience.
Sponsors activity centers on these markets that deliver the greatest audience numbers. Consequently, adding new Grands Prix to the race calendar to boost audiences in the sports periphery, for example in the Far East, is not necessarily the answer to F1s attempts to rejuvenate the sport. Although the season audience rose by six per cent in 2004 versus 2003 as the number of races was increased from 16 in 2003 to 18 in 2004, the global average TV audience per race declined by six per cent.
Sport viewership is driven by national pride and Formula One is no exception. The success of driver Fernando Alonso has caused Spanish audiences to boom. Spain is now the fifth biggest F1 TV market in the world, when average audiences are expressed in millions. Other examples in the 2004 season include the positive effect on viewing of Zsolt Baumgartner on Hungarian audiences, and Takuma Sato on Japanese viewers.
While the Bahrain Grand Prix was the second most popular race of the season, with 55 million individuals, the Chinese Grand Prix was the second least popular, with only 32 million viewers. The relative performance of F1s two newest races was largely a function of time zones the Bahrain race is effectively a European Grand Prix in terms of its start time, whereas the Shanghai race took place early on a Sunday morning in the core European markets. The Chinese Grand Prix attracted particularly small audiences in Europe as a result.
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.
