News Broadcasting
Network18 signs MoU with St Stephen’s College
MUMBAI: Network18, promoter of news brands CNN-IBN and IBN7, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with St Stephen’s College, which will further the aim of educational inclusivity. As part of this initiative, Stephen’s College will offer a certificate course in Citizenship & Cultural Richness.
Under the course, St Stephen’s College will hold weekly classes conducted by its regular faculty and alumni including top serving and retired judges, bureaucrats and renowned academicians.
The lecture content will be hosted across the digital and social media platforms of Network18 (ibnlive.com & ibnkhabar.com) and St Stephen’s College.
While inaugurating the course, Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B Lokur, said, “This course is ready to reach out to people to make them better citizens and to help the society.”
St Stephen’s College principal Valson Thampu feels the very purpose of the course is to enable students and citizens to live a rich life and to become responsible citizens. “I am delighted that Network 18, particularly CNN-IBN has gladly come forward to support this initiative, which is a signal of the robustness of media,” said Thampu.
Network18 president – news Umesh Upadhyay added, “We will help in every way possible to promote this course and make this an initiative that will make our youth into responsible citizens, who contribute to the growth of this country. We are grateful to St Stephen’s for partnering us on this mission to help make media more responsible and conscientious.”
CNN-IBN and IBN7 will align their Citizen Journalist show with the course offered under the joint initiative. The idea is to encourage the citizens enrolled in the course to become citizen journalists and highlight issues and problems around them as faced by the common man.
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.
