Revenue from operations declined 5.18% year on year to Rs 1,676.19 crore in Q3 FY24, due to lower movie studio revenue.

The company reported a pre-tax loss of Rs 50.17 crore in Q3 FY24 as against a profit before tax of Rs 24.22 crore posted in Q3 FY23.

Total expenses stood at Rs 1,907.28 crore during the quarter, rising 5.18% YoY. Marketing, distribution and promotional expense stood at Rs 380.58 crore (up 8.45% YoY) and employee benefit expense was at Rs 282.08 crore (up 10.02% YoY) during the period under review.

The firm reported negative operating EBITDA of Rs 146 crore in Q3 FY24 as compared with positive operating EBITDA of Rs 19 crore recorded in Q3 FY23.

News business revenue in Q3 FY24 was up 23% YoY with strong growth in advertising revenue across clusters. Growth in advertising revenue was driven by the strong viewership that the network has established across key markets, despite a decline in advertising inventory (excluding government initiatives) for the news genre. Monetisation of IP-led events also witnessed a strong revenue traction.

The company said that the business delivered a strong turnaround in profitability, with 12% EBITDA margin for the quarter.

In Entertainment business, operating revenue declined 12% primarily due to lower movie and sports segments revenues. Reported EBITDA was impacted due to operating loss from sports and digital as Viacom18 is making investment in these segments. These segments are expected to lead growth over the foreseeable future and will be in investment phase in the short-term as they scale up, it added.

TV18’s portfolio continued to be the highest reach TV news network in the country, reaching 175 million people around the country every week.

Adil Zainulbhai, chairman of Network18, said, “We are really pleased to have announced the merger of our TV and Digital news businesses, which will not only help us serve our consumers better and realize synergies across different segments, but it will also give a unique opportunity to all our shareholders to participate in the media business of the group through a single listed entity.

All our businesses are gathering momentum at the right time as the economic outlook continues to improve against the backdrop of a resilient performance by Indian economy. As we have stated in the past, we believe that Indian media sector has a long runway for growth and our strong positions across segments gives us a perfect launchpad to capture this opportunity.”

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.

Shares of TV18 Broadcast surged 8.92% to Rs 65.97 on the BSE.