Revenue from operations stood at Rs 1,794.17 crore in Q2 FY24, up 21.8% YoY, driven by the performance of news business, movie studio and sports vertical.

The company reported a pre-tax loss of Rs 71.54 crore in the second quarter of FY24 as compared to a profit before tax of Rs 9.81 crore posted in Q2 FY23.

Total expenses spiked 39.72% to Rs 2076.15 crore during the quarter. Operational costs stood at Rs 1224.71 crore (up 57.68% YoY), marketing, distribution and promotional expense came in at Rs 363.06 crore (up 5.15% YoY) and employee benefits expense was at Rs 288.24 crore (up 23.15% YoY) in Q2 FY24.

The company reported a negative EBITDA of Rs 198 crore in Q2 FY24 as against a positive EBITDA of Rs 41 crore in Q2 FY23. The firm recorded negative EBITDA margin of 11% in Q2 FY24 as compared to a positive margin of 2.8% in Q2 FY23.

Advertising demand remains guarded due to soft consumer sentiment; festive season expected to bring positive momentum, said the firm.

News business revenue jumped 20% YoY and the EBITDA margin improved to 2.7% in Q2 FY24. The rise in revenue was primarily driven the strong growth in advertising revenue across all the clusters. Growth in ad revenue was on the back of strong viewership gains that the network has achieved over the last year, which has helped to increase the pricing across most channels. Excluding government initiatives, advertising inventory for the news genre was down by 8%, whereas it was flattish for the company's network. Monetisation of IP-led events also witnessed a strong revenue traction.

Revenue from the Entertainment business grew 22% YoY during the quarter, on the back of strong growth in operating revenue was driven by movie, sports and digital segments.

The media company stated that News network maintained absolute leadership in the largest markets, with an all India viewership share of 11.4%; Entertainment network share increased by 50 bps to 10.5%, it added.

Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman of TV18, said, "With India cricket rights, Viacom18 now has the biggest portfolio of sports properties, making it the default choice for sports fans. Our news network has fortified its positions across the markets which bodes well as we head into the festive season followed by elections. Our focus continues to be on providing quality content to audience and as IndiaÕs only network with presence across news, entertainment, and sports, we are in a unique position to serve customers across the country and demographic cohorts."

TV18 Broadcast, a subsidiary of Network18 manages its primary business of broadcasting. TV18 runs the largest news network in India, spanning business news, general news and regional news channels.