News Broadcasting
Zee News Q2 net profit up 97% at Rs 57 million
MUMBAI: Zee News Limited (ZNL) has posted a standalone net profit of Rs 57 million for the quarter ended 30 September 2007, up 97 per cent as against Rs 29 million in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
Operating revenue at Rs 776 million represented a 44 per cent jump over the year-ago period. Operating profit was at Rs 105 million, up from Rs 18 million.
ZNL’s advertisement revenue was Rs 608 million for the quarter, up 57 per cent on a like-to-like basis compared to Q2 FY07. Subscription revenue stood at Rs 150 million, up nine per cent.
Said ZNL chairman Subhash Chandra, “Zee News Limited has strengthened its position in the marketplace during Q2 FY08. Advertising revenues have grown by 57 per cent while subscription revenue improved by 9 per cent during the quarter. While ‘Zee Marathi’ and ‘Zee Bangla’ are steadily climbing the rating chart, the other existing businesses of Zee News Limited have also shown consistent growth momentum. The trends in the new businesses are encouraging with Zee Telugu and Zee Kannada improving their performance despite hyper competitive business environment. This nurtures our hope for a better future. Zee News Limited is moving well on its journey to gain envious position in the news and regional entertainment genres.”
ZNL MD Laxmi Narain Goel said, “Zee Marathi and Zee Bangla have given sterling performance during the quarter. Zee Marathi has maintained its Numero Uno position in the Marathi genre holding a vice-like grip on the number 1 position, while 24 Ghanta has also delivered a huge GRP increase and leading in Bangla news genre in Q2 FY08. Zee News maintained its ratings in the face of multiplying stiff competition in the Hindi News genre while achieving strong revenue growths. We have met the bottom line target during the 2nd quarter and this fortifies our belief that good people skill, sensitivity to changing needs of viewers, agile strategies, new offerings in content should stand us in good stead for a better future.”
Goel added, “The existing businesses have shown consistency in performance and revenues of existing businesses have grown by 42 per cent, the new businesses have also performed well in revenues and registered a growth of 80 per cent during the second quarter. We are also pleased to report that the operating margins on our existing businesses increased from 30 per cent during Q2 FY07 to 33 per cent during Q2 FY08.”
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.
