TV18 Broadcast Q3 Results: Net profit jumps 35% sequentially to Rs 312 crore

TV18 Broadcast Ltd on Tuesday reported a sharp 35 per cent increase in net profit on a sequential basis to Rs 312 crore for the quarter-ended December 2021, powered by a 21 per cent YoY rise in ad spend at Rs 263.35 crore. On a yearly basis, the net profit is down 17 per cent from Rs 377 crore as there was a tax reversal of Rs 102 crore in the last year quarter, excluding which the profit has increased by 13 per cent on-year.

Operating revenue was up 20 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 1,567 crore and on yearly basis, there was a growth of 15 per cent in a stellar period of growth for the television news business.

Adil Zainulbhai, chairman of TV18, said: “We are building a strong and sustainable media franchise which not only delivers quality content to Indian audience but also value to the shareholders.” Over the last few years, we have taken several significant steps which have helped us achieve the turn around on profitability front and it is really encouraging to see a visible shift in the margin profile of our businesses, he added.

Business Performance

The company saw robust growth in revenues in both its business verticals of News (TV18 standalone) and Entertainment (Viacom18+AETN18+Indiacast).

The growth was backed by an all-time high advertising volumes witnessed by the TV Industry during the quarter driven by strong consumer demand, increased spending by existing brands for a higher share of voice and new advertisers using the medium to widen their reach.

News Business

The revenues from the News vertical witnessed a growth of 13 per cent on year to Rs 347 crore compared to Rs 306 crore in the same period last year.

The News business which operates 20 domestic channels, saw robust growth in its advertising revenues for the quarter, led by business and regional news channels.

Though the operating revenues increased in double digits, the operating costs we flat. This helped the operating EBITDA for the business to jump 64 per cent on-year to Rs 94 crore. The operating EBITDA in the same quarter of last year was registered at Rs 57 crore.

This aided the improvement in EBITDA margins which increased by 850 basis points (bps) YoY to 27.7 per cent.

Entertainment Business

The Entertainment business continues to perform well and its revenues for the quarter improved by 16 per cent to 1,220 crore as compared to Rs 1,055 crore recorded in the corresponding period last year.

The business which has Viacom18’s 35 channels, VOOT + AETN18’s 2 infotainment channels is the #3 entertainment bouquet in the country by viewership with 11.0 per cent viewership share. It saw its Hindi, Kannada and Marathi channels driving the revenue growth during the quarter. This was aided by robust advertising demand and the network’s strong share in viewership.

The EBITDA margins for the business eroded by 360 bps YoY to 21.4 per cent for the quarter due to 21 per cent on-year increase in operating costs, which was driven by content spends - increase in content hours and high production value impact properties.

The consolidated EBITDA for the company improved by 11 per cent YoY to Rs 355 crore for the quarter and this was also its highest ever EBITDA recorded in a single quarter. The EBITDA margins however, declined by 90 bps to 22.7 per cent due to increase in operating costs in Entertainment business.

The stock of TV18 Broadcast opened at 49.15, up Rs 0.40 from its previous close on the National Stock Exchange on 18 January. The stock has generated 60.4 per cent returns during the last one year and the stock is up 7.9 per cent in the past one month.

Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd which publishes Firstpost