News Broadcasting
RED FM’s Festive Bonanza for Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata
MUMBAI: Red FM, brought alive Navratri festivities on radio for their listeners in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. The station with a ‘Bajaate Raho’ attitude, in an endeavour to build greater connect with listeners, covered the celebrations extensively in each city.
From reporting live from the biggest dandiya events in Mumbai to covering the major Puja pandals across Kolkata, RED FM captured it all for its listeners.
Speaking on the marketing activities around the festival, RED FM COO Abraham Thomas, said, “RED FM aims at providing its listeners a complete feel of the festive season. Various innovative on-air programming initiatives and marketing tie-ups were undertaken to reach masses and build greater listener engagement with the radio station.”
In Mumbai, RED FM’s on ground activities included an exclusive tie-up with Sankalp ’06, Mumbai’s most rocking Dandiya Raas presented by none other than the Dandiya Queen Falguni Pathak.
RED FM listeners were given free passes for mega events like Sankalp ’06, Manthan Luster Dandiya, Growel’s 101 Navratri Event and Dandiya with ‘King the Beaters’ at Wadala as part of the on air and on spot contests. Designer Dandiyas, Celebration Hampers and opportunities to interact with the RED FM’s RJ’s were part of RED FM’s rocking Navratri celebrations in Mumbai.
Along with on-ground activations and tie-ups, RED FM presented ‘Majaa Ma,’ a special on-air segment on Navratri. A complete Gujarati fare, the ‘Majaa Ma’ specials had segments like ‘Majaa Ma’ Jokes; ‘Majaa Ma’ interviews with eminent Gujarati theatre and television personalities and ‘Majaa Ma’ Movies-one minute hilarious and witty movie capsules.
RED FM brought alive the Durga Puja on Kolkata’s Puja Dhamaka at city centre on the 23rd September with live Remix Show by Jimmy Tangree and the entire RED FM Kolkata Team. It associated with almost all major Durga Puja events in Kolkata that included over 748 puja pandals and 42 puja specific events.
RED FM had a host of special, fun filled segments and contests all set to capture the mood of listeners. Celebrity chats, live Puja updates and news from the top Dandiya festivities in the city added more colour to the festive fervor and made Durga Puja memorable for RED FM listeners.
In Delhi Red FM brightened the festivities by associating with Hindustan Times Dandiya Masti at the Garden of Five Senses with RJ Neeti of Mera Wala Gaana fame. Contests like “Mera wala dancing couple”, “Mera wala style award”, “Mera wala best choli award”, “Mera wala non-stop Dandiya award”, “Mera wala little champion” were devised to involve participants. Live polls were conducted for the best Dandiya song and celebrity guests were chosen to play that song for the winners. RED FM ‘Phal-Haar’ contest was conducted along with ‘Ravan Jalaao’ wherein listeners spoke about one evil thing like poverty, pollution, bad roads and eve teasing that they would like to burn.
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.
