News Broadcasting
Zee TV still banking on SEC B&C
MUMBAI: Zee TV still feels that focusing on SEC B and C segments, primarily the Indian middle class, would drive in the ratings at a time when the other entertainment channels are lining up programmes designed to cater to the urban SEC A and B audiences.
“Zee TV has been an SEC B & C channel and will continue to be so, Essel Group corporate brand development head Ashish Kaul tells indiantelevision.com.
Kaul also offers an explanation for sticking with the SEC B& C segments: Our subscription revenue has gone
up over the last couple of months and this seems to indicate that our viewership has increased too. Unfortunately, it is not reflecting on the ratings, but we are not too hassled by this fact.
Pointing out that Astitva too was aimed at SEC B&C segments though it coincidentally enjoyed good viewership in SEC A segment too, Kaul says, “We are not targeting the urban or niche market through Zee TV. Our main focus has been and will continue to be the middle class Hindi heartland.”
With the channel’s talent hunt India’s Best Cinestar Ki Khoj having inched its way into the all-India Top 100 list with ratings between 2 and 2.5, Zee TV seems to have ruffled up some competition for Sony ‘s strong weekend products and is tweaking its fixed point chart to get better results and ratings too.
But that again is something that Zee dismisses as sheer coincidence. For all official purposes, it’s the SEC B& C segments that Zee TV is continuing to target.
Zee TV plans to garner viewership from children. The channel is looking at launching an animated series, Chi & Me, on 15 November at 6:30 p.m.
The ET- inspired animated strip would have a cute alien ‘Chi’ bonding with a child protagonist and this fare would extend the kids band by another half an hour.
As for luring the grown ups, the channel is putting on air a supernatural thriller, Rooh, from today at 8 p.m.
The move to introduce a thriller series on weekends had been a much-planned move. Since Rooh doesn’t have ‘blood and gore’, the channel is optimistic there would be no problems with the serial at a fairly early evening slot.
Zee’s answer to Sony’s Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahi, Kareena Kareena, which airs Monday to Thursday 9:30 p.m., has seen fairly good opening numbers, 1.17-1 TRP’s for the CS 4 + in the Hindi speaking market, during its debut
week.
Although Zee TV denies any pre-planned move to target Sony, the new launches, particularly their timings, suggest otherwise. According to the channel, Kareena Kareena is about aspirations of a small town girl.
Meanwhile, with India’s Best having reached its penultimate stage (the grand finale is tentatively scheduled for 3 December), Zee TV is gearing up for its next reality show, Business Baazigar.
For the proposed reality show, Zee TV is slowly initiating ground promotions at busy malls across the country and other such community places. It has been claimed that close to 25,000 entries have already been received. About 125 best entries would be shortlisted for the television event.
Will the programming efforts help Zee TV regain some of the lost glory and capture viewer’s attention in its traditional base of SEC B&C segments? That’s something only time will tell.
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.
