News Broadcasting
Zee News Ltd bucks trend, posts strong Q3 growth
MUMBAI: Bucking the trend of a slow ad growth, Zee News Limited (ZNL) posted a 45.4 per cent jump in third-quarter revenue over the year-ago period, with regional channels driving the pace.
Consolidated revenue stood at Rs 1.43 billion for the quarter ended 31 December 2008, sending signals that regional advertisers can come to the rescue of channels that successfully target such audiences.
Net profit was up 18.38 per cent to Rs 151.27 million for the quarter under review, as ZNL kept costs under control.
Says Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra, “Our bouquet composition, aggressive and innovative strategy and an ever cost-conscious approach to business helped us achieve this feat – something seemingly impossible for most other media organisations.”
ZNL’s advertising revenues grew by 38.8 per cent to Rs 1.12 billion while subscription earnings stood 46.4 per cent up to Rs 236 million for the third quarter of the fiscal.
ZNL’s standalone net profit stood at Rs 153.71 million, up 19.7 per cent from a year earlier. Revenue was up 45.78 per cent to Rs 1.39 billion for the quarter under review.
Says Zee News CEO Barun Das, “The existing businesses continued to grow and recorded 23 per cent growth in operating revenues while the same for new businesses was 333.3 per cent. This has helped us outperform the market.”
Zee Telugu, Zee Kannada, Zee 24 Taas, Zee Tamil, Zee Talkies and Zee 24 Ghantalu (yet to launch), which are considered as ‘New Businesses,’ have incurred an operating loss of Rs 394.83 million during the nine-month period ended 31 December, 2008. The loss on Zee 24 Ghantalu (Telugu news channel) was Rs 9.26 million during the period.
The company is critically reviewing the performance of its channels and has announced the closure of Zee Gujarati from 30 April. Says Chandra, “While we are strategically expanding our presence, the channels which are not likely to make profit in the near future have been critically reviewed by the company. The board has approved the closure of Zee Gujarati with effect from 30 April, 2009. The forthcoming UP news channel launch will be a key strategic expansion along with other regional proliferation of our products and services.”
Zee Akaash News Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of ZNL that operates Bengali news channel 24 Ghanta, has incurred an operating loss of Rs 6.96 million during the nine-month period ended 31 December, 2008.
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.
