News Broadcasting
Southern Spice hunts for Hyderabadi veejays
MUMBAI: Road shows, youth hangouts and extensive press promotions mark Southern Spice Music’s launch of the veejay hunt, The VJ Factor in Hyderabad this week.
The VJ Factor is a hunt for new blood on the channel, a move made to support new programming initiatives. The selected veejays would not have to be comfortable with English, the common lingo on the channel, but also with the other four South Indian languages – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
The channel, gearing for potential competition from national players this year, has already held similar VJ Hunts at Bangalore and Chennai. The elimination rounds will be held on 4 and 5 March, with the finals slated for 5 March. Southern Spice Music has planned extensive road shows, and placed promotional materials and registration forms at convenient locations such as colleges, coffee shops, pubs, multiplexes, music stores, bookstores and other youth hangouts in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Extensive television promotion of The VJ Factor is currently running on SS Music along with print ads in Andhra Jyothy and The Times of India, Hyderabad. Promos will also run on some of the malls in Hyderabad.
360 degrees, a Times Group division will manage the event, that is to be sponsored by Sand piper Azaad Panchee After Dark Parties. According to sales and marketing head Nischal Kumtakar, SS Music has now achieved 96 per cent connectivity in South India, and has bagged several new clients including Motorola, Hero Honda, Thomson TV, Airtel and Johnson & Johnson.
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.
