ITV

Category: Financials

  • Network18 FY17 consolidated revenue up by 5% from last year

    MUMBAI: Network18’s Q4 results showed a five per cent YoY growth (driven largely by its TV operations) over last year, posting consolidated revenue of Rs 3,471 crore in FY17 (including proportionate share of JVs) . Segment profits were significantly impacted by pullback in advertising spends in the latter half, operating losses of the new initiatives in regional and digital broadcasting, and losses in digital commerce businesses. 

    Financials for the quarter

    The consolidated revenue (including proportionate share of JVs considered for segment reports) for the quarter ended 31 March, 2017, stood at Rs. 898.4 crore versus Rs. 898.8 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The FY17 consolidated revenue stood at Rs. 3471.1 crore, up five per cent from Rs. 3321 crore last year.

    Segment loss before interest and tax on a consolidated basis, including the performance of joint ventures for the quarter ended 31 March, 2017, stood at Rs 65.5 crore versus segment profit of  Rs. 65.3 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.  Excluding the impact of new initiatives and one-time expenses, the segment profit for the quarter is Rs 5 crore.

    The consolidated revenue as per Ind AS (accounting the JVs under equity method) for the quarter ended 31 March, 2017, stood at Rs. 387.7 crore as compared to Rs. 473.2 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The FY17 consolidated Ind-AS revenue stood at Rs. 1491.0 crore, down two per cent from Rs. 1527.3 crore last year.

    Operating loss on a consolidated basis under Ind AS for the quarter ended 31st March, 2017 stood at Rs. 20.7 crore versus segment profit Rs. 82.7 crores in the corresponding quarter last year. Excluding the impact of new initiatives and one-time expenses, the operating profit for the quarter is Rs. 55.2 crores.

    Highlights 

    One of the highlights of quarters were the tepid ad-industry environment dragged revenues, especially in regional markets. The media industry is still facing impact of deferment of advertising spends that kicked-in from November-December 2016 on likely slow-down in consumer spending. 

    Further, the revival of advertising  spends  has  been  witnessed  at a much faster clip for national  channels,  while regional markets are still recovering with a lag. This has been exacerbated by our launches of regional news and entertainment channels over the last 18 months, including four in early-FY17.

    Despite headwinds, Network18’ s consolidated topline (including JVs) was flat YoY. Listed subsidiary TV18 posted 7 per cent YoY topline growth and its operating profits excluding impact of new initiatives was Rs. 92.6 crores (vs. Rs. 96.7 crores in Q4 FY17).

    The viewership  around  key  events  demonstrated  the network’s’ news  franchise  leadership  and excellence of coverage. CNBC TV18, during the live coverage and analysis of the Union Budget on 1 Feb 2017, garnered 86 per cent market share. On Counting Day of the Assembly Elections of five states, CNN News18 was the number one english news channel.

    Another highlight for the network was the Viacom18, which continues to showcase its strength in Hindi general entertainment, regional entertainment and Kids genres. Colors is now a number two channel, while Nick and Sonic together place us as the top Kids content provider  with a 29 per cent market-share.

    OTT entertainment app VOOT continues to gain traction, and are witnessing  more  sticky  usage  patterns  than  competition.  Opinions  website  “Firstpost”  and flagship finance portal “MoneyControl” were standout performers, and have posted impressive growth in traffic.

    HomeShop18 has contributed substantially to the weakness in Network18 profitability.
    The TV home-shopping business continues to face challenges due to a hit to cash-on-delivery payments and a poor spending appetite since November, competition from e-commerce and regulatory issues including imposition of entry tax by several states. The management is taking steps to cut costs and accelerate operating break-even.

    Network18 chairman Adil Zainulbhai said,  “The digital space in India continues to become more and more vibrant, as bottlenecks around connectivity and cost reduce substantially. We see the emergence of new formats and services, and rapidly-evolving business models; and aim to be at the forefront of this change. Our strength in linear media provides us the edge, helping us leapfrog in our aspiration to be a channel-agnostic provider of top-drawer content”.

    New initiatives & one-time charges

    The new initiatives of Viacom18 (2nd  Kannada GEC Colors Super, OTT video destination VOOT and movie channel Rishtey Cineplex) continued to perform well on all operational metrics. The aggregate operating loss of the new initiatives considered in the consolidated segment results for the quarter is Rs. 36.1 crores.

    Three  regional  news  channels  —  News18  Kerala,  News18  Tamil  Nadu  and  News18 Assam/N.E — that were launched during the first quarter of the current year incurred an operating loss of Rs. 26.9 crores during the quarter.

    “fyi TV18”, a lifestyle programming channel from the AETN18 stable (a JV between TV18 and A&E Network), commercially launched in July 2016, gained a market share of 21% in the quarter. The channel incurred an operating loss of Rs. 7.6 crore during the quarter.

  • Eros profits more than double in third quarter 2017

    BENGALURU: The Sunil Lulla led Eros International Media Limited (Eros) reported almost 2.5 times (2.496 times) consolidated profit after tax (PAT) for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-16, current quarter) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter (Q3-16). Eros PAT for the current quarter was Rs 101.88 crore (30.7 percent of Total Income from Operations or TIO, margin) as compared to Rs 40.81 crore (12.2 percent margin) in Q3-16.

    The company’s release slate was affected by demonetisation in Q3-17. Arsing from this, Eros said in its investor presentation that it has withheld the release of some films until the situation normalises. It says that the marginal decrease in consolidated revenues is on account of a narrower film slate comprising three medium budget and 5 small budget films in Q3-17 as compared to one high budget, 4 medium budget and 10 small budget films during the Q3-16 offset by comparatively stronger catalogue revenues. Hence consolidated TIO in the current quarter declined 1 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) to Rs 332.12 crore as compared to Rs 335.38 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    Company speak

    Commenting on the performance of Q3-17, Eros, executive vice chairman & MD Sunil Lulla said, “This quarter results gave us a chance to bring out the strength of our valuable library. In spite of demonetization move by the Government which had a temporary negative impact on theatrical revenues, we demonstrated our robust business model by bringing in strong contributions from catalogue sales across television and other distribution channels. Rock On 2 although impacted directly by the demonetization benefited from strong pre‐sales in television and digital streams. Although the movies released during the quarter witnessed weak box office performances due to lack of footfalls, we firmly believe, that the demonetization step, in the longer term, will throw up a huge opportunity for us to strengthen our lead in corporatising the Indian Media and Entertainment industry.”

    “As we look ahead, we are investing smartly for the longer term in‐line with our portfolio approach across varied budgets and languages. Our strong industry‐leading production slate of over 50 movies in CY-17 (Calendar Year) has gone through a stringent green‐lighting process for many months. The upcoming line‐up includes highly promising projects such as five films from Trinity, two Indo‐China co‐productions, a Shahrukh Khan film from Color Yellow, two sequels from our own IPs like Vicky Donor‐2, Badlapur‐2, Munna Michael starring Tiger Shroff, Chanda Mama Door Ke starring Sushant Singh, amongst others.”

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Eros

    Simple EBIDTA without other income in Q3-17 almost doubled (increased by 97.2 percent) y-o-y to Rs 131.39 crore (39.6 percent margin) from Rs 66.64 crore (19.9 percent margin).

    Consolidated Net Finance cost in the current quarter increased 48.2 per cent y-o-y to Rs 11.93 crore from Rs 8.05 crore.

    On account of the lower number of films released, Total Expenditure in Q3-17 declined 25.2 percent to Rs 203.18 crore from Rs 271.54 crore in Q3-16.  The company’s Films rights costs including amortisation costs in Q3-17 declined 24.1 percent y-o-y to Rs 151.23 crore from Rs 199.28 crore.

    Employee Benefit Expense in the current quarter increased 43 percent to Rs 20.48 crore from Rs 14.32 crore in Q3-16. Other expenses in Q3-17 declined by almost half (declined by 49.5 percent) y-o-y to Rs 28.86 crore from Rs 57.11 crore in the corresponding of the previous year.

    ErosNow

    The company says that Eros International’s OTT Platform Eros Now has over 20 lakh (2 million) subscribers worldwide, it has 5.5 crore (55 million) registered users worldwide across WAPP, APP and the web. The platform has rights to over 5,000 films, 250,000 audio tracks with 13 music labels providing music content.

  • Prime Focus reports profit for third quarter of 2017

    BENGALURU: Prime Focus Limited (PFL) reported consolidated Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs 22.68 crore (4.5 percent margin) for the period ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-17, current quarter) as compared to a loss of Rs 19.43 lakh in the corresponding year ago quarter Q3-16. The company’s consolidated simple EBIDTA without other income in Q3-17 at increased 56.7 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) to Rs 111.01 crore (21.9 percent margin) from Rs 70.86 crore (15.1 percent margin).

    PFL’s consolidated Total Income from operations (TIO) in Q3-17 increased 8.3 percent y-o-y in the current quarter to Rs 507.19 crore from Rs 468.52 crore.

    Total Expenditure in Q3-17 was almost flat (increased 0.5 percent) to Rs 461.49 crore (91 percent of TIO) from Rs 459.32 crore (98 percent of TIO) in Q2-16. Employee benefits expense in Q3-17 declined 4.9 percent to Rs 268.73 crore (53 percent of TIO) from Rs 282.64 crore (60.3 percent of TIO) in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    Finance cost in Q3-17 reduced 26.3 percent to Rs 22.94 crore (4.5 percent of TIO) from Rs 32.12 crore (6.6 percent of TIO) in Q3-16.

    Technicians fees in Q3-17 reduced by 7.7 percent to Rs 7.27 crore (1.4 percent of TIO) from Rs 7.88 crore (1.7 percent of TIO) in Q3-16. Technical Services cost in the current quarter reduced by 16.1 percent to Rs 16.50 crore (3.3 percent of TIO) from Rs 19.67 crore (4.2 percent of TIO) in Q3-16.

    Commenting on the results, PFL founder, executive chairman and global CEO Namit Malhotra said, “We are very happy to report strong financial performance this quarter as we move well ahead of set targets. We are today positioned as a leader in all three of our businesses i.e. Creative Services, Technology Services and India FMS and are witnessing accelerating growth along with increasing industry recognition and acclaim.

    We are pleased to share that our Creative Services delivered VFX on the recent Hollywood blockbuster Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them which is amongst the top 10 movies of 2016 and has grossed over $800 million at the box office. Our creative order book is robust $250 million with many upcoming prestigious projects. Our Tech/Tech Enabled business grew steadily adding new clients and orders while the India FMS business continues to do well, growing robustly with high margins, a testimony of our superior quality.

    We have established a global track record in delivering top-end, innovative and commercially successful projects. We are beginning to clearly see the benefits of working on a larger canvas.”

    Notes: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

  • ENIL revenue up in third quarter of 2017

    BENGALURU: Indian private FM player Entertainment Network (India) Limited (ENIL), which runs the Mirchi brand radio network in India,  reported 4.9 percent increase in Total Income from Operations (TIO) for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-17, current quarter). The company reported consolidated revenue of Rs 150.65 crore for the current quarter as compared to Rs 143.57 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q), revenue in Q3-17 also increased 16.2 percent from Rs 129.65 crore in Q2-17.

    The company’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) in Q3-17 declined by 43.1 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) to Rs 16.42 crore (10.9 percent margin) as compared to Rs 28.86 crore (20.1 percent margin) and more than doubled (increased 2.18 times) q-o-q from Rs 8.05 crore (6.2 percent margin).

    Company Speak

    Commenting on the results, ENIL managing director and chief executive officer, Prashant Panday said, “We are poised on the cusp of a strong growth curve with the Love Network – 8 ‘Mirchi Love’ channels of our own and 3 ‘Ishq FM’ channels of TV Today – now fully operational. This network, along with the original ‘Mirchi’ network, now comprising 42 channels, offer advertisers the widest coverage across the country. With the government soon to announce the results of the second batch of auctions held recently, we will grow even bigger. These are exciting times!”

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by ENIL

    ENIL’s consolidated Earnings before Interest, Depreciation, Taxes and Amortisation (EBIDTA, operating profit) for Q3-17 declined 18.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 38.13 crore (25.3 percent margin)  from Rs 46.78 crore (32.6 percent margin) but increased 64.9 percent q-o-q from Rs 23.13 crore (26.6 percent margin) in the immediate trailing quarter.

    ENIL total expense (TE) in Q3-17 increased 20.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 127.26 crore (84.5 percent of TIO) from Rs 105.64 crore (73.6 percent of TIO), and increased 5.6 percent q-o-q from Rs 120.50 crore (92.9 percent of TIO).

    Programming and royalty expenses in the current quarter increased 43.6 percent y-o-y to Rs 6.85 crore (4.5 percent of TIO) from Rs 4.77 crore (3.3 percent of TIO and increased 13.7 percent q-o-q from Rs 6.03 crore (4.6 percent of TIO).

    License fee in Q3-17 increased 28.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 8.82 crore (5.9 percent of TIO) from Rs 6.87 crore (4.8 percent of TIO) and increased 6.1 percent q-o-q from Rs 8.31 crore (6.4 percent of TIO).

    Employee Benefit Expense (EBE) in Q3-17 at Rs 28.76 crore (19.1 percent of TIO) increased 13.9 percent y-o-y from Rs 25.5 crore (17.6 percent of TIO) and increased 7 percent q-o-q from Rs 26.86 crore (20.7 percent of TIO).

    Marketing expense in Q3-17 at Rs 33.95 crore (22.5 percent of TIO) increased 6.8 percent y-o-y from Rs 31.78 crore (22.1 percent of TIO) and increased 4.2 percent q-o-q from Rs 32.58 crore (25.1 percent of TIO).

    Other expenses in Q3-17 at Rs 34.14 crore (22.7 percent of TIO) increased 21.4 percent y-o-y from Rs 31.78 crore (19.6 percent of TIO) and increased 4.3 percent q-o-q from Rs 32.73 crore (25.3 percent of TIO).

    ENIL won 17 stations in Phase 3 auctions. The company launched three new radio channels during the quarter viz. Lucknow, Pune and Kanpur. ENIL says that it intends to start operations at three out of the remaining six Phase III radio channels before the end of the financial year 2016-17.

    Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

  • Balaji Telefilms reports operating profit for third quarter

    BENBALURU: After a few consecutive quarters during which the Ekta Kapoor run Balaji Telefilms Limited (Balaji Telefilms) reported consolidated operating losses, the company is showing signs of return to profitability. Balaji Telefilms reported operating profit of Rs 2.8 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-17, current quarter). In the current fiscal, the company had reported consolidated operating losses of Rs 26.2 crore and Rs 3 crore for the Q2-17 and Q1-17 respectively. In Q3-16, the company had reported an operating profit of Rs 18.05 crore (as per its older accounting practise – since 1 April 2016, the company has adopted IND-AS).

    The company reported increase in programming hours for the current quarter due to higher number of serials – 10 in the current quarter as against 9 in the immediate trailing quarter Q2-17. In Q3-17, Balaji Telefilms reported 262 hours of programming as against 231 hours in Q2-17. Though the company reported 294 hours of programming in Q3-16, its net realisation per hour for the current quarter is much higher at Rs 31.9 lakh as compared to Rs 24.2 lakh in the corresponding year ago quarter and Rs 26.3 lakh in the immediate trailing quarter. Revenue from Balaji Telefilm’s Commissioned Programs segment in Q3-17 was Rs 83.74 crore, while for Q2-16 it was Rs 72.01 crore.

    Further, though year-over-year (y-o-y) gross margin per hour has declined in the current quarter to Rs 7.10 lakh from Rs 8.7 lakh in Q3-16, it is higher than the Rs 6.8 lakh in Q4-16; Rs 5.2 lakh in Q1-17 and Rs 6.4 lakh in the immediate trailing quarter.

    The company had no film releases in the current quarter as compared to four in the immediate trailing quarter during which the company says that it incurred significant losses due to piracy.

    Balaji Telefilms reported a consolidated loss of Rs 1.78 crore in Q3-17, as compared to Profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 6.63 crore for the corresponding year ago quarter. Loss in the immediate trailing quarter was higher at Rs 28 crore.

    The company reported 40.7 percent higher revenue (TIO) in the current quarter at Rs 102.96 crore as compared to Rs 73.15 crore in Q3-16, but 2.5 percent lower than the Rs 105.91 crore in the immediate trailing quarter Q2-17.

    On a standalone basis, Balaji Telefilms Limited (BTL) – the television arm reported higher a net profit of Rs 8 crores in the current quarter versus Rs 4.4 crore in the immediate trailing quarter. Standalone revenues for Q3-17 and Q2-17 were Rs 83.9 crore and Rs 61.2 crore respectively.

    ALT Digital

    Revenue from Balaji Telefilms digital business – ALT- was Nil as the company is getting ready to launch commercial services in early Q4-17. Other Income from ALT was Rs 1.6 crore in Q3-17 versus Rs 3.3 crore in Q2-17.

    Balaji Telefilms says that it will continue to add original, exclusive and disruptive content in preparation for launch. It reveals that its content library at launch will have 6 original shows and some curated content totalling over 200 hours of content
    It says further that it has entered into marketing and distribution tie ups with leading smartphone OEMs / telco / ISP / eCommerce and payment partners.

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Balaji Telefilms

    Revenue from Balaj Telefilms movie business for Q3-17 was Rs 19.2 crore against Rs 43.2 crore in Q2-17. The movie business had an operating loss of Rs 1.7 crore in the current quarter. Operating loss in the immediate trailing quarter was Rs 28 crore. Total amount invested as of 31 September 2016 in movies that are under production was Rs 50.2 crore says the company.

    Total Expenditure in the current quarter increased 51.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 103.98 crore (100.3 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 68.69 crore (87.3 percent of TIO) in Q3-16. Cost of Production/Acquisition and Telecast Fees in Q3-17 was Rs 77.37 crore (74.6 percent of TIO), 13.7 percent more than Rs 68.04 crore (86.5 percent of TIO) in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    Employee Benefit Expense in the current quarter increased 35 percent y-o-y to Rs 6.63 crore (6.4 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 4.92 crore (6.2 percent of TIO).

    Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion…

  • Sun TV third quarter of 2017 numbers up

    BENGALURU: Sun TV Network Limited (Sun TV) reported improved numbers across all important parameters for the quarter ended 30 December 2016 (Q3-17, current quarter) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter (Q3-16). The board of directors have declared an interim dividend of Rs 5 per equity share of Rs 5 each (100 percent) for the financial year 2016-17.

    Sun TV reported 2.8 percent higher year-over-year (y-o-y) revenue in the current quarter at Rs 589.43 crore as compared to Rs 573.24 crore in Q3-16.

    Revenue growth in Q3-17 was led by a 16.8 percent y-o-y increase in subscription revenue at Rs 241.94 crore from Rs 207.16 crore.

    The company’s Profit after tax or PAT in Q3-17 improved 11 percent y-o-y to Rs 240.09 crore (40.7 percent margin) as compared to Rs 216.33 crore (37.7 percent margin) in Q3-16.

    Sun TV EBIDTA in the current quarter was Rs 439.73 crore (74.6 percent EBIDTA margin), almost flat (0.6 percent higher) as compared to Rs 437.29 crore (76.3 percent EBIDTA margin) in Q3-16.

    Total Expenditure (TE) in the current quarter decreased 3.8 percent y-o-y to Rs 260.39 crore (44.2 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 270.70 crore (47.2 percent of TIO) in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    Employee Remuneration and Benefits Expense (EBE) in Q3-17 increased 1.3 percent y-o-y to Rs 59.86 crore (10.2 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 59.21 crore (10.3 percent of TIO) in Q3-16.

    Other expenses (OE) in the Q3-17 was 2.6 percent lower at Rs 36.06 crore (6.1 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 37.04 crore (6.5 percent of TIO) in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    IPL Franchisee Sun Risers Hyderabad

    Sun TV has paid franchisee fees for its IPL team SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) of Rs 85.48 crore in Q1-17 as compared to Rs 85.05 crore in the first quarter of FY-16.

    The results of the nine month period ended 31 December 2016 (9M-17) include IPL revenue of Rs 143.90 crore as compared to Rs 96.96 crore in 9M-16 and costs of Rs 175.11 crore and Rs 153.21 crore for 9M-17 and 9M-16 respectively.

    Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

  • BJP, FMCG companies in BARC’s top 10 list

    BENGALURU: Once again following the trends of the first four weeks of 2017, FMCG advertisers hogged most of the ranks (9 out of the top 10 ranks) among the top 10 advertisers list on television in terms of ad insertions (advertisers list) for week 5 of 2017. Also, the national ruling political party – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – was ranked first among the top 10 brands list in terms of brand ad insertions on television (brands list) in week 5 of 2017 (Saturday, 28 January 2017 to Friday, 3 February 2017) as per Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data for top 10 advertisers Across Genre: All India (U+R): 4+ Individuals.

    The lone non-FMCG player in the top 10 advertisers list was music company Super Cassettes Industries (SCI) which was ranked 7 with 18,154 (6.49 percent of sum of insertions by top 10 advertisers) insertions. SCI was also present in the advertisers list for week 4 at rank eight with 18,804 insertions and in week and rank 9 in week 2 of 2017 with 17,250 insertions.

    Maintaining their respective ranks in the advertisers list at the first three positions were FMCG players Hindustan Level Limited (Lever) with 95,638 (34.17 percent of sum of insertions by top 10 advertisers) insertions; Baba Ramdev’sPatanjaliAyurved Limited (Patanjali) with 31,761 (11.35 percent of sum of insertions by top 10 advertisers) insertions and Reckitt Benckiser (India) Limited (Reckitt) with 25,912 (9.26 percent of sum of insertions by top 10 advertisers) insertions. Please refer to Figure A below for the advertisers list for week and Figure B below for the advertisers list for weeks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 below.

    As mentioned above, the national ruling political party – the BJP tops the brands (in terms of number of television insertions) list in week 5 of 2017 with 11,563 (14.47 percent of sum of insertions by top 10 brands).  The number of insertions by three Mobile services/devices brands had the largest chunk of insertions in the brands list with 26,314 (32.94 percent of sum of insertions by top 10 brands) in week 5. Four FMCG brands followed slightly behind with 25,349 (31.73 percent of sum of insertions by top 10 brands) in week 5. One brand each from politics (BJP), associations (Petroleum Conservation Research Association – 11,053 insertions) and online (OLX.in, 5,613 insertions) genres completed the top ten brands list in terms of television ad insertions per week list. Please refer to figure C below for the top 10 brands list in terms of television ad insertions in week 5 of 2017.

  • Hathway revenue and operating profit up in third quarter

    BENGALURU: Indian multi system operator (MSO) Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited (Hathway) reported 25.5 per cent growth in Total Income from operations (TIO) and 46 percent growth in operating profits (EBIDTA) for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-17, current quarter). The company reported TIO of Rs 337.6 crore in Q3-17 as compared to Rs 281.2 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    The company’s EBDITA (earnings before depreciation, interest, taxes and amortisation or operating profit) including other income in the current quarter was Rs 66.6 crore (20 percent EBIDTA margin) and was Rs 45.4 crore (16 percent EBIDTA margin) in Q3-16. The company’s loss as per IND-AS in the current quarter increased to Rs 44.4 crore from a loss of Rs 41.2 crore in Q3-16.

    Hathway reported high growth in Cable subscription revenue, Activation fees and Broadband revenue, while placement revenue declined. The company’s broadband segment has been performing very well, as a matter of fact, among the national level MSOs’ Hathway has the highest subscription and revenue numbers among all of them. Like in the immediate trailing quarter, within Hathway, in Q3-17, Broadband subscription had the highest contribution to revenue, even more than Cable TV subscription revenue

    Hathway’s broadband subscriber base increased by 0.4 lakh in Q3-17 to 8.6 lakh from 8.2 lakh in the immediate trailing quarter. Consolidated broadband revenue in the current quarter as per IND AS increased 62 percent to Rs 127.8 crore from Rs 78.7 crore in the previous year. Consolidated Broadband ARPU in Q3-17 was Rs 654 as compared to Rs 631 in Q3-16 and Rs 643 in the immediate trailing quarter.

    Reported CATV subscription revenue as per IND AS in the current quarter increased 17 percent to Rs 114.1 crore from Rs 97.7crore in Q3-16 Hathway says that it has deployed 4 lakh STBs at a consolidated level. Standalone CATV ARPU in DAS Phase I was Rs 105, in Phase II areas was Rs 95. ARPU from phase III areas was Rs 45.

    Placement revenue as per IND AS in the current quarter declined 14 percent to Rs 70.4 crore from Rs 82.2 crore in Q3-16.

    Activation revenue as per IND AS increased 49 percent y-o-y in Q3-17 to Rs 21 crore from Rs 115 crore in Q3-16.

    Other revenue as per IND AS declined 43 percent in Q3-17 to Rs 4.3 crore from Rs 7.6 in Q3-16.

    Hathway’s Standalone Total Expenditure (without depreciation and amortization) in Q3-17 increased 14 percent to Rs 27.52 crore from Rs 239.4 crore in the previous year.

    Standalone Pay channel cost in the current quarter increased 10 percent to Rs 104.3 crore from Rs 94.5 crore in Q3-16. Standalone Employee Benefit expense in Q3-17 increased 19 percent y-o-y to Rs 23.3 crore from Rs 19.6 crore.

    Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

  • Jio becomes top ISP, Wireline growth retards overall broadband internet subs fall in Nov-16

    Jio becomes top ISP, Wireline growth retards overall broadband internet subs fall in Nov-16

    BENGALURU: MukeshAmbani’s Reliance JioInfocomm Limited (Jio) replaced Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) as the largest internet services provider in the country. All the other players in the top 5 wireless internet subscriber list based on subscribers lost subscribers to the Jio juggernaut.

    However, India witnessed a 0.07 percent fall in broadband internet subscriber base during the month ended 30 November 2016 (Nov-16) to 21.826 crore as compared to 21.842 crore in Oct-16(month ended 31 October 2016).Wireless internet subscribers that access the internet through mobile devices (phones and dongles) declined in Nov-16 to 19.961 crore from 19.90 crore in Oct-16.

    Four of the top five wireline broadband internet service providers in India contributed 1.2 lakh (92.31 percent) subscribers of the 1.3 lakh wireline subscribers added across India during Nov-16 and hence retarded the fall in internet subscribers to some extent. As per data submitted to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) the total wireline broadband subscriber base grew 0.69 percent to 180.6 lakh in Nov-16 from 179.3 lakh in Oct-16). The fifth player (fourth in the pecking order in terms of number of wireline broadband internet subscribers), the public sector Mahanagar Telecom Nigalm Limited (MTNL) saw its subscriber base erode by 10,000 to 10.5 lakh in Nov-16.

    Among the 5 top wireline broadband internet players in India, the public sector telecom player Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) leads by far with 99.5 lakh total number of wireline broadband subscribers as on Nov-16. However BSNL had seen its broadband subscriber base shrink by 80,000 in CY-16 until Aug-16. Since Sep-16, BSNL has added 110,000 subscribers. The largest private sector wireline broadband internet services player Airtel had 20.3 lakh subscribers as on 30 November 2016, ACT with 11.4 lakh subscribers was next and was followed by the other public sector player – MTNL with 10.5 lakh subscribers.  You Broadband (You BB) with 6 lakh subscribers was the fifth. Overall, wired broadband subscribers in India in Nov-16 grew 0.73 percent month-on-month (MoM), while the five top players grew by 0.75 percent.

    Leading the growth in subscriber additions in CY-16 until Nov-16 are private wired broadband players Bharti Airtel (Airtel, 80,000 additions in Nov-16) and regional player Atria Convergence Technologies Pvt Ltd (ACT, 20,000 additions in Nov-16) with additions of 3.6 lakh and 2.8 lakh subscriber additions respectively in CY-16. Airtel’s wired broadband subscriber base grew 21.56 percent, while ACT’s base grew by 32.56 percent during the same period (CY-16 until Nov-16). In CY-15 (1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015), Airtel had added 2.6 lakh wired broadband subscribers and grown by 18.44 percent, while ACT had added 2.5 lakh subscribers and had grown at a blazing 40.98 percent. By Sep-16, Airtel had already exceeded the number of subscribers it had added in CY-15, while ACT crossed its CY-15 performance in Oct-16. Hence, by the end of 2016, with reports for Dec-16 to be published as yet, the two players should add a lot more subscribers than they did in CY-15.

    While Airtel is a national level player, ACT is a regional player with operations in South India, hence probably making ACT the largest private wireline broadband internet services player in South India. ACT has replaced the public sector MTNL at third place, pushing the latter to fourth spot in Aug-16 in terms of number of subscribers. Another private player among the top five – You Broadband (You BB) has added 90,000 subscribers (17.65 percent growth) in the current year until Nov-16. 

    Please refer to Fig 1 below:

    The top five players have had a slower rate of growth as compared to the all India growth in CY-16 until Nov-16. The share of the top five players among all India wired broadband subscriber additions has fallen in CY-16 until Nov-16 from 85.28 percent as on 1 January 2016 to 81.78 percent as on 30 November 2016. The share of these players was 88.45 percent as on 1 January 2015.

    Month-on-month (m-o-m), the all India wired broadband subscriber base witnessed the second highest growth in CY-16 until Sep-16 in Aug-16 at 1.03 percent, while the top 5 players had a growth of 0.28 percent in that month. 

    It is interesting to note that in percentage terms, while the All India m-o-m wireline broadband internet subscriber growth rate shows a decline the top five players show an increasing growth rate trend as indicated by the broken brown and red lines in the figure below. It may be noted further that the percentage numbers below are indicative and based on numbers rounded off to nearest 10,000, hence may differ from the number mentioned above (0.69 percent growth as opposed to 0.73 percent growth in the graph below for Nov-16).

    Other wireline broadband players in India

    MSOs’ in India have started providing internet services on the back of their television cable networks using DOCSIS technology. In general, they have started reporting double and triple digit year-over-year (y-o-y) increase in internet subscribers and revenue. The television cable players see broadband services improving their Average Revenue per User (ARPU) numbers. Three of the major MSOs and a regional MSO – Hathway, Siti Networks Limited, Den Networks Limited , Ortel Communications Limited respectivelywhose results are available in the public domain have been showing steady growth in their broadband segment over the past few quarters. 

    However, as per the data for Oct-16 and Nov-16, the contribution by other wireline broadband ISPs’ is small, just 10,000 subscribers per month were added by all the other players during these months.

    Overall broadband subscriber numbers for November 2016 including wireless and mobile

    The top five service providers constituted 82.39 percent market share of the totalbroadband subscribers at the end of Nov-16. These service providerswere Reliance JioInfocom Limited with 52.23 million or 52.23 crore (35.94 million or 3.594 crore in Oct-16);Bharti Airtel (43.93 million or 4.393 crore in Nov-16, 48.17 million or 4.817 crore in Oct-16); Vodafone (34.88 million or 3.488 crore in Nov-16, 40.19 million or 4.019 crore in Oct-16);Idea Cellular which saw a decline in subscribers (for the second month in a row) from 29.76 million (2.976 crore)  to 28.40 million or 2,84 crore;and BSNL which also saw its subscriber base decline once again from 21.46 million or 2.146 crore to 20.39 million or 2.039 crore. Reliance Communications Group which had (16.74 million 1.674 crore) in Sep-16 had already exited the top five list in Oct-16

    TRAI’s definition of broadband is internet download speeds greater than or equal to 512 Kpbs.

    Notes:(1) The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR).The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

    (2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to 2 decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.51 million (5.1 lakh) subscribers for You BB for Dec-2015 would be granular to the nearest 10,000. While percentages have been mentioned up to two decimal places, the accuracy may vary, depending upon the exact number.
    (3) MSOs’ have a number of subsidiaries and alliances, hence broadband numbers are split as applicable. The consolidated subscription numbers of these entities could be larger. Hathway is a case in point.

  • Jio becomes top ISP, Wireline growth retards overall broadband internet subs fall in Nov-16

    Jio becomes top ISP, Wireline growth retards overall broadband internet subs fall in Nov-16

    BENGALURU: MukeshAmbani’s Reliance JioInfocomm Limited (Jio) replaced Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) as the largest internet services provider in the country. All the other players in the top 5 wireless internet subscriber list based on subscribers lost subscribers to the Jio juggernaut.

    However, India witnessed a 0.07 percent fall in broadband internet subscriber base during the month ended 30 November 2016 (Nov-16) to 21.826 crore as compared to 21.842 crore in Oct-16(month ended 31 October 2016).Wireless internet subscribers that access the internet through mobile devices (phones and dongles) declined in Nov-16 to 19.961 crore from 19.90 crore in Oct-16.

    Four of the top five wireline broadband internet service providers in India contributed 1.2 lakh (92.31 percent) subscribers of the 1.3 lakh wireline subscribers added across India during Nov-16 and hence retarded the fall in internet subscribers to some extent. As per data submitted to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) the total wireline broadband subscriber base grew 0.69 percent to 180.6 lakh in Nov-16 from 179.3 lakh in Oct-16). The fifth player (fourth in the pecking order in terms of number of wireline broadband internet subscribers), the public sector Mahanagar Telecom Nigalm Limited (MTNL) saw its subscriber base erode by 10,000 to 10.5 lakh in Nov-16.

    Among the 5 top wireline broadband internet players in India, the public sector telecom player Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) leads by far with 99.5 lakh total number of wireline broadband subscribers as on Nov-16. However BSNL had seen its broadband subscriber base shrink by 80,000 in CY-16 until Aug-16. Since Sep-16, BSNL has added 110,000 subscribers. The largest private sector wireline broadband internet services player Airtel had 20.3 lakh subscribers as on 30 November 2016, ACT with 11.4 lakh subscribers was next and was followed by the other public sector player – MTNL with 10.5 lakh subscribers.  You Broadband (You BB) with 6 lakh subscribers was the fifth. Overall, wired broadband subscribers in India in Nov-16 grew 0.73 percent month-on-month (MoM), while the five top players grew by 0.75 percent.

    Leading the growth in subscriber additions in CY-16 until Nov-16 are private wired broadband players Bharti Airtel (Airtel, 80,000 additions in Nov-16) and regional player Atria Convergence Technologies Pvt Ltd (ACT, 20,000 additions in Nov-16) with additions of 3.6 lakh and 2.8 lakh subscriber additions respectively in CY-16. Airtel’s wired broadband subscriber base grew 21.56 percent, while ACT’s base grew by 32.56 percent during the same period (CY-16 until Nov-16). In CY-15 (1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015), Airtel had added 2.6 lakh wired broadband subscribers and grown by 18.44 percent, while ACT had added 2.5 lakh subscribers and had grown at a blazing 40.98 percent. By Sep-16, Airtel had already exceeded the number of subscribers it had added in CY-15, while ACT crossed its CY-15 performance in Oct-16. Hence, by the end of 2016, with reports for Dec-16 to be published as yet, the two players should add a lot more subscribers than they did in CY-15.

    While Airtel is a national level player, ACT is a regional player with operations in South India, hence probably making ACT the largest private wireline broadband internet services player in South India. ACT has replaced the public sector MTNL at third place, pushing the latter to fourth spot in Aug-16 in terms of number of subscribers. Another private player among the top five – You Broadband (You BB) has added 90,000 subscribers (17.65 percent growth) in the current year until Nov-16. 

    Please refer to Fig 1 below:

    The top five players have had a slower rate of growth as compared to the all India growth in CY-16 until Nov-16. The share of the top five players among all India wired broadband subscriber additions has fallen in CY-16 until Nov-16 from 85.28 percent as on 1 January 2016 to 81.78 percent as on 30 November 2016. The share of these players was 88.45 percent as on 1 January 2015.

    Month-on-month (m-o-m), the all India wired broadband subscriber base witnessed the second highest growth in CY-16 until Sep-16 in Aug-16 at 1.03 percent, while the top 5 players had a growth of 0.28 percent in that month. 

    It is interesting to note that in percentage terms, while the All India m-o-m wireline broadband internet subscriber growth rate shows a decline the top five players show an increasing growth rate trend as indicated by the broken brown and red lines in the figure below. It may be noted further that the percentage numbers below are indicative and based on numbers rounded off to nearest 10,000, hence may differ from the number mentioned above (0.69 percent growth as opposed to 0.73 percent growth in the graph below for Nov-16).

    Other wireline broadband players in India

    MSOs’ in India have started providing internet services on the back of their television cable networks using DOCSIS technology. In general, they have started reporting double and triple digit year-over-year (y-o-y) increase in internet subscribers and revenue. The television cable players see broadband services improving their Average Revenue per User (ARPU) numbers. Three of the major MSOs and a regional MSO – Hathway, Siti Networks Limited, Den Networks Limited , Ortel Communications Limited respectivelywhose results are available in the public domain have been showing steady growth in their broadband segment over the past few quarters. 

    However, as per the data for Oct-16 and Nov-16, the contribution by other wireline broadband ISPs’ is small, just 10,000 subscribers per month were added by all the other players during these months.

    Overall broadband subscriber numbers for November 2016 including wireless and mobile

    The top five service providers constituted 82.39 percent market share of the totalbroadband subscribers at the end of Nov-16. These service providerswere Reliance JioInfocom Limited with 52.23 million or 52.23 crore (35.94 million or 3.594 crore in Oct-16);Bharti Airtel (43.93 million or 4.393 crore in Nov-16, 48.17 million or 4.817 crore in Oct-16); Vodafone (34.88 million or 3.488 crore in Nov-16, 40.19 million or 4.019 crore in Oct-16);Idea Cellular which saw a decline in subscribers (for the second month in a row) from 29.76 million (2.976 crore)  to 28.40 million or 2,84 crore;and BSNL which also saw its subscriber base decline once again from 21.46 million or 2.146 crore to 20.39 million or 2.039 crore. Reliance Communications Group which had (16.74 million 1.674 crore) in Sep-16 had already exited the top five list in Oct-16

    TRAI’s definition of broadband is internet download speeds greater than or equal to 512 Kpbs.

    Notes:(1) The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR).The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

    (2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to 2 decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.51 million (5.1 lakh) subscribers for You BB for Dec-2015 would be granular to the nearest 10,000. While percentages have been mentioned up to two decimal places, the accuracy may vary, depending upon the exact number.
    (3) MSOs’ have a number of subsidiaries and alliances, hence broadband numbers are split as applicable. The consolidated subscription numbers of these entities could be larger. Hathway is a case in point.