News Broadcasting
Star Gold frames high-voltage plan to take on rivals
MUMBAI: Showing aggresive intent, Star India’s Hindi movie channel Star Gold has an eventful August-September planned out. Taking off on the Nimbu mar ke campaign of 2002, this will be yet another high-decibel marketing blitzkrieg that the channel proposes to unleash.
Preceding the campaign will be the launch of its single-ad-break movies and the television premiere of a slew of hard-hitting Hollywood flicks dubbed in Hindi.
According to Star India senior V-P content and communications Deepak Segal, outdoor media and on air promotions will be used in a big way for the promotional campaign, apart from cross promotions.
“The channel took some time to come out of the black & white image. Now it is giving Max and Zee Cinema a run for their money. We have been in the second or third spot and for few weeks we even stood number one,” pointed out Segal.
The channel has picked the month of August to set the stage for an aggressive programming offensive. The channel is launching its single-ad-break movie segment Ek Baje Ek Break on 2 August with the movie Refugee in the 1:00 pm slot on weekdays.
Star Gold will also premiere dubbed in Hindi versions of Hollywood hits Gladiator, Jaws, The Rock and Kiss of the Dragon in August.
When queried on the channel opting for weekdays and the mid-day slot for its single break movies, Segal said they had a strong viewership for that slot.
“The advertising traffic on holidays is very hectic. For Ek Baje Ek Break,, the break would be after the first half of the movie. The whole idea is to give the viewer a feeling of watching the movie in a theatre,” Segal added.
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.
