News Broadcasting
Zee News selects VertigoXmedia for Graphics Automation, Playout, Design Services
MUMBAI: Zee News has upgraded its newsroom with two VertigoXmedia products, the Xmedia Suite for graphics automation and a VertigoCG unit, to render and play out the graphics. Vertigo’s Creative Services team also will take an active role in the installation by redesigning Zee News’ on-air look.
“We considered several graphics automation systems currently on the market and found that Vertigo provided us with the best solution for our application,” said Zee Network’s director, news group, Laxmi Goel. “With its template-based approach to graphics automation, the Xmedia Suite is exactly what we need to achieve greater levels of efficiency and consistency in our unique station branding. Upgrading this branding with the help of Vertigo’s design team will help underscore our role as one of the most popular brands in India.”
Vertigo’s Xmedia Suite provides Zee News with a set of tools for automatically creating, managing, and playing out real-time, dynamic broadcast graphics. It acts as a centralized asset management system, storing and managing all digital assets as well as real-time data feeds from virtually any source. The Zee News staff can design new templates with simple drag-and-drop operations, linking them to live data feeds so that the system automatically generates up-to-date graphics, states an official release.
The VertigoCG installed at the Zee News facility is a low-cost, full-featured graphics system that provides performance levels rivaling that of much more expensive character generators and graphics platforms. Used in conjunction with other products in the Xmedia Suite, the VertigoCG provides master control and production graphics as well as video playout capabilities for a wide range of advanced real-time broadcast applications.
It combines broadcast-quality video hardware with a real-time software rendering system, an easy-to-use authoring environment, and a flexible on-air control interface.
Vertigo’s Creative Services team has created informational graphic designs in the most demanding television broadcast environments, including high-profile election campaigns and major sporting events. World-renowned for its expertise in executing design concepts, the Creative Services team swept the News, Out-of-House, Informational Graphics category of the 2005 BDA North America Design Awards, the release adds.
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.
