MUMBAI: Election advertising and a strong growth in subscription revenue post the implementation of the new tariff order (NTO) has propelled the revenue growth of TV18 in Q1 FY20. The company has witnessed around 10 per cent Y-o-Y revenue growth in the first quarter of FY20.
TV18 Chairman Adil Zainulbhai said, “Our channel brands have witnessed a strong uptake in the new tariff regime which places the consumer even more at the center of the broadcasting business model. Class-leading value, genre-defining content and a pipe-agnostic approach are the tenets which we believe will continue to propel our portfolio forward.”
TV18’s Q1 viewership share in news was 10.1 per cent, up from 9.3 per cent post NTO implementation. The company’s subscription income has received a boost with NTO implementation as well. It is still facing some flux in distribution and viewership, which the company expects to taper away in the near term. General news revenues were buoyed by election-related advertising, especially in Hindi but business news revenue growth has continued to face genre pressures due to weak markets.
The ad-environment has been tepid, led by advertisers paring spends amidst weak markets/macro/regulatory flux, and concentration of advertising around sports. However, news broadcasting benefitted from election-related advertising during the quarter. TV18 expects the environment to pivot as it heads into the festive season.
The company has seen a sharp turnaround in EBITDA. From an EBITDA loss last year, Q1FY20 has seen a major leap in profitability. This has been driven by election-advertising as well as continued reduction in regional news gestation losses, on operating leverage as well as cost controls.
TV18’s entertainment Q1 viewership share declined due to major events driving sports viewership but the entertainment revenue rose 5 per cent amidst weakness in overall ad-spends and a sharp reduction in ad-revenue of channels shifted from FTA to Pay.
In the same quarter, the company launched Colors Gujarati Cinema. It also informed that its regional entertainment channels in Marathi, Gujarati and Kannada movies gained strength in Q1 FY20.
