News Broadcasting
NDTV narrows Q4 standalone net loss to Rs 158.7 mn
MUMBAI: News broadcaster NDTV Ltd has narrowed its standalone fiscal final quarter net loss to Rs 158.7 million, from Rs 231.7 million a year ago.
The company has managed to reduce the net loss on the back of “sustainable cost rationalisation”, even if its income from operations saw a 10.59 per cent dip.
Income from operations for the quarter under review stood at Rs 967.2 million, as against Rs 1.08 billion a year ago.
NDTV also posted standalone loss from operations (before other income, interest & exceptional items) of Rs 16.9 million, against a profit of Rs 83.5 million in the earlier year.
Expenses from news operations stood at Rs 997.6 million, compared to Rs 1.03 billion in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.
For the full fiscal, NDTV’s standalone net loss came down to Rs 191.5 million, from a net loss of Rs 986.3 million in the earlier year. Income from operations went up by almost 5 per cent to Rs 3.63 billion, from Rs 3.46 billion.
NDTV’s FY’2011-12 loss from operations (before other income, interest & exceptional items) came down to Rs 200 million, compared to a loss of Rs 426.4 million a year ago.
Though expenses remained flat at Rs 3.98 billion (from Rs 3.97 billion), NDTV said that the company has undertaken a group-wide exercise to improve efficiencies and cut wasteful expenses, while “ensuring that content and production values are not compromised”.
“As a result, there has been a significant 16 per cent reduction in operating and administration expenses over the last financial year,” it said.
On a consolidated basis, NDTV posted a net loss of Rs 413.3 million for the quarter ended 31 March 2012, as against a net loss of Rs 608 million a year ago.
Income from operations on a consolidated basis grew marginally to Rs 1.35 billion (from Rs 1.32 billion), while total expenses stood at Rs 1.42 billion, compared to Rs 1.48 billion.
For the fiscal ended 31 March 2011, NDTV posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 873.8 million, as against a net loss of Rs 1.74 billion in the earlier year. Income from operations stood at Rs 4.74 billion, up from Rs 4.23 billion a year ago, while expenses rose marginally to Rs 5.31 billion, from Rs 5.27 billion.
NDTV also said that its new businesses are giving rise to new revenue streams. It said that NDTV Good Times continued its reign as the numero uno lifestyle channel in India. NDTV Lifestyle, which operates the channel NDTV Good Times, witnessed a “significant rise in revenues, reporting around 38 per cent growth over the last fiscal year”.
Meanwhile, NDTV Convergence, which operates the Internet and mobile business of the group, recorded a five-fold jump in PAT for the year ended 31 March 2012. Revenues rose by 60 per cent over the last fiscal year.
NDTV WorldWide has turned profitable. “PAT for NDTV WorldWide, the media consultancy business of the group, doubled during the year ended 31 March 2012. Revenues tripled over the last fiscal year,” NDTV said.
In the one-time write-off, the company said, “The major exceptional items relate to closure of operations of Turner General Entertainment, which operated the General Entertainment Channel, ‘Imagine’ (earlier, known as ‘NDTV Imagine’ prior to sale of stake to the Time Warner group), in which NDTV had retained a minor stake. Further, an investment in a listed entity, whose market value has reduced significantly, has also been provided for.”
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: 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.
