News Broadcasting
NDTV profits up in Q1 FY20
BENGALURU: The Prannoy and Radhika Roy-led New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) reported consolidated profit after tax of Rs 16.66 crore for the quarter ended 30 June 2019 (Q1 2020, quarter or period under review) as compared to a loss of Rs 10.73 crore for the corresponding year ago quarter Q1 2019 (y-o-y). Consolidated PAT for the period under review grew 26.4 per cent from the Rs 13.18 crore reported in the immediate trailing quarter Q4 2019 (q-o-q).
The company reported 10.3 per cent y-o-y growth and 7.3 per cent q-o-q growth in consolidated operating revenue for Q1 2020 at Rs 109.67 crore. For Q1 2019 and Q4 2019 the company had reported consolidated operating revenues of Rs 99.43 crore and Rs 102.24 crore respectively. Consolidated total income which includes operating revenue as well as other income for Q1 2020 grew 12 per cent y-o-y to Rs 113.87 crore from Rs 101.66 crore, but declined 1.2 per cent q-o-q from Rs 115.28 crore.
Operating EBITDA for the period under review grew 275.2 per cent (almost quadrupled) per cent y-o-y to Rs 25.29 crore (23.1 per cent of operating revenue) from Rs 6.74 crore (6.8 per cent of operating revenue) and grew 46.5 per cent q-o-q from Rs 17.26 crore (16.9 per cent of operating revenue).
The company has two segments – television media and related operations (TV); and Retail/Ecommerce segment (Retail). For its TV segment, NDTV reported 11.5 per cent y-o-y revenue growth at Rs 108.96 crore for Q1 2020 from Rs 97.72 crore and 7.8 per cent q-o-q revenue growth from Rs 101.40 crore. TV segment operating result for Q1 2020 was 164.5 per cent y-o-y higher at Rs 27.64 crore from Rs 10.45 crore but was 1.7 per cent lower q-o-q than Rs 28.12 crore. For the Retail segment, NDTV reported revenue of Rs 1.65 crore for Q1 2020 which was 55.3 per cent lower y-o-y than Rs 3.69 crore and was 13.6 per cent lower q-o-q than Rs 1.91 crore. NDTV reported negative operating result (loss) for all the three quarters to the extent of Rs 1.05 crore, 4.71 crore and Rs 0.33 crore for Q1 2020, Q1 2019 and Q4 2019 respectively.
Let us look at the other numbers reported by NDTV
Total expenses in Q1 2020 reduced 8.4 per cent y-o-y to Rs 93.96 crore from Rs 102.58 crore. Production expenses and cost of services in Q1 2020 increased 28.3 per cent y-o-y to Rs 24.16 crore from Rs 18.83 crore. Finance costs increased 0.3 per cent y-o-y in Q1 2020 to Rs 6.68 crore from Rs 6.66 crore during the corresponding period of the previous year. Employee benefit expense reduced 18.9 per cent y-o-y in Q1 2020 to Rs 31.46 crore from Rs 38.77 crore in Q1 2019. Operating and administrative cost in the quarter under review reduced 19.2 per cent y-o-y to Rs 16.51 crore from Rs 20.44 crore in Q1 2019. Marketing distribution and promotional expenses in Q1 2020 was 16.4 per cent lower at Rs 12.25 crore as compared to Rs 14.68 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.
