MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) has reported 13.3 per cent YoY growth in total revenue at Rs 20,081 million. The company mentioned domestic broadcast and digital business as the growth driver for strong performance.

Its advertising revenue also witnessed 3.6 per cent YoY growth. In Q1 FY 20, the advertising revenue was at Rs 11,867 million. Domestic advertising revenue grew by 4.2 per cent YoY to Rs 11,322 million. International advertising revenue for the quarter was Rs 545 million.

In Q1 FY20 the subscription revenue was Rs 7,088 million, marking a 36.7 per cent growth YoY. Domestic subscription revenue grew by 46.7 per cent YoY to Rs 6,240 million. International subscription revenue was Rs 848 million.

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Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 16.6 per cent to Rs 6,598 million with an EBITDA margin of32.9 per cent. PAT for the first quarter was Rs 5,306 million.

ZEEL managing director and CEO Punit Goenka commented, "We delivered another quarter of strong performance despite the operational challenges faced by the industry due to the implementation of TRAI tariff order. We have witnessed a strong uptake of our channels across markets which is reflected in the 47 per cent growth of our domestic subscription revenues. It validates our standing as the #1 entertainment network of the country, built on the foundation of strong position in each of the markets we operate in. We are confident that the new tariff regime is going to be beneficial for all the stakeholders and will greatly improve the consumer experience.”

Goenka further stated, “Domestic advertising growth of 4.2 per cent Yo Y is considerably lower than the growth in past quarters. This is primarily on account of the decision to convert our two leading FTA channels to pay, which significantly impacted the ad growth for the quarter. Additionally, the implementation of the new tariff order in the previous quarter negatively impacted reach and viewership of most entertainment channels, leading to a temporary shift in some of the ad spends from entertainment to sports. We believe that the underlying demand for advertising still remains strong and we are confident that spends would come back as the tariff order settles down and the festive season kicks in.”

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“Zee TV was the #2 channel in the pay Hindi GEC segment, led by leadership in the core weekday primetime viewership band. The channel's viewership experienced temporary weakness during the movement to the new tariff regime but saw an improvement towards the end of the quarter. Our strong movie library helped further consolidate our # 1 position in the pay Hindi movie genre,” informed Goenka.

The company’s regional portfolio continued to gain traction across markets during the quarter. It has maintained leadership position in the Marathi, BangIa and Kannada markets. Zee Tamil continued to increase its market share on the back of strong performance of fiction shows. “We are confident that with our consumer-centric approach and insight driven creative output, we will continue to build market share,” said Goenka.

Goenka also informed, “Zee Telugu and Zee Sarthak were the #2 channels during the quarter. Our youngest regional channel, Zee Keralam, continued to gain share in the Malayalam market led by performance of the fiction shows. Our portfolio of regional movie channels – Zee Talkies, Zee Bangla Cinema and Zee Cinemalu continued to perform strongly.”

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