Network18 Media Q2 net loss widens to Rs 152.3 cr

New Delhi: Network18 Media & Investments on Saturday said its consolidated net loss widened to Rs 152.31 crore in the second quarter ended September 30 on account of investments in sports and digital assets.

The company had posted a net loss of Rs 119.18 crore a year ago, according to a regulatory filing from Network18 Media & Investments, one of the largest media conglomerates in the country, owned by Reliance Industries.

However, its consolidated revenue from operations rose 1.6 per cent to Rs 1,825.18 crore for the September quarter. It was Rs 1,865.50 crore in the corresponding quarter of the preceding fiscal.

"With 6 per cent growth in News business revenue and continued improvement in margins, Overall profitability was impacted due to Sports and Digital investments in Viacom18," the company said in an earning statement.

The total expenses in the September quarter rose 1.64 per cent to Rs 2,243.13 crore.

Network 18's total income for the second quarter of FY2024-25 was flat at Rs 2,059.35 crore.

Network18 Media & Investments is promoted by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary. It owns 20 TV Channels, 42 TV Channels, one OTT platform JioCinema and a movie studio.

In the September quarter, its revenue from the News segment increased 5.9 per cent to Rs 445 crore.

This was "primarily driven by growth in Digital segment ad revenue across all platforms. TV advertising was soft during the quarter as industry advertising volumes for the news genre declined by 20 per cent YoY. News’ share in overall advertising inventory consumption also declined by over 200 bps YoY and QoQ," it said.

Its revenue from the entertainment segment fell 5.4 per cent to Rs 1,339 crore.

"Operating revenue for the quarter was down 5 per cent, primarily due to the drop in movie segment revenue," it said, adding that "in Q2FY24, Viacom18 Studios had released 2 big-ticket movies whereas there were no movies released this quarter, which had an impact of Rs 330 crore on the revenue".

JioCinema continued to be the "fastest-growing SVOD" platform, crossing 16 million paid subscribers and Viacom18’s TV viewership share grew 100 bps QoQ, it added.

Moreover, during the quarter, the NCLT approved the Composite Scheme for "amalgamation of the Company's subsidiaries, namely, TV18 Broadcast and e-Eighteen.Com (E18) into the Company with the appointed date being April 1, 2023. The Scheme has become effective on October 3, 2024," it said.

"The merger creates India's largest platform-agnostic news media powerhouse with the widest footprint across languages and a simplified corporate structure," it said, adding that it also "presents an opportunity to shareholders of all 3 companies to participate in the media business of the group through one listed entity".

TV18 has a network of around 60 channels in India, spanning news, entertainment and sports genres.

The combination of the businesses will result in operational synergies, cost optimisation and opportunities for increased revenue realisation, it added.

Network18 Chairman Adil Zainulbhai said: "We are happy to have completed the merger of our news businesses. With a strong portfolio of TV channels and digital platforms, covering the breadth of the country and catering to its linguistic diversity, we are ideally positioned to become the most preferred news network of India".

Earlier Reliance Industries had announced the merger of its media assets with India business of global media giant The Walt Disney Co, which will create the country's largest media empire worth over Rs 70,000 crore.

The deal has already cleared the regulatory approvals from the fair trade regulator NCLT, CCI and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.