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Tag: Network18 Media

  • Infomedia Press faces turbulence as total expenses rise to Rs 73.39 lakh

    Infomedia Press faces turbulence as total expenses rise to Rs 73.39 lakh

    Mumbai: Even a lifeless ship weighs heavy on the ocean—Infomedia Press Limited, once a towering lighthouse in India’s publishing industry, now drifts aimlessly in turbulent financial seas.

    For the half-year ending 30 September 2024, losses have swelled to Rs 193.90 lakh, deepening the shadows over its future. Despite unwavering support from its anchor, Network18 Media & Investments Limited, the company remains mired in uncertainty, its sails tattered and hope for revival fading on the horizon. Stakeholders, like distant watchers on a stormy shore, ponder whether this vessel can ever find its course again.  

    Infomedia’s Q2 FY25 results reveal a grim narrative, underscored by a loss of Rs 87.81 lakh for the quarter. This marks a year-on-year escalation from Rs 90.83 lakh in Q2 FY24, compounding the company’s cumulative losses to Rs 10,805.01 lakh. Operating income remained at zero, reflecting its discontinued business operations, while finance costs surged to Rs 73.31 lakh for the quarter, up 3.86 per cent from Rs 70.58 lakh in Q2 FY24.  

    Other financial metrics further reflect this decline:  

    – Total Expenses: Increased to Rs 73.39 lakh from Rs 70.66 lakh in the corresponding quarter last year.  

    – Earnings Per Share (EPS): Fell from Rs (0.18) in Q2 FY24 to Rs (0.21) in Q2 FY25, reflecting diminished shareholder value.  

    The company’s equity position continues to deteriorate, with a negative net worth of Rs 5,639.70 lakh as of September 2024, widening from Rs 5,448.47 lakh at the close of March 2024. Total assets marginally increased to Rs 961.45 lakh, driven by slight improvements in current assets. However, non-current liabilities, primarily borrowings, escalated to Rs 6,543.77 lakh, signaling greater reliance on external funding.  

    Operating activities generated a net cash outflow of Rs 82.11 lakh in H1 FY25, reflecting weaker operational performance. Minor relief came from financing activities, which infused Rs 81.75 lakh, primarily through increased borrowings. Yet, the company’s cash reserves remain fragile at Rs 2.28 lakh.  

    Infomedia’s plight is rooted in discontinued operations, which have eroded its revenue streams and strained its ability to cover mounting liabilities. Despite assurances of financial support from Network18, the absence of a concrete revival plan exacerbates uncertainty. The management’s mention of exploring new business lines provides a glimmer of hope but lacks tangible direction.  

  • Network18 Media shuffles senior management

    Network18 Media shuffles senior management

    MUMBAI: Reliance Industries group company Network18 has made some senior management changes, which it made public through a regulatory filing on the Bombay stock exchange on 12 October 2024.

    Shweta Gupta has been appointed as company secretary and compliance officer, replacing Nitten Gupta as the compliance officer who moved out of Network18 on 12 October 2024.

    Sanchayan Paul has also been roped in as chief human resource officer who will join Network18 from 1 November 2024. He replaces P. Sakthivel who will be moving into another role within the company from 31 October 2024.  The company had made the announcement of Sachayan’s  joining as CHRO designate in June 2024.

    Gupta is a qualified company secretary & law graduate with more than 20 years’ experience in the areas of  secretarial, corporate governance, legal and compliance functions.  Her last posting was as company secretary & compliance officer & legal head of Gulf Oil Lubricants India, a Hinduja group company. Before Gulf, she was associated with Hindalco Industries and JSW Steel.

    A graduate from Delhi university and a postgraduate from XLRI Jamshedpur, Sanchayan is a a veteran HR professional with more than 25 years’ experience. He was previously associated with Modenik Lifestyle, a PE-backed enterprise that he landed into after journeying through companies as varied as Reliance Industries, Thomson Reuters, Eicher Consulting Services, Hutchison Essar Telecom and Vodafone. He also took a stab at entrepreneurship, founding KaryaMitr, a tech-enabled platform for skill building and training aimed at the vernacular workspace. Sanchayan has also completed his digital business leadership pogramme from Cornell University.

  • Network18: mixed financial performance in Q2 FY 2025

    Network18: mixed financial performance in Q2 FY 2025

    MUMBAI: That the television industry is going through a rough phase has been talked about ad nauseum. Normally, the June-September quarter is subdued -especially in media and entertainment – with the monsoons setting in and most categories slowing down on their ad spends. But, in 2025, the spends were even further muted despite some tentpole properties being shown on television. Or at least that’s what the media pundits are saying. And this is reflected in the Q2 FY 2025 consolidated financials of the Reliance Industries-owned Network18 Media.

    Network18 Media’s losses have climbed to Rs 1520 million as against Rs 1190 million in the corresponding period of FY2024. Revenues too have marginally dropped to Rs  18,250 million (Rs 18,6600 million in Q2FY 2024). For Q2 FY2025, the company has tightened its belt and reduced its operational costs to Rs 10,670 million (Rs 12,380 million). However, its marketing, distribution and promotional expenses have climbed to Rs 5020 million (Rs 3,720 million); its finance costs have escalated to Rs 1,700 million (Rs 660 million).

    On a half yearly basis, the financials to 30 September 2024 look more respectable. H1 FY2025 profit is at Rs 490 million as compared to a loss of Rs 270 million in H1 FY 2022. The company has turned up a profit despite a drop in revenues to Rs 49,660 million (Rs 51,040 million). It has managed to put a handle on operational expenses which fell to Rs 33,690 million (Rs 36,040 million). However, its marketing, promotion and distribution costs have shot up to Rs 10,120 million (Rs 8,970 million). Employee benefit costs too have risen to Rs 7010 million (Rs 6650 million). Finance costs have more than doubled to Rs 3,200 million (Rs 1,340 million).

    The company said in the a press release posted on the Bombay stock exchange that the news portfolio revenue grew only six per cent primarily driven by growth in digital segment ad revenue across all platforms (Rs 4450 million against Rs 4220 million in Q2 FY 2024). TV advertising was soft during the quarter as industry advertising volumes for the news genre declined by 20 per cent YoY. News’ share in overall advertising inventory consumption also declined by over 200 bps YoY and QoQ.

    Its entertainment vertical  under Viacom18 saw a decline in operating revenue of five per cent during Q2 FY 2025  primarily due to the drop in movie segment revenue. In Q2FY24, Viacom18 Studios had released two big-ticket movies whereas there were no movies released this quarter, which had an impact of Rs 3300 million on the revenue. Growth in ad revenue was primarily driven by digital, across both sports and non-sports segment (Rs 4450 million vs Rs 4200 million). Entertainment TV revenue was shaved to Rs 13,390 million (Rs 14,160 million). This was largely offset by growth in subscription revenue (Rs 7,330 million vs Rs 5110 million) aided by new pricing as well as the increased monetisation of its sports portfolio.

    JioCinema’s recently launched SVOD plans witnessed strong traction and helped it become the fastest-growing subscription-based OTT platform in the country.

    The good news for the company is that The scheme of arrangement for the merger of Network18, TV18 Broadcast Ltd. (TV18) and e-Eighteen.com (E18) became effective on 3 October 2024.  The merger creates India’s largest platform-agnostic news media powerhouse with the widest widest footprint across languages, straddling both TV and digital.  

    The network has a monthly reach of over 350 million on TV and around 250 million monthly unique visitors across its digital portfolio. As consumers and advertisers increasingly gravitate towards omni-channel experiences across different aspects of their lives, having a deep and integrated presence across both TV and digital media will enable the merged entity to serve them better.  The combination of the businesses will result in operational synergies, cost optimization and opportunities for increased revenue realization.

    “We are happy to have completed the merger of our news businesses. With a strong portfolio of TV channels and digital platforms, covering the breadth of the country and catering to its linguistic diversity, we are ideally positioned to become the most preferred news network of India. We are committed to push boundaries of and lead the growth of the industry as we build on this strong foundation,” said Network18,chairman Adil Zainulbhai.
     

  • Network18 media elevates Saraswathi Anand to general manager

    Network18 media elevates Saraswathi Anand to general manager

    NEW DELHI: Network18 Media has recently promoted Saraswathi Anand, erstwhile marketing lead – languages, to the post of general manager. Anand has been associated with the company since April 2019.

    Anand has over 16 years of industry experience. Prior to this, she was working with Zeel as head of brand and was heading the brand portfolio of Zee Kannada. She has spent more than a decade in media and has worked across platforms including radio, TV, and print.

    She has also had stints with Vijay Karnataka, Radio Indigo, Radio Mirchi, Accenture, Titan, and Mudra Communications.

  • Ambani’s Reliance merges media & distribution biz under Network18

    Ambani’s Reliance merges media & distribution biz under Network18

    MUMBAI: When you are Mukesh Ambani, you think size,  you think scale. Even as speculation is running rife whether a deal with Sony Pictures is on, the chairman & managing director of Reliance Industries yesterday announced that the megacorp is consolidating its media and distribution entities under one company Network18 Media & Investments. Under the scheme of arrangement, TV18 Broadcast , Hathway Cable and  Datacom and Den Networks  will merge into Network18 Media.

     

     The appointed date for the merger shall be 1 February, the company said in a statement. It also added that the broadcasting business will be housed in Network18 and the cable and ISP businesses in two separate wholly owned subsidiaries of Network18.

     

    In one of the the biggest takeovers of the Indian media industry, Ambani had announced in 2014 that it would spend big to take complete control of Network18. The acquisition kickstarted the billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s investment in the media and entertainment industry which ballooned over the years .

     

    After the consolidation, Network18 will be an integrated media and distribution company with a revenue of Rs 8,000 crore and net-debt free at a consolidated level. The company also said that the scheme shall also simplify the corporate structure of the group by reducing the number of listed entities.

     

    According to the share exchange ratio approved by the board, shareholders will get 92 shares of Network18 for every 100 shares of TV18; 78 shares of Network18 for every 100 shares of Hathway and 191 shares of Network18 for every 100 shares of Den. Reliance Industries’ holding in Network18 will reduce from 75 per cent to 64 per cent upon the scheme’s implementation.

     

    “The aggregation of a content powerhouse across news and entertainment (both linear and digital) and the country’s largest cable distribution network under the same umbrella shall boost efficiency and exploit synergies, creating value for all stakeholders,” the company stated.

     

    “The media industry is accelerating towards being a B2C play, led both by market factors and through regulation. An integrated media play shall further increase the breadth as well as depth of the group’s consumer touchpoints, and allow for retaining a larger share of the consumer’s spend on content,” it added.

     

    Back in 2018, Reliance Industries through its network of subsidiaries acquired major stakes in Den Networks and  Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited after few days of announcement of its fiber-to-the-home service.

    The company added that the consolidation of the cable businesses of Den and Hathway in one entity will leverage the combined strength of the 27,000 LCO partners who act as the touchpoints to 15 million households in India; delivering localised, people-friendly and ultra-fast customer services. The combined broadband entity will serve 1 million wired line broadband subscribers across the country.

     

  • Sangeetha Aiyer calls it a day at Network18 Media & Investments

    Sangeetha Aiyer calls it a day at Network18 Media & Investments

    MUMBAI: After almost a decade, Sangeetha Aiyer has stepped down from her mandate as head marketing, digital business at Network18 Media & Investments Ltd. As part of her recent elevation, she was responsible for the marketing and brand initiatives of Network 18 digital platforms which include FirstPost, MoneyControl, CNBCTV18.com News18 English and News18 Vernacular.

    In her previous avatar with Network18, as the head, marketing and digital, A+E Networks|TV18 (the JV between A+E Networks and TV18), she played a significant role in spearheading the growth strategy for the JV, specifically the brand History TV18 and FYI TV18. As one of the key founding members of the JV, she was instrumental in leading the launch strategy of History TV18 and FYI TV18. Her efforts and astute marketing acumen have resulted in both brands being leaders in their respective genres.

    The two very popular franchises, OMG! Yeh Mera India and Small Budget Big Makeover in the factual and lifestyle space continue to be runaway hits in the factual & lifestyle genres, contributing to eyeballs not just on linear television but on social and digital platforms as well. Under her watch HISTORY TV18 blossomed into a digital powerhouse delivering more than a billion impressions, annually, and in the process winning multiple awards nationally and globally.

    A wearer of several hats, Aiyer has also led branded content function for the JV to create cost-efficient solutions to achieve significant deltas in revenue. From conceptualising and executing display & digital sales solutions to long format branded content, she has been adept at identifying revenue growth opportunities and has successfully executed various content projects across formats and platform

    With a career spanning over 19 years, Aiyer is an experienced marketer with comprehensive experience across industries including radio, retail and advertising and has worked with esteemed organizations like Times Network, Reliance Media Network, Star Network and Arvind Brands to name a few.

  • TV18 reports profit for second quarter

    TV18 reports profit for second quarter

    BENGALURU: TV18 Broadcast Limited (TV18), the subsidiary of the Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani controlled Network18 Media and Investments Ltd (Network 18) reported a consolidated total comprehensive income of Rs 118.3 million for the quarter ended 30 September 2017 (Q2-18, current quarter) as compared to the negative comprehensible income of Rs 74.5 million for the corresponding year ago quarter (y-o-y) and a negative comprehensible income of Rs 187.1 million for the immediate trailing quarter Q1-18 (q-o-q).

    Consolidated Net Profit after tax for the current quarter was Rs 73.3 million as compared to a y-o-y loss of Rs 11.4 million and a q-o-q loss of Rs 142.8 million. Total Comprehensible loss attributable to non-controlling interest in the company declined to Rs 1.9 million in Q2-18 as compared to a Total Comprehensible loss attributable to non-controlling interest of Rs 50.3 million in Q2-17 and Total Comprehensible loss attributable to non-controlling interest of Rs 23.2 million in Q1-18.

    Consolidated Total Income in Q2-18 declined 6 percent to Rs 2,349.7 million as compared to Rs 2,500.8 million in Q2-17, but was 3.6 percent higher than the Rs 2,267.2 million in Q1-18.

    Consolidated Total Expenditure declined 8.1 percent y-o-y in the current quarter to Rs 2,474.4 million from Rs 2,692.7 million and was 1.9 percent lower q-o-q as compared to Rs 2,523 million.

    Watch this space for more …

  • Digital India: Media, entertainment leaders join SCTE

    Digital India: Media, entertainment leaders join SCTE

    NEW DELHI: Reliance Big TV head (DTH Business) Vivek Garg, Network18 Media & Investments Ltd Group chief technology officer Rajat Nigam and GTPL-Hathway Pvt. Ltd chief operating officer Shaji Mathews have come on the governing council of broadband professionals body SCTE India for 2016-17.

    Others include Electronics Sector Skills Council of India CEO N K Mohapatra; Vodafone India executive vice president-corporate affairs and public policy Sandeep Bhargava and PPC Broadband managing mirector–Asia Pacific Gurdeep Singh Bakshi.

    The initiative was taken on the recommendation of SCTE vice president Mike Jones from the United Kingdom and national secretary Rahul Nehra.

    Nehra said, “SCTE stands to play a pivotal role in emerging Digital India from a skilling and innovation perspective and the new governing council will be the defining light of the efforts going forward.”

    Nigam added, “SCTE deserves salutation for driving technology enhancement and culture. Today, innovation is a tradition that needs to be adhered to continue the fast-paced tech journey enhancing user experience.”

    Specific goals for this year include developing technical skills in the digital space, collaborating with the policy makers to fast-track innovation and learning, driving standards in the echo-system, adopting innovation and bringing the best of Asia and Europe to the upcoming SCTE India Awards. The Society has planned to launch an India Broadband Journal which will be released quarterly thought-leader magazine.

    Industry relationships committee chairman Sandeep Bhargava said: “This shall enable focus on the needs of the broadband sector and help build relationships with various stakeholders in the government and industry and create a right policy environment.”

    Founded in 1945, the SCTE’s aim is to raise the standard of broadband engineering in the telecommunications industry. The society particularly concerns with the training and career advancement of technical professionals in the field. Headquartered in Watford (U.K.), the SCTE is a global non-profit organization that is managed by elected volunteers.

  • Digital India: Media, entertainment leaders join SCTE

    Digital India: Media, entertainment leaders join SCTE

    NEW DELHI: Reliance Big TV head (DTH Business) Vivek Garg, Network18 Media & Investments Ltd Group chief technology officer Rajat Nigam and GTPL-Hathway Pvt. Ltd chief operating officer Shaji Mathews have come on the governing council of broadband professionals body SCTE India for 2016-17.

    Others include Electronics Sector Skills Council of India CEO N K Mohapatra; Vodafone India executive vice president-corporate affairs and public policy Sandeep Bhargava and PPC Broadband managing mirector–Asia Pacific Gurdeep Singh Bakshi.

    The initiative was taken on the recommendation of SCTE vice president Mike Jones from the United Kingdom and national secretary Rahul Nehra.

    Nehra said, “SCTE stands to play a pivotal role in emerging Digital India from a skilling and innovation perspective and the new governing council will be the defining light of the efforts going forward.”

    Nigam added, “SCTE deserves salutation for driving technology enhancement and culture. Today, innovation is a tradition that needs to be adhered to continue the fast-paced tech journey enhancing user experience.”

    Specific goals for this year include developing technical skills in the digital space, collaborating with the policy makers to fast-track innovation and learning, driving standards in the echo-system, adopting innovation and bringing the best of Asia and Europe to the upcoming SCTE India Awards. The Society has planned to launch an India Broadband Journal which will be released quarterly thought-leader magazine.

    Industry relationships committee chairman Sandeep Bhargava said: “This shall enable focus on the needs of the broadband sector and help build relationships with various stakeholders in the government and industry and create a right policy environment.”

    Founded in 1945, the SCTE’s aim is to raise the standard of broadband engineering in the telecommunications industry. The society particularly concerns with the training and career advancement of technical professionals in the field. Headquartered in Watford (U.K.), the SCTE is a global non-profit organization that is managed by elected volunteers.

  • Network18 gets shareholder nod to raise up to Rs 1000 crore

    Network18 gets shareholder nod to raise up to Rs 1000 crore

    MUMBAI: Network18 Media & Investment’s shareholders have approved a proposal to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore.

     

    In its annual general meeting held on 28 September, the company has put forth special resolution for the same.

     

    The shareholders have now approved the proposal to raise funds via issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs), foreign currency convertible bonds and/or bond with share warrants in one or more tranches.