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  • Q3-2014: HT Media Fever FM’s operating profit three times a year ago

    Q3-2014: HT Media Fever FM’s operating profit three times a year ago

    BENGALURU: HT Media Limited’s Fever 104 FM radio business reported its operating profit in the third quarter ended 31 December, 2013 at Rs 7.79 crore was over three-times a year ago and was up 66.1 per cent from a quarter ago.

     

    In the nine months ended 31 December, 2013, Fever’s operating profit at Rs 16.15 crore was two-and-a-half times a year ago. Fever’s consolidated operating profit was Rs 7.40 crore in 2012-13.

     

    HT Media’s Fever 104 FM operates radio stations in Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Delhi.

     

    HT Media’s core business –  Printing and Publishing of Newspapers and Periodicals — saw operating profit grow 2.6 per cent to Rs 85.93 crore in the third quarter of 2013-14 from Rs 83.78 crore a year ago. The printing and publishing business’ operating profit in the third quarter was up 44.5 per cent from Rs 59.48 crore a quarter ago.

     

    In the nine months ended 31 December, 2013, printing and publishing business’ operating profit rose 16.2 per cent to Rs 226.87 crore from Rs 195.28 crore a year ago. In 2012-13, HT Media’s Printing & Publication segment reported consolidated operating profit of Rs 263.69 crore.

     

    HT Media reported a growth of 6.1 per cent in Q3-2014 consolidated income from operations to Rs 573.04 crore from Rs 540.25 crore in Q3-2013 and a growth of 8.8 per cent from Rs 526.83 crore in Q2-2014.

     

    In the nine months ended 31 December, 2013, HT Media’s consolidated operating Income rose 7.1 per cent to Rs 1,632.1 crore from Rs1,524.45 crore a year ago. In 2012-13, HT Media’s consolidated operating income was Rs 2015.99 crore.

     

    HT Media’s consolidated total expenses in the third quarter rose 5.2 per cent to Rs 506.53 crore from Rs 481.58 crore a year ago and 2.8 per cent more than Rs 492.61 crore a quarter ago.

     

    In the nine months ended 31 December, 2013, the company’s consolidated total expenses rose 5.6 per cent to Rs 1,483.95 crore from Rs 1,405.27 crore a year ago. In 2012-13, the company’s total consolidated expenses were Rs 1,857.26 crore.

     

    HT Media’s consolidated PAT in Q3-2014 at Rs 67.02 crore was 25 per cent more than Rs 53.61 crore a year ago and 15.2 per cent more than Rs 58.18 crore a quarter ago. HT Media’s PAT in the nine months ended 31 December, 2013 was Rs 172.69 crore, up 35.4 per cent more than Rs 127.57 crore a year ago. The company’s PAT for 2012-13 was Rs 167.65 crore.

     

    Segment Figures

     

    HT Media’s Printing & Publishing segment saw 4 per cent rise in consolidated operating revenue in Q3-2014 to Rs 533.53 crore from Rs 513.04 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year and an increase of 7.6 per cent from Rs 495.85 crore in Q2-2014. YTD, the segment’s Operating revenue grew by 4.9 per cent to Rs 1523.96 crore from Rs 1452.85 crore in the corresponding nine month period of last year. During FY 2013, the segment reported revenue of Rs 1919.95 crore.

     

    Radio (Fever) reported revenue of Rs 26.67 crore for Q3-2014, which was 24.9 per cent more than the Rs 21.35 crore in Q3-2013 and 20.4 per cent more than the Rs 22.16 crore in Q2-2014. YTD, revenue of Rs 70.24 crore was 17.3 per cent more than the Rs 59.87 crore in the corresponding nine month period of last year. During FY 2013, the segment reported revenue of Rs 78.3 crore.

     

    HT Media’s Digital segment saw operating revenue growth of 41.7 per cent to Rs 19.54 crore in Q3-2014 from 13.79 crore in Q3-2013 and a growth of 9.71 per cent as compared to the Rs 17.81 crore in Q2-2014. YTD, this segment grew 38.9 per cent to Rs 54.4 crore from Rs 39.16 crore in the corresponding nine month period of last year. During FY 2013, the segment reported revenue of Rs 53.77 crore.

     

    Loss from HT Media’s Digital segment fell (14.2) per cent to Rs (7.6) crore in the current quarter from Rs (8.86) crore in Q3-2013 and was (26.1) per cent lower than the Rs (10.29) crore in Q2-2014. However, YTD, the Digital segment’s loss of Rs (34.93) crore was higher by 14.4 per cent as compared to the Rs (30.54) crore in the corresponding nine month period of last year. During FY 2013, the segment reported loss of (38.56) crore.

     

    Unallocated segment revenue was Rs 3.62 crore in Q3-2014; Rs 1.16 crore in Q3-2013; Rs 2.55 crore in Q2-2014; Rs 8.81 crore YTD as compared to the Rs 5.27 crore in the corresponding nine month period of last year. For FY 2013 Unallocated segment revenue was Rs 8.97 crore. Loss from this segment was: Rs (11.37) crore in Q3-2014; Rs (12) crore in Q3-2013; Rs (11.84) crore in Q2-2014; YTD Rs (35.18) crore as compared to the Rs (28.51) crore in the corresponding nine month period of last year. For FY 2013, Unallocated segment reported loss of Rs (41.31) crore.

  • Ethos eyeing television as a part of mass media communication mix

    Ethos eyeing television as a part of mass media communication mix

    BENGALURU: Indian chain of luxury watch studios Ethos Limited (Ethos) is looking at television commercials as a part of its mass media communications mix during the next fiscal. The company is considering business news channels such as NDTV Profit as well as some niche channels. Ethos is an authorised retailer of over 65 luxury watch brands.

    The company plans to up by around 50 per cent its media spends revealed Ethos associate director Manoj Gupta to www.indiantelevision.com. “We will start in a small way, and gradually up our presence on television,” revealed Gupta.

    Industry sources peg Ethos spends between Rs 7 to 10 crore per year, this includes contributions from the major brands that it sells. At present, Ethos uses print, outdoor and in-house quarterly publication Ethos Summit, besides the digital online medium, which has seen more than three lakh unique visitors per month to its portal claims Gupta.

    So far, its media planning has been done in-house. Ethos is having discussions with a couple of media buying agencies in Mumbai and will chalk out its media buying plans’ once it picks a suitable partner. While most of its creative work is done in conjunction with the brands, a lot of the work is done by a Delhi based creative agency Scribbles.

    “The average price of a fashion watch in India would be between Rs 15,000 to 20,000, a premium watch would cost about Rs 1 to Rs 1.25 lakhs, while a luxury watch would cost Rs.7 lakh upwards,” informed Gupta.

    Ethos estimates the size of the fashion, premium and luxury watches at Rs 1500 crore and expects it to grow to Rs 4,000 crore over the next three years. The company has 41 outlets in 12 cities of India, of which about eight sell fashion watches, about seven luxury watches. It also has single brand watch stores for brands such as Rolex, Omega and Swatches.

    Ethos generated a revenue of Rs 210 crore, last year and Gupta is confident of a 25 to 30 per cent growth in revenue this fiscal.

    Gupta was in Bengaluru for the launch of a range of core and professional Rolex watches, earlier launched at Baselworld 2013, one of which costs Rs 44.68 lakh.

  • Gaon Connection: Going beyond the village

    Gaon Connection: Going beyond the village

    It‘s seeking to further its connection with its core audience: those from rural India or those interested in it. Rural newspaper,Gaon Connection which hit the stands just as 2012 was ending, is now looking at going transmedia with an audio feed planned for handsets and short TV snippets on the anvil for TV news channels, and also spreading internationally.

    Founded by veteran journo and lyricist Neelesh Misra, along with his buddy Karan Dalal, with the aim of catering to the rural readers of India, Gaon Connection operates across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

    The Lucknow-based publication has a team of 15 full timers and scores of stringers all over India. Gaon Connection’s circulation has gone up from 7,000 copies at inception to 10,000 as of now, according to Misra. The 14 page Rs 5 priced weekly has a claimed readership of around 120,000.

    He says the Rs 5 tag is not too high as rural Indians spend about Rs 30 a month for their feature phone services. Therefore, Rs 20 a month for a newspaper which keeps them informed about developments important to them is quite reasonable.

    Misra has plans to increase readership of Gaon Connection and has drawn up ground activities to enable that to happen. Reading sessions are planned for schools and at panchayat gatherings, where reporters will read out the newspaper to locals.

    Additionally, it is roping in milk companies and SIM card distributors to further the availability of Gaon Connection.

    A small marketing and sales team in Delhi and Lucknow has been pitching the publication to advertisers and pulling in revenue from mainly local ones. Now Misra‘s gameplan is to attract large multinational brands and he is in conversation with agencies such as GroupM and Mindshare for the same.

    Misra got UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav‘s support who dropped in at the newspaper‘s launch in December

    He believes that Gaon Connection will create job opportunities for rural youth. “For instance, we are planning to call in young people in Kanaura village in UP and train them to be journalists and distributors. What this will do is if you have a reporter and distributor in every block, you are able to create a lot of white collar talent which will give a voice to those regions,” says Misra.

    Misra believes it is now time to take the voice of Indian villages across transmedia platforms such as television and the mobile. An in-house team is in the process of scripting snippets to be telecast on news channels. Talks are on with two national channels for the same, he says, without revealing the names.

    “The ideas for the television snippets will grow from the newspaper. The vision is to eventually have a rural TV channel,” he shares. Misra plans to launch the TV snippets by end of the year.

    Gaon Connection has got rural readers asking for more; Misra is targeting a huge jump in readership

    Additonally, on the anvil is what he calls India‘s first audio newspaper. Misra (who is an experienced radio “story teller” courtesy his show on Big FM 92.7) is gearing up to create a dial-in audio feed for mobile users. The service will work on a subscription basis and will be available in the next four to five months. Talks are on with several telecom service providers.

    Going forward, Misra plans to take Gaon Connection overseas catering to the non-resident Indians (NRIs). “We are looking at setting up Gaon Connection chapters worldwide. We have received interest from folks in Singapore, Washington, London,” he elaborates.

    Misra used his personal savings – and even sold his home in New Delhi – to launch Gaon Connection. He now hopes to rope in investors to help take his pet project to the next level. His wife Yamini who joined him sometime back to look after distribution and building the business, believes in his vision. Now all that he has to do is make those with bulging pockets also fall in line.

  • The Business of News

    All of us in the business will agree that 2009 was not the best of years. But the good thing about it was that the world of business learnt the hard way that business is not just about excel sheets and that the valuation on those excel sheets does not attract attention in a hurry.

    Media was possibly one of the worst hit sectors across the world. Quite logically so; one of the first cost cutting steps, if not the first, is usually, if not always, slashing of advertising expenses. More often than not, in recessionary circumstances, advertising is no more considered as an essential investment.

    News industry in India, however, was not that badly hit as the country went through a General Election. But there’s much more in the news on TV News industry! Read on…

    News television is supposed to have two distinct identities. As the fourth estate, it is supposed to inform and empower the viewers, work as a watch dog to the policy makers and implementers. It is supposed to perform the role of a facilitator for our citizens, many of whom are disadvantaged and aggrieved, or for those groups which believe they have a legitimate and justifiable grievance against the powers that be. All this requires us to act as custodians of public interest. The other identity is as private sector organisations we are bound by the rules of the big bad market of balance sheets and ROI.

    Most people seem to think that these two distinct identities are at conflict, but I‘m willing to take a bet that they are not. But we sure have a lot to worry about – both our public and private interests.

    First about our reducing role in the public interest space. The viewership (GRP) figures of news television in India paint a disquieting picture. The GRPs slipped from 236 in 2007 to 221 in 2008 and to 166 last year, a 30 per cent shrink in just two years. I am at a loss to pinpoint a particular reason for the slide. However, regional channels are robustly augmenting. As a thumb rule, a regional news channel should have 70 to 80 per cent local news. Are audiences then more interested in closer home realities than the larger canvass?

    Are viewers deserting news channels? Is there a significant change in rating base which has caused this decline? Does our gut-feel endorse these slipping numbers?

    Let me cite a small anecdote. Once when former US president Lyndon B Johnson was asked his views about the media, he had quipped: “If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: “The President Can‘t Swim.”
    He may have said this decades ago but it captures to a great extent how Indian media too can influence or draw interferences from a simple and straightforward piece of news. In the spider-web of competition, the truth sometimes gets strangled. But is that all? I wish, it was.

    Like for instance, what would you call “Breaking News” in today’s context? Before that, how would you define “News” ? In my own understanding, reporting of any incidence that is “topical” and “relevant” is news. Tabloid journalism possibly compromises with the relevance factor, but still remains topical. And thus “breaking news” would be an initial (ideally first!) reporting of an incident or development which would be relevant for a certain section of audience.

    But the Indian news media has redefined “Breaking News”. It could be anything from what the babas and tantriks have to say to what the astrologers’ take on eclipses is, what the cats, dogs, snakes and the likes are engaged with! This unthinking, wavered ways of the news channels has taken the sheen away from the respect we used to command as organisations with social responsibility.

    Thankfully, we in our ( Zee News Limited) news channels do not have such wide canvas for “Breaking News” and our editors still stick to the literal translation of the two words under reference. And it was thus with some sense of concern, as also with an equal feeling of social responsibility, that in May 2008 Zee News took a conscious decision to break free from the trend of hype and hoopla. Respecting the intellect of Indian audience, we brought our focus back to facts, analysis, perspective, reportage and the likes. I can say today, with some satisfaction, that we have not wavered from our path since, despite pulls and pressures from the policies of competition. We held steadfast in dishing out for our viewers news that was accurate and relevant, across all bands and in all languages that we deal with. Clearly, our guiding principles worked and we witnessed all-round growth across channels.Let’s now look at the business of news. Did you notice that the sole criterion that a media brand or organisation is evaluated in India is nothing but the TRP numbers? Logically there’s nothing wrong in it as higher TRP would lead to higher advertising. Advertising is still about 80 per cent of the broadcast sector‘s revenues in India and hence that should lead to higher profitability. However, in India, as known to most by now, profitability is not just TRP numbers. Rational cost structure, innovative strategy, network economy of scale etc have significant influence on the way business is done and hence on the bottom-line of any business. Thankfully, the economic recession has brought the attention back to current bottom-line. Valuation is no more the buzzword. Current deliveries are at the core of all decisions with respect to a business outfit. While the marketing and programming departments still get credit for the TRP numbers, the business leaders would have to wake up to serious questions on returns and profitability from those who are funding the businesses. I assure you that the TRP rankings and profitability do not always have a direct corelation. At least in our case the latter far out-performs the former.

    Yet, I‘m not without hope. As an eternal optimist, I feel that the future of news TV is far more promising than what seems on the surface. The industry body, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), has come up with commendable achievements in its effort to self-regulate. It is encouraging for NBA to get significant acknowledgement from the Ministry of Information and broadcasting.

    I firmly believe that the most potent regulator has always been the “market”. Here in our case, finally the audience has the last say on what they want from news TV and they would make their verdict loud and clear, eventually. And then digitisation would ease out the distribution bottle neck and the news genre would experience explosive growth. As I have always mentioned, regionalisation of TV would be a primary growth driver.

    As I debate the minutiae about dropping viewership trends in my mind, I feel that there is no one distinct phenomenon for the present exodus and it is possible that it just a matter of perspective.

    So I leave it to you to mull it over as well.