News Broadcasting
Hindustan Times to host online school quiz ‘The Class Act’ on 23 January
Mumbai: Hindustan Times will be hosting an online school quiz called “The Class Act” on 23 January. The grand finale will be live broadcasted on the official HT School YouTube channel on Republic Day.
“The quiz is open to all students of grades 1–12 across the country and a total of Rs 1.25 lakh Amazon vouchers are up for grabs. All participants will also be awarded a participation certificate from Hindustan Times,” said the statement.
“The Class Act” will see renowned quizmasters Dr Navin Jayakumar and HT Labs co-founder and CEO Avinash Mudaliar test participants on various general topics. Dr Jayakumar is the founding member of The Quiz Foundation of India and is also the quizmaster for reputed national quizzes such as the ‘Landmark Quiz,’ the ‘Murugappa Madras Quotient School Quiz,’ and the ‘Rotary Galaxy Science and Technology Quiz.’ “Quizzing is a sport and not a test of IQ. It is a sport involving bits of information – facts that may or may not be of practical use but which are always interesting. And like all sports, practice makes perfect,” said Dr Navin Jayakumar.
In his decades of quizzing experience, Avinash Mudaliar from HT Labs has hosted several national quizzes like ‘The EY Knowledge Quiz,’ ‘Microsoft Bhasha India,’ and ‘GIM Wizbiz.’ “A good quizzer is also good at lateral thinking and is seldom just a ‘rattu’ (one who mugs up information from some source prior to a quiz). Contrary to popular belief, you can seldom win a quiz these days with that strategy, as quizzing today requires you to immerse yourself in the knowledge that is at your fingertips and connect the dots between various points of information to arrive at a possibly right answer,” stated Mudaliar.
In consideration of the pandemic and safety norms, ClassAct 2022 Quiz will be conducted online. It will unfold over two rounds: prelims and finale. The quiz will broadly be divided into two categories—the Junior category, comprising students of grades 1 to 5 and the Senior category, comprising students of grades 6 to 12.
Taking place on 23 January at 11 a.m, Prelims will test students’ accuracy and speed. The quiz will be conducted on the Quizizz platform. Links sent to participants’ registered email ID by 10:45 a.m on 23 January will be active for a stipulated period of time from 11 a.m to 11:45 am.
While the Finale is for the top performers in the Senior category, there are Amazon vouchers for the top 20 Juniors, based on their Prelims scores. The top 100 contestants of the Senior category will make it to the Finale. The Quizmasters’ decision will be final and binding on all matters.
“Registration for the quiz is free. Participants will only have to fill an online registration form on HT School. Registered students will receive updates about the Quiz on their registered email ID/mobile number. The links to access the Prelims and Finale rounds will also be shared on the registered email IDs. Registrations will close on 23 January at 10 a.m,” said the statement.
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.
