NDTV has reported 9.45 per cent YoY growth in consolidated revenues to Rs 130.69 crores for the first quarter FY ‘10. Last year in the same quarter revenues were Rs 119.41 crores. The Net Loss came in at Rs 83.4 Crores Vs Net loss of Rs. 162 Crores in corresponding quarter. During June quarter last year NDTV reported net profit of Rs. 527 crores largely due to an additional income garnered through stake sale.
The increase in revenues was largely due to the massive increase in advertising spend on account of election results and IPL coverage by News channels.
Business highlights as reported by NDTV:
Broadcasting Business gaining momentum:
NDTV India is now ranked amongst the top 4 Hindi News Channels by some sources while on Election Day NDTV India was touted as 2nd most watched Hindi news channel.
NDTV Hindu, launched this May, has already garnered 8.2% market share, over the last 8 weeks in Chennai, according to TAM data, overtaking many popular English channels. NDTV Good Times continues to retain its Numero Uno position in the lifestyle genre.
NDTV has also boosted its distribution tie-ups as NDTV Profit & NDTV Good Times have been launched in the US on DirecTV and NDTV 24×7 has also been launched on the mobile platform in the Middle East. The media conglomerate has also tied-up with various Telco’s for IPTV foray.
NDTV Convergence is being reported to have increased page views by at least 50% from the previous quarter. This may be attributed to Election coverage and other service tie-ups under its umbrella.
The increase in revenues too suggest a favorable environment for its media properties and the losses has largely been attributed to increasing expenditures. This quarterly results thus accrues the benefit from the cost cutting measure undertaken by NDTV in recent past as expenditures has seen a huge decline.
The Company although would continue to bleed for few more quarters as major income from NDTV Convergence is still to flow in and expenditures cannot be curtail to lower levels due to furious competition being played out in media industry.
