News Broadcasting
Indiantelevision.com to host first ever CAS summit on TV ad scenario post CAS
MUMBAI: India’s First ever CAS Summit on the TV Advertising Scenario Post CAS will be held on 4 July at the Hyatt Regency Mumbai.
Hosted by indiantelevision.com, the National CAS Media Summit has over 300 trade professionals scheduled to attend the event that will be a meeting ground for advertisers, media planners/buyers, broadcasters and market researchers. Associate sponsors for the summit so far are Media Reach Research India Pvt Ltd and Broadband Pacenet India Pvt Ltd.
The burning issue of whether advertisers will begin shunning pay channels after the 14 July deadline will be addressed at the summit from the advertisers’ point of view, the media professionals’ angle and the broadcasters’ side too. At the same time, the question of FTA channels benefiting in terms of ad revenue at the cost of the pay channels will also be deliberated upon by all three. The hitherto unexplored option of cable channels and whether they too stand to benefit from the implemention of conditional access systems in the country will also be touched upon.
Meenakshi Madhvani, eminent media professional , Sandip Tarkas, president, Media Planning Group, Sameer Nair, COO, Star India Ltd, Kunal Dasgupta, CEO, SET India, Pranav Barua, Godrej Ltd, Paulomi Dhawan, Raymonds, Amit Ray, VP, Optimum Media (Mudra), Divya Radhakrishnan, VP, The Media Edge, and Ashutosh Shrivastava, GM, planning, Mindshare, are some of the panellists who will speak on the issues touched upon.
While audience measurement for television has thus far been the preserve of ratings like TAM, CAS is poised to usher in an era that will force us to look beyond ratings. A panel comprising experts like TAM India CEO LV Krishnan, media expert Raj Nayak, ETC Networks business head Jagjit Singh Kohli and Media Research marketing VP Kapil Anand will attempt to unravel the logistics involved.
CAS may well be the necessity that will foster a series of innovations on the part of all players connected to the television industry. Sam Balsara, chairman, Madison Communications Ltd, Ravi Kiran GM south & west, Starcom Worldwide, Vikram Sakhuja, managing director, Mindshare Fulcrum South Asia, M Suku, national director, Broadmind , Jasmin Sohrabji Grey Worldwide and a senior representative from Pacenet will attempt predictions based on their vast experience to envision what kind of innovations the morrow will bring.
Pacenet, Hathway, Siticable and In Cablenet, the major players in the STB arena, will demonstrate their products and their respective merits at the summit.
The moderators of the various sessions at the summit will be Anil Wanvari, founder and CEO, Indian Television Dot Com, Thomas Abraham, managing editor, indiantelevision.com and Samir Kale, president, CMCG.
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.
