Applications
Dish TV Q2 Ebidta flat on rise in selling expenses
Mumbai: Subhash Chandra-owned direct-to-home television services provider Dish TV on Thursday reported a flat operating profit in the second quarter ended 30 September from a quarter earlier as fall in content costs was offset by a sharp rise in selling and distribution expenses other than commission.
Dish TV‘s Ebitda in the second quarter was Rs 1.55 billion, the same as in the first quarter but up 18.3 per cent from a year earlier. Ebitda margin for the second quarter was 29.2 per cent, at the same level as in the previous quarter.
The DTH service provider‘s average revenue per user (ARPU) was up by Rs 3 to Rs 159 in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter, following an increase in prices. This was reflected in a robust 4.73 per cent rise in subscription revenues in the second quarter to Rs 4.72 billion from Rs 4.55 billion a quarter earlier.
Dish TV managing director Jawahar Goel said, “In line with our expectation, the price hike initiated in the last quarter flowed through partially to deliver an encouraging ARPU increase.”
Its programming and content costs was down to Rs 1.42 billion from Rs 1.51 billion in the first quarter but selling and distribution expenses other than commission rose 31 per cent to Rs 396.1 million in the second quarter from Rs 302.8 million a quarter earlier.
An exceptional gain of Rs 764 million in the second quarter resulted in Dish TV reporting a net profit of Rs 551 million, against a loss of Rs 323.2 million in the previous quarter. The exceptional gain was on account of a change in the accounting treatment of fluctuation in foreign currency rates following a clarification from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Despite the push towards digitisation in the key markets of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata from 1 November, Dish TV added only 477,000 new subscribers in the second quarter against 504,000 in the first quarter. The total number of subscribers of Dish TV as on 30 September was 13.9 million, of which 10 million were active subscribers.
Dish TV Q2 Performance:
Particulars | Quarter-ended | |
30.09.2012 | 30.06.2012 | |
| Total income from operations (net) | 53,362 | 51,996 |
| Total expenses | 53,126 | 51,557 |
| Finance costs | 3,172 | 5,722 |
| Profit / (loss) from ordinary activities after finance costs but before exceptional items | (2,133) | (3,232) |
| Exceptional items | 7,643 | – |
| Net profit / (loss) for the period | 5,510 | (3,232) |
“In terms of digital conversions, despite regular data on steady growth in digital deployment flowing in, on ground implementation remains lukewarm and nowhere close to numbers doing the rounds. However, with the government sending firm signals against extension of the analog sunset date, we continue to target reasonable subscriber uptake going forward,” he added.
Dish TV‘s total revenues in the second quarter at Rs 5.33 billion were up 2.56 per cent quarter-on-quarter up 2.56% and up 10 per cent from a year earlier.
Goel said “Dish TV continued to be free cash flow positive for the third consecutive quarter. Cost line items remained as projected; an expected hike in marketing cost came in due to additional spends around digitisation.”
Subscriber churn remained at 1 per cent per month despite the package price increase last quarter,” he added.
Applications
Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
