Tag: Prannoy Roy

NDTV reports operating profit after curbing op costs in Q1

BENGALURU: New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) reported consolidated operating profit (EBIDTA) of Rs 5.99 crore for thefor the quarter ended 30 June 2018 (Q1 2019, quarter or period under review) as compared to an operating loss of Rs 14.25 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year Q1 2018. The company’s consolidated operating revenue during the period under review declined 6.6 percent year on year (y-o-y) in Q1 2019 to Rs 98.18 crore from Rs 105.12 crore in Q1 2018. Consolidated total income for Q1 2019 declined 7.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 101.16 crore from Rs 109.60 crore.

NDTV reported lower consolidated loss of Rs 0.81 crore during the quarter under review as compared to a loss of Rs 18.38 crore in Q1 2018. Consolidated total comprehensive loss for Q1 2019 was lower at Rs 2.64 crore as compared to Rs 22.01 crore in Q1 2018.

Let us look at the other consolidated numbers reported by NDTV

Consolidated total expense in Q1 2019 reduced 20.6 percent y-o-y to Rs 102.08 crore from Rs 128.56 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Consolidated production expenses and cost of services increased 5.1 percent in Q1 2019 to Rs 18.83 crore from Rs 17.91 crore in Q1 2018. Consolidated employee benefit expense during the quarter under review reduced 35.2 percent y-o-y in Q1 2019 to Rs 38.77 crore from Rs 59.80 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Consolidated operation and administration expense reduced 17.2 percent y-o-y in Q1 2019 to Rs 19.94 crore from Rs 24.07 crore in Q1 2018. Consolidated marketing, promotion and distribution expense during the period under review reduced 16.7 percent to Rs 14.65 crore from Rs 17.59 crore in Q1 2018.

August 9, 2018
Barkha Dutt to launch her own English news channel?

MUMBAI: Another one bites the bullet. The buzz has been gathering pace that celebrity journalist-editor Barkha Dutt is gradually ammo-ing up to launch her own English-language TV news channel. In doing so, the former face of NDTV’s prime time shows will follow in the footsteps of some of her other famous colleagues like Rajdeep Sardesai (now re-christened CNN-IBN) and Arnab Goswami (Republic TV).

Apparently, she has found a bunch of backers in New Delhi and Haryana who are willing to fund her foray into a full-fledged TV news channel.

While its name and launch date is still in the works, Dutt’s star power is guaranteed to generate plenty of excitement and curiosity in the news industry and among audiences in the days to come.

Indiantelevision.com tried reaching out to Dutt for confirmation of the same, but she didn’t respond to queries.

It’s interesting that she is taking the news channel plunge at a time when the fortunes are on the way down for her former boss, NDTV’s Prannoy Roy, who has been facing a barrage of intimidating requests from the income tax and other government departments. In recent times, NDTV has had to cut down on manpower too and Dutt was amongst the first ones to let go.

This isn’t the first time Dutt – who shot to fame during her Kargil reportage with NDTV in the late 1990s – has been linked with the launch of an English news channel. In 2017, the Financial Express had carried a report about her joining hands with Network18’s founder and former owner Raghav Bahl to set up a news channel.

Dutt, who continues to draw sharp reactions from TV audiences, has taken quite a diverse set of projects on her plate after her 21-year association with NDTV.

After the rather abrupt end of her collaboration with former Indian Express editor-in-chief-turned-entrepreneur Shekhar Gupta at the digital venture The Print, Dutt went on to establish a company called MoJo, which some say also has links to mobile journalism.

Under the MoJo banner, the 46-year-old interviews major newsmakers in her inimitable style. She also writes columns for the Hindustan Times, Washington Post and The Week.

Known as a frequent baiter of Republic TV boss Arnab Goswami on Twitter, it would be interesting to observe the tone and tenor of the TV news channel helmed by her.

Other details of the news venture, including the applicant-company’s name, are still a bit sketchy as it is not clear yet whether an application to start a full-fledged TV news channel has already been made by Dutt and her partners at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which has started clearing channel proposals after a nine-month hiatus.

With over six million Twitter followers, Dutt remains one of media’s most important voices despite severe trolling on social media for her known viewpoints — dubbed controversial by a section of India — on issues linked to Kashmir and Pakistan.

It now remains to be seen whether she still has it in her to shape the political and social narrative in her second coming.

Also Read:

Barkha Dutt bids adieu to NDTV; hints at new venture

Arnab-Barkha face-off amplifies disturbing trends

The rise and fall of English news’ TV viewership

English TV news channels to return to BARC fold from midnight 26 May

June 4, 2018
NDTV reports lower operating loss for fiscal 2018

BENGALURU: The Prannoy and Radhika Roy-led New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) reported lower consolidated operating loss for the year ended 31 March 2018 (FY 2018, year under review) as compared to the corresponding periods of the previous fiscal. The company has brought down its expenses during the year under review across major parameters such as employee costs, production expenses and cost of services, operating and administration expenses, marketing promotion and distribution expenses as compared to the previous year.

NDTV reported 12.4 per cent decline in consolidated operating revenue for FY 2018 at Rs 429.01 crore as compared to Rs 489.99 crore in FY 2017. Consolidated total revenue declined 12.3 per cent in FY 2018 to Rs 439.71 crore from Rs 501.45 crore in the previous year. Consolidated operating loss (EBITDA) in FY 2018 at Rs 35.97 crore was lower than the consolidated operating loss of Rs 42.32 crore in fiscal 2017. Total comprehensive loss (TCL) for the fiscal under review was slightly lower at Rs 84.35 crore as compared to Rs 86.18 crore in FY 2017.

The company suffered a consolidated operating loss for the fourth quarter ended 31 March 2018 at Rs 9.45 crore as compared to a consolidated operating profit of Rs 16.63 crore (11.4 per cent of operating revenue) in the corresponding year ago quarter Q4 2018. NDTV reported consolidated TCL of Rs 20.40 crore during the quarter under review as compared to a consolidated total comprehensive income of Rs 7.14 crore in Q4 2017.Consolidated operating revenue in Q4 2018 fell 25.7 per cent yoy to Rs 108.40 crore as compared to Rs 145.92 crore in Q4 2017.

Let us look at the other consolidated numbers reported by NDTV

Total expense in FY 2018 reduced 12.5 per cent to Rs 501.06 crore from Rs 572.55 crore in the previous year. Production expenses and cost of services reduced 23.3 per cent in FY 2018 to Rs 83.64 crore from Rs 109.05 crore in FY 2017. Employee benefit expense during the year under review reduced 9.5 per cent in fiscal 2018 to Rs 212.59 crore from Rs 234.90 crore in the previous year. Operation and administration expense reduced 7.5 per cent in FY 2018 to Rs 106.61 crore from Rs 115.30 crore in FY 2017. Marketing, promotion and distribution expense during the year under review reduced 14.9 per cent to Rs 62.14 crore from Rs 72.06 crore in FY 2017.

Also Read:

NDTV to reduce workforce by up to 25%

NDTV puts top management in place

May 12, 2018
Hindi news channels continue strong run in 2018

BENGALURU:The combined total viewership of the top-five Hindi news channels shows that it has a huge audience when compared to the combined total viewership of the top-five news channels of each of the four South Indian languages individually. However, when audiences of the top-five news channels of the four South Indian languages are combined, their 15-week average viewership exceeds the 15-week average ofthe combined total of the top-five Hindi news channels’ viewership by about 13 percent. Though the audience demographics of Hindi and the four South Indian languages are different (13 years difference), they have been compared in the chart. English news has not been mentioned in the first graph because (1) of the wide variance in the audience demographics between the South Indian language news and Indian English news which is 20 years (2) the viewership of Indian English news is too small to be comparable.

This report is about Indian news channels—including Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and English—for which limited ratings data is available in the public domain. Business news channels or news channels in other languages have not been included in this report. The ratings data considered has limitations–it has been sourced from Broadcast Audience Research Council of India’s (BARC) weekly lists of the top-five news channels in each language.

The first fifteen weeks of 2018 is the period starting Saturday, 30 December 2018 to Friday, 13 April 2018, the last week for which BARC data was available at the time of writing of this report.

BARC says that its data is based on the following viewer geographies and demographic parameters for news in Hindi, the four South Indian languages and English:

(a)     Hindi news: Hindi-speaking markets, both urban and rural or HSM (U+R): NCCS All: 15+ Individuals.

(b)     Telugu news: Andhra Pradesh or AP/Telangana (U+R): NCCS All: 2+ Individuals

(c)     Kannada news: Karnataka (U+R): NCCS All: 2+ Individuals

(d)     Tamil news: Tamil Nadu/Puducherry (U+R): NCCS All: 2+ Individuals

(e)     Malayalam news: Kerala (U+R): NCCS All: 2+ Individuals

(f)      English news: All India (U+R): NCCS AB: Males 22+ Individuals.

The unit of viewership measure in all cases in the charts below is thousand weekly impressions.

The overall status

Let us see how the top-five channels of five languages–Hindi and the four South Indian languages–have performed. Please refer to the chart below.

News viewership is event driven. The biggest event that occurred during the first 15 weeks of 2018 was the discussions and debates just before, during and after the elections results announcement of some Indian states in week 9 of 2018–ratings of all the channels peaked as is obvious from the figure. The only exception was Kannada news, the genre’s peak was in week 8 of 2018 based on the combined viewership of the top-five Kannada news channels.

The combined viewership of the top-five Hindi news channels in week 9 was a staggering 931.068 million impressions–almost at par with the most-watched channel across genre in the country–Sun Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV. The lowest combined viewership of the top-five Hindi news channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018 was in week 15–just 393.013 million impressions–this was the week that the eleventh season of the cricket Indian Premier League or IPL 11 commenced and was aired on a number of Star India network channels. The importance of the IPL on viewership and cannot be understated and must be underscored. In the very first week of the tourney, one of the many Star India Network channels that aired the event—Star Sports 1 Hindi, catapulted into BARC’s top 10 channels across genre weekly list to second place with 935.856 million impressions—more than the peak combined impressions of the top-five Hindi news channels in week 9 of 2018. Before IPL 11 in week 15 of 2018, Star Sports 1 Hindi had never made it to BARC’s list of top-10 channels across genres in 2018!

After Hindi news channels, Telugu news channels had the next largest audience during the first 15 weeks of 2018 going by the combined weekly totals of the top-five Telugu news channels. On a similar basis, at third place in terms of audience size was Kannada News, followed by Tamil news at fourth rank and Malayalam news at fifth place.

Top Hindi news channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018

Only three channels consistently appeared in BARC’s weekly lists of top-five Hindi News channels in HSM (U+R) during the first 15 weeks of 2018. In order of viewership, they wereAajTak, Zee News and India TV.

Three more Hindi news channels made appearances in BARC’s weekly lists of top-five Hindi News channels during the first fifteen weeks of 2018. They were News 18 India (present in the lists for 14 of the first 15 weeks of 2018); ABP News (present in the lists for 11 of the first 15 weeks of 2018); and News Nation (present in the lists for 5 of the first 15 weeks of 2018). As is obvious from the figure below, all the top 3 channels reported a drop in ratings in week 15 as compared to week 14 of 2018. Please refer to the chart below for the Top Hindi News channels – Weeks 1 to 15 of 2018. As has been mentioned in this paper before, the unit on the Y-axis in the graph is thousand weekly impressions.

Top Telugu news channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018

Four channels consistently made it to BARC’s weekly lists of top-five Telugu News channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018. They were TV9 Telugu; NTV Telugu; V6 News; and TV 5 News. The other three Telugu channels that made it to the lists include 10 TV (present in the lists for 8 of first 15 weeks of 2018); ABN Andhra Jyothi (present in the lists for 4 of the first 15 weeks of 2018); and T News (present in the lists for 3 of the first 15 weeks of 2018).

Please refer to the figure below. As is obvious, TV9 Telugu was in general the top Telugu News channel, but, for a few weeks, it had been overtaken by the second ranked NTV Telugu, which itself was overtaken by V6 News to second place for one week—week 13 of 2018.

Top Kannada news channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018

In the case of Kannada News channels, four channels were consistently present in BARC’s list of top-five Kannada News channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018. They were TV9 Kannada, Public TV, Suvarana News 24X7 and News18 Kannada. From the figure below, it is quite obvious that the demarcations in the ranks are simple. TV9 Kannada was consistently the most viewed Kannada News channel, followed by Public TV. It was only for one week (week 14) during the first 15 weeks of 2018 that there was a small blip when News18 Kannada replaced Suvarna News 24X7 at third place.

Two more news channels made it to BARC’s weekly lists of Top-five Kannada News channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018. In order of the viewership size they attracted when they were present in BARC list, they were BTV News (present BARC’s weekly lists for 7 of the 15 weeks) and Dighvijay 24×7 News (present in BARC’s weekly lists for 8 of the 15 weeks). The former drew more eyeballs during the seven weeks it was present in BARC’s list than the latter did during the 8 weeks that it was present in BARC’s lists.

Top Tamil news channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018

Four channels were consistently present in BARC’s list of top-five Tamil News channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018. In order of ranking they were: Polimer News, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Thanti TV and News 7 Tamil. Clearly, Polimer News was the most watched Tamil News channel during the first 15 weeks of 2018. Puthiya Thalaimurai was ranked second for 9 of the first 15 weeks of 2018, and was ranked third for 6 of the weeks of 2018. Thanti TV was ranked second for 6 of first 15 weeks and ranked third for 9 of the first 15 weeks of 2018, while News 7 Tamil was ranked fourth consistently during the first 15 weeks of 2018.

Three more channels made it BARC’s list of top-five Tamil News channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018. They were Sun TV (present in BARC’s weekly lists for 11 of the 15 weeks); News 18 Tamil Badu (present in BARC’s weekly lists for 3 of the 11 weeks); while Seithigal made its lone appearance in week 13 of 2018 in BARC’s weekly lists of top-five Tamil news channels during the period under review.

Please refer to the figure below:

Top Malayalam news channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018

Three channels made it consistently to BARC’s weekly lists of top-five Malayalam News channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018. They were Asianet News, Manorama News and Mathrubhumi News. The rank demarcations were quite clear.Asianet News was the leader of the genre by far during the period under review.

Four other news channels made it to BARC’s weekly lists of top-five Malayalam News channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018–they were News 18 Kerala (present in BARC’s weekly lists for 12 of the 15 weeks); Media One TV (also present in BARC’s weekly lists for 12 of the 15 weeks, but with lower viewership than News 18 Kerala when present in the lists); People TV (present in BARC’s weekly lists for 5 of the 15 weeks) and Janam TV which made its single appearance in week 3 of 2018.

Please refer to the figure below:

Top Indian English news channels during the first 15 weeks of 2018

The Indian English news channel genre is niche and special. Generally, five channels made it consistentlyto BARC’s weekly lists of top-five English News channels. However, the Times group’s civic issues focused News channel Mirror Now (the erstwhile MagicBricks Now that was earlier focused on real estate news and information) has grabbed viewers interest and was present in BARC’s lists of top-five English News channels twice during the first 15 weeks of 2018. Mirror Now made it to BARC’s weekly lists of top-fiveEnglish News channels in weeks 6 and 9 of 2018 during the first 15 weeks of 2018. In the past (before 2018) a few other English News channels including international news channels such as BBC World and Indian News channels such as NewsX and Wion have made it to BARC’s weekly lists of top-five English news channels.

Coming back to the present, the four channels which were consistently present in BARC’s lists of top-five English News channels were: Republic TV, Times Now, India Today Television, and CNN News18 during the first 15 weeks of 2018. The other regular to the lists has been the Prannoy and Radhika Roy led NDTV 24×7 which was present in BARC’s weekly lists of top-five News channels for 13 of the first 15 weeks of 2018.

The rank demarcations in terms of viewership of the English News genre were quite clear during the first 15 weeks of 2018–the Arnab Goswami led Republic TV has been the pack leader right from the week Republic TV was launched–week 19 of 2017. However, viewership of the earlier numerouno and Goswami’s former employer, Times Now, has almost equalled Republc TV’s ratings twice in 2018–in weeks 8 and 12. Please refer to the figure below:

Also Read :

IPL 11 catapults Star Sports 1 Hindi to second place in across genres

Zee Anmol leads Hindi GEC (U+R) in BARC week 15

Republic TV continues to lead as English news genre ratings drop

April 23, 2018
Republic TV continues to lead as English news genre ratings drop

BENGALURU: Arnab Goswami-headed Indian English news channel Republic TV has continued an uninterrupted lead of the genre since its launch in May 2017. Republic TV led the genre with 0.553 million weekly impressions in week 15 of 2018 (Saturday, 7 April 2018 to Friday, 13 April 2018) according to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India’s weekly data for the top-five English news channels—All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : males 22+ individuals. BARC had reported 0.652 million weekly impressions for Republic TV for week 14 of 2018.

In the meanwhile, the ratings of the genre have recorded a new nadir–the lowest combined weekly ratings of the top-five English news channels for 2018 until week 15 were 1.678 million impressions, 19 per cent lower than the previous weeks combined ratings of the top-five English news channels of 2.071 million impressions in the previous week. The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 11) commenced in week 15 of 2018 and the ratings of news television channels were most likely affected. Most of the matches are played during the primetime of GECs, news channels as well as other genres.

All the five channels in BARC’s list remained the same with the same ranks in week 15 of 2018 as compared with week 14. As a matter of fact, the first three ranked channels have retained their places and order in BARC’s weekly list of the top-five English news channels through the first 15 weeks of 2018. All the channels, however, had lower ratings in week 15 as compared with week 14 of 2018.

Republic TV was followed by Goswami’s former channel–Times Now–for which BARC reported ratings of 0.488 million weekly impressions in week 15 of 2018. Times Now had ratings of 0.595 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Continuing on at its regular third rank was India Today Television with 0.265 million weekly impressions in the week under review as compared with 0.363 million weekly impressions in the previous week.

At fourth rank was CNN News18 with 0.219 million weekly impressions in week 15 of 2018 as against 0.293 million weekly impressions in week 14. At fifth rank was the Prannoy and Radhika Roy led NDTV 24×7 with 0.153 million weekly impressions in week 15 as compared with 0.168 million weekly impressions in week 14 of 2018

April 19, 2018
English news genre ratings rise after nadir in BARC week 12

BENGALURU: After recording probably the lowest combined ratings of the top five English news channels in the previous week (week 11 of 2018: Saturday, 10 March 2018 to Friday, 16 March 2018), the genre recorded a 7.4 per cent increase across the same parameter in week 12 of 2018 (Saturday, 17 March 2018 to Friday, 23 March 2018). The combined ratings of the top five English news channels as per Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) weekly data for week 12 of 2018 was 1.858 million impressions as compared to 1.730 million impressions for week 11. Week 11 ratings are the lowest combined ratings of the genre’s top five channels in the calendar year 2018 so far.

In the case of the Hindi news genre, the channels and ranks in week 12 remained unchanged as compared to week 11 of 2018 in HSM (U+R). However, the ranks were not the same in the individual urban and rural markets. Further, the combined ratings of the top five Hindi news channels – HSM (U+R): NCCS All : 15+ individuals fell by 2 per cent in week 12 of 2018 as compared to the preceding week. The combined ratings of the HSM (U) – Hindi speaking urban market declined by 1.3 per cent while that of the rural market – HSM (R) declined by 2.5 per cent in week 12 as compared to week 11 of 2018. The combined ratings of the top five Hindi news channels in HSM (U+R) in week 12 was 414.448 million impressions as compared to 422.953 million impressions in the previous week. Comparative numbers for HSM (U) and HSM (R) were 241.746 million weekly impressions in week 12, 244.955 million impressions in week 11 of 2018 and 176.427 million impressions in week 12 and 180.946 million impressions in week 11 respectively.

English news genre

As has become a norm right from the week of its start (week 19 of 2017), the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV headed the top five English news channels pack for week 12 followed by the previous holder of the numero uno position – Times Now. Republic TV scored 0.583 million weekly impressions to the 0.570 million impressions of Times Now. At third place in week 12 of 2018 was India Today Television with 0.283 million weekly impressions followed by CNN News 18 with 0.249 million weekly impressions. At fifth place was the Prannoy and Radhika Roy-led NDTV 24×7 with 0.173 million weekly impressions.

Hindi news genre

As is also the norm, Aaj Tak led the genre in combined urban and rural markets as well as individual urban and rural HSM markets. Aaj Tak’s ratings for HSM (U+R), HSM (U) and HSM (R) were 102.406 million weekly impressions, 58.025 weekly impressions and 44.0385 weekly impressions respectively in week 12 of 2018.

At second place in HSM (U+R) was India TV News with 87.193 weekly impressions,53.506 weekly impressions and 33.687 weekly impressions in HSM (U+R), HSM (U) and HSM (R). While India TV retained its second rank in week 11 and 12 in HSM (U), it dropped a rank to third place in week 12 as compared to week 11 in HSM (R).

At third place in the top five channels list of Hindi news channels HSM (U+R) and HSM (U) in week 12 of 2018 was News 18 India with 78.062 weekly impressions, 47.419 weekly impressions and 30.642 weekly impressions in HSM (U+R), HSM(U) and HSM (R) respectively. Though it retained its third rank in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) it dropped to fifth rank in week 12 from fourth in week 11 of 2018 in HSM (R).

At fourth rank in week 12 was Zee News with 77.616 weekly impressions in HSM (U+R), 45.201 weekly impressions in HSM (U) and 32.415 weekly impressions in HSM (R). The channel was ranked fourth in week 11 and 12 of 2018 across HSM (U+R), HSM (U) and HSM (R).

At fifth rank in BARC’s list of top five Hindi news channels in HSM (U+R) was News Nation with 69.211 million weekly impressions. The channel scored 35.303 million weekly impressions in HSM (R) where it was ranked second in week 12 as compared to fifth rank in week 11 of 2018. The channel was absent from BARC’s list of top five Hindi news channels in HSM (U), where APN News retained its week 11 rank of fifth position. ABP News scored 37.595 million weekly impressions in week 12 of 2018.

Also Read:

The World of TV according to BARC

BARC panel tampering: first arrests made

Demystifying news television viewership in 2017

March 29, 2018
Retail, e-com biz eat into NDTV’s TV media profits for Q3

BENGALURU: Prannoy and Radhika Roy-led New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) reported consolidated operating profits–simple EBITDA including other income–of Rs 1.88 crore (1.6 per cent margin) for the quarter ended 31 December 2017 (Q3 2018, quarter under review). For the corresponding year ago quarter (Q3 2017) and the trailing quarter (Q2 2018), the company had reported consolidated operating losses of Rs 14.90 crore and Rs 9.74 crore respectively.

NDTV has two segments–television media and related operations (television); and retail/e-commerce. The company reported operating profit of Rs 7.54 crore for its television segment against revenue of Rs 109.96 crore for the quarter under review. Year-on-year (yoy), Q3 2018 television segment revenue was 7 per cent lower than Rs 118.27 crore for Q3 2017. The company had reported an operating loss for the television segment of Rs 4.29 crore for the corresponding year ago quarter. NDTV reported 18.2 per cent higher yoy operating revenue of Rs 4.55 crore for Q3 2018 as compared to Rs 3.85 crore for Q3 2017 for its digital/e-commerce segment. Digital/e-commerce segment incurred lower operating loss of Rs 9.50 crore in the quarter under review as compared to Rs 15.18 crore in Q3 2017.

NDTV said in its earnings release for the quarter that the fact that the company is EBITDA positive proves that its turnaround plan is quickly progressing.

Let us look at the other numbers reported by NDTV

NDTV reported a 78.5 per cent drop in consolidated revenue for the quarter under review at Rs 112.24 crore as compared to Rs 121.3 crore for Q2 2017. The company reported consolidated net loss of Rs 22.42 crore for Q3 2018 as compared to a net loss of Rs 26.26 crore for Q3 2017.

Consolidated total expenditure for the quarter declined 16.3 per cent yoy to Rs 123.13 crore from Rs 147.03 crore. Production expenses and cost of services declined 14 per cent yoy to Rs 23.16 crore from Rs 26.93 crore. Employee benefit expenses reduced 20.5 per cent yoy to Rs 49.38 crore from Rs 62.11 crore. Operating and administrative expenses for Q3 2018 declined 16.4 per cent yoy to Rs 24.97 crore from Rs 29.87 crore. Marketing, distribution and promotional expenses declined 7.6 per cent yoy to Rs 16.60 crore from Rs 17.95 crore.

Also Read :

NDTV puts top management in place

NDTV Profit to be shut down, to move business & finance segments on NDTV 24×7

NDTV promoters get clean chit from SEBI in disclosure case

February 15, 2018
English news genre ratings get a fillip from election results suspense

BENGALURU: The English news genre benefitted from the state elections results that were declared early this week. In the week leading to the Gujarat elections, the genre’s ratings climbed and that climb continued in week 50 of 2017 (Saturday, 9 December 2017 to Friday, 15 December 2017) as channels put forth their guesstimates about who would win one of the dirtiest fights during recent Indian elections. No abuse and misuse of emotions was spared by politicians who wanted to prove that the junta – the voter was still with them, or to attract that additional vote from the electorate.

In week 50 of 2017, as per data by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), the combined ratings of the top five English news channels (All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals) increased 22 percent to 2.889 million impressions as compared to the immediate trailing week. The top five channels retained their ranks from week 49.

As has become the norm since its launch in week 19 of 2017, the Arnab Goswami led Republic TV topped the genre with 20 percent higher ratings of 0.982 million weekly impressions in week 50 as compared to the 0.819 million weekly impressions in week 49. Goswami’s former employer, Times Now, was at second rank with 14 percent higher ratings during the week under review at 0.864 million weekly impressions as compared to 0.759 million weekly impressions in week 49 of 2017.

India Today Television was at third place with a 36.3 percent hike in ratings to 0.462 million weekly impressions in week 50 from 0.339 million weekly impressions in the previous week. CNN News 18 was at fourth rank with a 41.2 percent growth in viewership to 0.329 million weekly impressions from 0.233 million weekly impressions in week 49. At fifth place was the Prannoy and Radhika Roy-led NDTV 24×7, which saw its viewership grow by 15 percent to 0.252 million during the week under review from 0.219 million weekly impressions in week 49.

Dominance of Republic TV continues as genre ratings plunge

Republic TV, Times Now viewership moves up as genre ratings fall

Republic TV continues to lead English news genre despite bumps

Stunning victory for Republic TV, Republic watches Times Now

December 22, 2017
NDTV puts top management in place

MUMBAI: There’s top management restructuring at the troubled news broadcaster NDTV group. The company has been at the receiving end with the income tax authorities for the past few years following “unjustifiable’ tax claims being imposed on it. And rumours have been abounding about its acquisition by other parties. Late October , the Securities Exchange Board of India cleared them of charges related to delayed financial results disclosures at the end of financial year 2011-2012.

The vacuum at the top – following the passing away of CEO KVL Naryan Rao – has been filled. The Prannoy Roy-Radhika Roy promoted company has moved NDTV Convergence Ltd CEO Suparna Singh to the corner office, managing the entire group as of 4 December 2017. The company’s website says that she ” as been with NDTV for 25 years and has the highest-level experience in all aspects of NDTV functions: editorial in both broadcast TV and internet, revenue and cost management. She has helped NDTV create and run a major new property in NDTV Convergence, which is internationally recognised. It is and has always been a profitable venture.”

The group’s director finance and group CFO Saurav Banerjee has been elevated to co-CEO. According to the NDTV website, “as part of his role as Co-CEO, Saurav works closely with the CEO in looking at operations and oversees financial planning, taxation, legal and compliances. Widely respected across the financial world, Saurav has been involved in raising finances, capital restructuring, mergers & acquisitions and statutory compliances with more than a decade of service with the company.”

Ravi Asawa is stepping into his shoes as group CFO, NDTV. Ravi has rich experience in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, treasury, corporate governance and financial processes across multiple knowledge domains like media, IT services, eCom and manufacturing industries. He is a finance professional with more than two decades of experience and has been the strategic backbone of the NDTV Group Finance team for more than nine years.

The announcement was made to the Bombay stock exchange following the go-ahead at a board meeting earlier today.

Also Read: http://www.indiantelevision.com/television/tv-channels/news-broadcasting/spicejets-ajay-singh-may-take-control-of-ndtv-170922

http://www.indiantelevision.com/television/tv-channels/news-broadcasting/ndtv-profit-to-be-shut-down-to-move-business-finance-segments-on-ndtv-24×7-170602

http://www.indiantelevision.com/television/tv-channels/people/ndtv-s-kvl-narayan-rao-passes-away-171120

http://www.indiantelevision.com/television/tv-channels/people/obit-in-memory-of-kvl-narayan-rao-171121

http://www.indiantelevision.com/television/tv-channels/news-broadcasting/ndtv-promoters-get-clean-by-sebi-chit-in-disclosure-case-171025

December 4, 2017
Obit: In memory of KVL Narayan Rao

NDTV group CEO and executive vice chairperson KVL Narayan Rao had been battling cancer grittily for at least a couple of years. And, at times, it looked like he was on the verge of conquering it, of getting the life-threatening ailment out of his system. But on the morning of 20 November 2017, his body, which had been ravaged and weakened by various treatments and the cancer itself, gave up.

A message was sent out to the staff of NDTV by promoters Prannoy and Radhika Roy stating that the 63-year-old Narayan Rao was no more.

Said the husband-wife duo in the message: “Narayan was the most wonderful human being—kindness was in his DNA, consideration for others was in his DNA, leadership was in his DNA, warmth and generosity were in his DNA, humour and fun were in his DNA and most of all, integrity and love was in his DNA.”

“Narayan was our friend for over 30 years and we loved him like a brother. We learnt so much from Narayan and admired how he created a compassionate environment at NDTV and, in fact, everywhere he went, with everyone he met. Just as we loved him, there are hundreds of others like us for whom Narayan was very, very special. Seldom has a person been loved by so many and will be deeply missed by so many.”

“Narayan was one of a kind. A towering personality in every way.”

Indeed, for us at indiantelevision.com, dealing with the six-foot-plus Narayan was always a pleasure. He came across as a gentleman every time one spoke to him or met him. Not once in the many years of knowing him did we see him lose his cool. Whether it was a rookie journalist reaching out to him for his insights or his quotes on an issue or story. Or whether it was an experienced journo who called him, Narayan was always there. And, if not available, he was gracious enough to call back. He would always be open to provide a different perspective on any issue. He had the old English demeanor, the unflappable kind, the kind that saw him break into a smile no matter what the challenge or demand. Probably, his early days as a journalist gave him that empathy for scribes.

He was also there when we invited the NDTV group to participate at our News Television Awards. In the early days of the awards, he would find resources to support our initiative financially as a partner. In the past few years, thanks to NDTV’s financial woes, he had asked to be excused. But he would be there to present awards to the winners who were decided by a jury of almost 100. Like he was there last year at our function in New Delhi when it looked like he had won against the dreaded C and he came back to run NDTV, following the stepping down of the then CEO Vikram Chandra.

He was seen as this statesman-like professional who could lead. And be the voice of the industry despite the long standoff that NDTV was having with the income tax authorities, the enforcement directorate, and, some say, even the government. Hence, he served at least four terms as the News Broadcasters’ Association president and was executive vice-chairperson of the association at the time of his passing away. He was also associated with the IBF, the CII, and several other bodies.

Narayan was always there for the Roys and the team at NDTV, for whom he stood up for with consistency. Appan Menon, Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Arnab Goswami, Pankaj Pachauri, and Vikram Chandra–they all flowered as Narayan laid the environment, the culture at NDTV that allowed them to. The Roys were busy running the editorial while Narayan ran the company administratively and also helped build the organisation into a rather robust one. Until the empire struck back.

Narayan was also at the forefront of bringing in change in TV viewership monitoring in the country. He took TAM and its parents to court in New York, claiming that their research was not representative of what was really happening in Indian TV homes. That and other actions from other broadcasters led to the shutting down of TAM, the creation of new regulations for TV viewership monitoring, and the setting up of BARC.

Said the Roys in their note on the NDTV website: “We will miss you, Narayan. More than you can imagine. Everyone at NDTV will miss you. More than you can imagine. God bless you, Narayan.”

Indeed, you will be missed Narayan. RIP!

November 21, 2017