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Tag: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited

  • Zee Anmol claws to top place in Free Across Genres channels in week 29

    Zee Anmol claws to top place in Free Across Genres channels in week 29

    BENGALURU: Television viewership dipped slightly in week 29 of 2020 (Saturday, 18 July 2020 to Friday, 24 July 2020, week or period under review) according to Broadcast Audience Research Council Research on India (BARC) weekly data as compared to the previous week. BARC reported 17.3 billion impressions as Television viewership for week 29 of 2020 as compared to 17.4 billion weekly impressions during the immediate trailing week – week 28. BARC releases weekly data for the top two, three, four, five or 10 channels of a language, genre or sub-genre in the public domain. Besides, BARC also releases data for the Top 10 channels on all platforms across genres on all platform, on the pay platform and on the free platform. Similar data is also split up for the top Hindi GECs on these platforms along with further segmentation of the combined urban and rural Hindi speaking market or HSM (U+R), in HSM (U) and HSM (R). For regional and other genres such as news, languages, BARC publishes data for the top 5 or lesser channels.

    The analysis in this paper is limited to BARC data available in the public domain – the top two, three, four, five or 10 channels of the genre/sub-genre/language/platform/market.

    Despite the small dip in television ratings, GECs viewership in general seems to have continued climbing, while the News genre seems to have continued the trend of reduction in eyeballs. BARCs’ data for week 29 for the Top five channels in Assamese, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu channels shows that their combined ratings increased as compared to week 28. Only the combined weekly ratings of the top five Gujarati and Kannada channels fell as compared to the previous week. It must be noted that some of the channels in the above genres are movie channels, news channels, etc. However, BARC does publish data in the public domain of the Top five News channels in Hindi, English, Assamese, Bangla, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Telugu and Tamil languages. The combined weekly impressions of the top 5 News channels in all these languages declined except for Bangla and Oriya News channels, which increased by 1.8 percent and 2.2 percent respectively in week 29 of 2020 as compared to week 28. The combined weekly impressions of the other two major genres – Movies (almost flat growth – increased by 0.5 percent) and Kids (declined by 4.2 percent) in week 29 of 2020 did see some changes, but not enough to make a major impact to overall weekly television viewership. These four genres – GEC, Movies, News and Kids generally constitute 90 percent of the overall television ratings according to BARC reports.

    Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres

    Since its return to DD Free Dish, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd’s second Hindi GEC Zee Anmol has seen viewership climb. The channel was ranked fourth in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Channels om All Platforms Across Genres in week 29 of 2020. Long time numero uno on this list – Enterr 10 Television’s Dangal had lost its peak position when many of the Hindi GECs returned to DD Free Dish a few weeks ago. Dangal was now ranked 5 in week 29 of 2020. 

    Seven Hindi GECs, two Telugu channels and one channel made up BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres in week 29 of 2020. There were 3 Star India channels, two channels each from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and one channel each from Enterr 10 Television, Sun TV Network (Sun TV) and Viacom18 in the list for Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres in week 29 of 2020.

    Please refer to the chart below:

    Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres

    Two channels -ranked ninth and tenth in the previous week (week 28 of 2020) exited BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 29 of 2020 to be replaced by Viacom18’s flagship Hindi GEC Colors and Star India’s Hindi Movies channel Star Gold. The other 8 channels in BARC’s weekly list in week 29 of 2020 were the same in the previous week, with a slight juggling of ranks. There were three channels each from the Hindi GEC and Telugu genres, two channels from the Hindi Movies and one channel each from the Kids and the Tamil genres in BARC weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 29 of 2020. There were three channels each from Star India and Viacom18 (or associated with Viacom18 through its parent Network 18), two channels each from SPN and Zeel and one channel from Sun Tv.

    Please refer to the figure below:

    Top 10 FreeChannels Across Genres

    Zee Anmol clawed its way to the top spot in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 29 of 2020. All the channels in the weekly list for week 29 of 2020 were the same as in week 28 with some shuffling of ranks. There were 3 channels each from Viacom18 and Zeel, two channels from Enterr10 Television and one channel each from B4U Network and Star India in BARC’sweekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 29 of 2020. There six Hindi GECs, three Hindi movies channels and one Bhojpuri channel in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres in week 29 of 2020.

    Please refer to the chart below:


     

  • Lower ad revenue and exceptional items pull down Zeel bottom-line for Q4, FY 2020

    Lower ad revenue and exceptional items pull down Zeel bottom-line for Q4, FY 2020

    BENGALURU: Subhash Chandra’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) reported 2.5 percent growth in consolidated operating revenue for the year ended 31 March 2020 (FY 2020, year under review) as compared to the previous year (FY 2019). For the quarter ended 31 March 2020 (Q4 2020, quarter under review) Zeel consolidated operating revenue declined 4.8 percent as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter Q4 2019. EBITDA (operating profit) and PAT (Profit after tax) for the year under review declined 66.5 percent and 36.2 percent respectively as compared to FY 2019. Consolidated PAT for FY 2020 was Rs 524.59 crore and for FY 2019 it was Rs 1,567.34 crore. Consolidated operating EBITDA for FY 2020 was Rs 1,634.57 crore ((20.1 percent of operating revenue) and for FY 2019 it was Rs 2,563.94 crore (32.3 percent of operating revenue).

    The company reported operating loss (negative consolidated operating EBITDA) of Rs 283.86 crore and consolidated loss after tax of Rs 765.82 crore for Q4 2020. Poor macroeconomic environment, conversion of two FTA channels into pay in March 2019, and market share loss in certain markets drove the decline in ad revenues said the company in its FY 2020 and Q4 2020 earnings release. The lockdown in March 2020 further impacted revenues, it added.

    Bottomline numbers for the year and quarter under review were also lower on account of 47.7 percent higher operating costs in Q4 2020 and 24.5 percent higher in FY 2020. (Operating costs include programming costs). The company said in the earnings release that underlying cost increase led by higher movie amortisation, new channels and investments in its OTT platform ZEES. The reported operating cost included one-time accelerated amortisation of higher inventory of Rs. 259.80 crore.

    Further, Zeel’s administration costs included Include a one-time provision of Rs. 343.30 crore for balances related to ad, subscription and other assets where recovery has become doubtful on account of COVID-19 led uncertainty. Also for FY 2020, exceptional items included goodwill write off of Rs. 113.70 crore pertaining to digital publishing business and provision of Rs. 170.60 crore relating to Inter Corporate Deposits (ICD). Another factor that impacted Zeel’s bottom-line for FY 2020 was  Rs. 383.50 crore loss in overseas investments in accordance with IND-AS 113 to, reflect the movement in fair value of these investments as on 31 March 2020.  

    However, these factors were partly offset by 41 percent growth in domestic business in Q4 2020, driven by the implementation of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) new tariff order (NTO) and growth in ZEE5's subscription revenues revealed Zeel. Domestic subscription revenues grew by 33 percent in FY 2020 as compared to FY 2020 driven by improved monetization of viewership post NTO implementation and ramp-up of ZEE5's subscriber base.

    Zeel’s ad revenue in Q4 2020 declined 14.7 percent to Rs 1,038.94 crore from Rs 1,217.49 crore in Q4 2019. Ad revenue for FY 2020 fell 7.1 percent to Rs 4,681.13 crore from Rs 5,036.66 crore in FY 2019. Subscription revenue in Q4 2020 increased 31.2 percent to Rs 741.36 crore from Rs 564.27 crore in Q4 2019. Subscription revenue in FY 2020 grew 25 percent to Rs 2,887.29 crore from Rs Rs 2,310.54 crore in FY 2019.

    Let us look at the numbers reported by Zeel

    Consolidated operating revenues for FY 2020, FY 2019, Q4 2020 and Q4 2019 were Rs 8,129.86 crore, Rs 7,933.90 crore, 1,951.08 crore and Rs 2,019.27 crore respectively. Consolidated total incomes (Operating revenue plus other income) for the same periods were Rs 8,413.50 crore, 8,185.35 crore, Rs 2,076.06 crore and Rs 1,991.76 crore respectively.

    Consolidated total expenses in Q4 2020 increased 66.5 percent to Rs 2,677.77 crore from Rs 1,612.60 crore in Q4 2019. Consolidated total expenses in FY 2020 increased 25.1 percent to Rs 7,109.70 crore from Rs 5,731.48 crore in FY 2019. Operating cost in Q4 2020 at Rs 1,304.62 crore was 53.9 percent more that the Rs 883.32 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter. Employee benefits expense (EBE) in Q4 2020 declined 22.7 percent to Rs 160.39 crore from Rs 201.46 crore in Q4 2019. EBE in FY 2020 increased 7.7 percent to Rs 780.51 crore from Rs 724.94 crore.

    Advertisement and publicity expenses (ad expenses) in Q4 2020 were 4.6 percent lower at Rs 184.12 crore as compared to Rs 193.01 crore in Q4 2019. Ad expenses in FY 2020 at Rs 695.60 crore were almost flat (declined 0.5 percent) as compared to Rs 699.27 crore in FY 2019. Other expenses in Q4 2020 more than tripled (up 238.3 percent) to Rs 585.81 crore as compared to Rs 173.17 crore in Q4 2019. Other expenses in FY 2020 increased 36.9 percent to Rs 1,190.49 crore from Rs 869.96 crore in FY 2020.

  • Zeel reports higher op revenue, PAT for Q2 2020

    Zeel reports higher op revenue, PAT for Q2 2020

    BENGALURU: The Subhash Chandra-led Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) reported 7.6 percent and 7.4 percent y-o-y growth in total and operating revenues for the quarter ended 30 September 2019 (Q2 2020, quarter or period under review) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter Q2 2019. Profit after tax grew 6.7 percent y-o-y, while Total comprehensive income (TCI) declined 9.5 percent y-o-y. Operating profit (EBITDA) grew 2.5 percent y-o-y in Q2 2020 as compared to Q2 2019.

    Zeel reported total revenues of Rs 2,190.13 crore and Rs 2,034.79 crore for Q2 2020 and Q1 2019 respectively. Operating revenue for the period under review was Rs 2,122.01 crore and Rs 1,975.86 crore respectively. PAT for Q2 2020 was Rs 412.09 crore, while it was Rs 386.10 crore for the corresponding year ago quarter. TCI for Q1 2020 and Q1 2019 were Rs 471.77 crore and 521.43 crore respectively. Simple operating EBITDA for the quarter under review was Rs 692.93 crore (32.65 percent margin) and for Q2 2019 it was 675.72 crore (34.20 percent margin of operating revenue.

    Growth in revenue in Q2 2020 was driven by 1.2 percent and 19 percent y-o-y growths in advertisement and subscription revenue respectively. Zeel reported ad revenue of Rs 1,224.66 crore in Q2 2020 and Rs 1,210.60 crore in Q1 2019. The company reported subscription revenue of Rs 723.50 crore in Q2 2020 and Rs 608.16 crore in Q1 2019.

    Zeel managing director and CEO Punit Goenka said through an earnings release: “I am pleased with the performance we have exhibited during the quarter. Our entertainment portfolio continues to grow from strength to strength across all formats and maintained its leading position. Our television network has emerged stronger post the implementation of tariff order on the back of a strong customer connect and brand pull of its channels. ZEE5 continued to gain traction across audience segments and markets, driven by its compelling content library and expanding of partnerships across the digital eco-system. This strong operating performance allowed us to deliver industry leading growth in both advertising and subscription despite the tough macro-economic environment. Domestic subscription growth of 27 percent has reaffirmed the value proposition our television network has built over the years. The impact of tariff order has now largely settled down and has brought increased transparency along with improved monetisation. Our domestic advertising revenue growth, though significantly lower than historical trend, is higher than the industry growth. We have witnessed an improvement in ad spends through the quarter and we believe that the onset of festive season along with measures taken by the government will help revive the consumption growth."

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Zeel

    Total Expenditure for Q2 2020 grew 9.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 1,514.13 crore from Rs 1,386.45 crore in Q2 2019. Operating costs in Q2 2020 grew 23.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 896.25 crore from Rs 726.34 crore. Other expenses during the quarter under review declined 18.6 percent y-o-y to Rs 195.31 crore from Rs 240.03 crore. Employee benefits expense in Q2 2020 grew 25.8 percent y-o-y to Rs  212.26 crore from Rs 168.72 crore. Ad and publicity expensed in Q2 2020 declined 24.1 percent y-o-y to Rs 125.26 crore from Rs 165.05 crore finance costs in Q2 2020 more than tripled (3.3 times) y-o-y in Q2 2020 to Rs 17.97 crore from Rs 5.45 crore.

  • Zee Cinemalu celebrates 3 years of undisputed entertainment

    Zee Cinemalu celebrates 3 years of undisputed entertainment

    Over the years, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited’s Zee Cinemalu celebrates yet another year of entertaining its Telugu Cinema lovers as the channel completes three years on 4th September. Launched by the Megastar Chiranjeevi, who unveiled the logo, Zee Cinemalu began its journey with ‘Dil Pai Super Hit’ as its brand tagline and became the first movie channel to introduce the concept of World Television Premieres, giving a fresh offering to movie lovers. Zee Cinemalu scattering to 50.8 Million viewers week on week in AP & TS. Zee Cinemalu’s strength continues to lie on its archive of movies for the younger generation.

    Zee Cinemalu gained the highest ever ratings achieved by any movie channel in the Hyderabad market with BARC India ratings of 416 GRPs in wk22’19, scoring a milestone of 300 GRPs in Urban in the same week. This sets a new benchmark in the television industry as the only Telugu movie channel to achieve this feat. The channel witnessed a growth of 26% and moved from 148 in FY18 to 186 in FY19 and has seen a growth of 31% in FY 20 and moved from 186 in FY19 to 243 GRP’s in FY20 in Urban.

    The channel has been entertaining audiences with evergreen hits and with latest titles in various genres like Family, Drama, Comedy, Horror and Thriller. In the process, Zee Cinemalu has successfully occupied a special space in the hearts of all Telugu audience across the state. The Zee Cinemalu HD variant launched on December 31, 2017 continues to deliver the best viewing experience enabled with this technology to their ardent viewer.

    Commenting on the 3rd year anniversary, Anuradha Gudur, Business Head, Zee Telugu and Zee Cinemalu has said, “A successful 3-year feat of having set unparalleled standards in the industry is definitely our highlight for the year. We are pleased with the growth that reflects our efforts in developing the channel only further. At Zee Cinemalu we are always looking at newer avenues to keep our audiences engaged. On this truly momentous occasion, we reiterate our commitment to offering only best in class entertainment that will be loved by Telugu audiences”.

  • ZEEL’s Punit Goenka on Oppenheimer transaction, strategic investor, additional stake sale

    ZEEL’s Punit Goenka on Oppenheimer transaction, strategic investor, additional stake sale

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) on Wednesday announced what much of the media and entertainment as well as the investor ecosystem had been waiting to hear for a while. ZEEL reached an agreement with US-based Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund for 11 per cent (around Rs 400 per share) of the promoter stake for Rs 4,224 crore. This essentially means the fund will intensify its shareholding to 18.7 per cent in the company.

    This is the second round of good news for the Essel Group promoter family after acing Q1 of FY20 with a 40 per cent jump in its profit at Rs 512 crore on a revenue of Rs 1,789 crore, capping off a 14.5 per cent year-on-year growth.

    The infusion of Rs 4,224 crore will give some relief to the group as it races to meet the 30 September deadline to pay off loans to the tune of Rs 11,000 crore to mutual funds, NBFCs and banks.  

    ZEEL MD & CEO Punit Goenka expects the Invesco Oppenheimer transaction to get completed by 31 August. He added that the deal will be done through an escrow mechanism wherein “the lenders will have to pool their shares and once the escrow agent confirms that the requisite number of shares have been placed, they will tell Oppenheimer to wire the funds and therefore on that day, the transfer of both will happen.”

    Goenka is confident that the promoters will be able to raise the remainder Rs 6,800-odd crore it needs to repay lenders by selling off some of its non-media assets in which it has invested like roads, infrastructure and solar energy. He was speaking to investment analysts late in the evening of 31 July.

    Invesco Oppenheimer, which until now owned 7.74 percent stake in ZEEL, is a pure equity shareholder and won’t have a seat on the board, he pointed out.

    “There’s no such agreement but I am pretty confident once investor like Invesco Oppenheimer is buying 11 per cent stake at certain price that validates our value. Therefore anybody else who may look at ZEE can’t really question it and that price should be very easily selling through,” said Goenka responding to whether ZEEL would sell rest of the stake below Rs 400 per share.

    Notably, Goenka did not rule out selling more promoter stake in the company. He also added that the Essel Group has zeroed in on buyers for some of its non-media assets. However, should the sale of these assets disrupt the repayment timelines, then the company will “step it up with the Zee stake sale,” Goenka revealed.

    ZEEL opted against a deal with a strategic partner for it would have taken longer to close the transaction thereby delaying the repayment process. 

    “Strategic investor is off the table for now,” Goenka remarked.

    He, however, briefly touched upon the possibility of ZEEL partnering some of its other media assets with like-minded strategic partners.

    Having consistently delivered profits and maintained a good growth trajectory, ZEEL’s prospect of finding a financial investor or strategic partner was doubted by few. This was despite mutual funds having witnessed their investments in the group turn illiquid of late.

    The sentiment was echoed by Invesco-Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund portfolio manager Justin Leverenz who described the transaction as “highly compelling” for investors in the fund due to the “sound fundamentals of Zee.”

    The latest development is bound to cheer investors and lenders like mutual funds and insurance companies that had lent considerably to ZEEL’s promoters against collateral.

    “After this entire episode, promoters will be left with enough stake in ZEE for them to get motivated and excited to continue running the company with the legacy it has done so far,” Goenka remarked.

    With the ZEEL promoters now set to repay the debt to lenders and investors from the proceeds of the stake sale, some of the debt funds that have been under the pump will now also be able to fulfill commitments to their investors.

    It has taken ZEEL extended deadlines to get to this point. In a sense, the entire process from taking the tough call to sell promoter stake to striking the right deal amidst back-to-the-wall negotiations has been synonymous with what founder and chairman Subhash Chandra has embodied all his life – living to fight another day.

  • IAA World Congress 2019 – execs stress on customer centric approach

    IAA World Congress 2019 – execs stress on customer centric approach

    KOCHI: The International Advertising Association (IAA) – a global organisation inaugurated its first ever World Congress in India, in Kochi in grand style. The marquee event saw an eclectic mix of thought leaders, spiritual gurus, entertainers, domain experts and industry professionals discussing the future. Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, spiritual guru Shri Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Srinivasan Swamy Chairman & World President, International Advertising Association, Punit Goenka , MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited and Kaushik Roy, Vice President/Area Director, Asia Pacific, IAA Global were present for the inauguration ceremony.

    Punit Goenka, in his opening address, stressed on the ‘Brand Dharma’ theme of the World congress, as the basic principle a brand should follow, to connect with its customers and society at large. He said “what matters at the end of the day is the deep connect a brand establishes with the audience and the language, dialects in which the brand speaks with the audience. Also, how purely and honestly does the brand believe in the culture and value system of the audience.”

    Excerpts from some of the key sessions:

    Bollywood super star Amitabh Bachchan also spoke passionately on the topic. He mentioned that –“Customer’s hard earned money is Dharma, and a brand should sell their products accordingly, that should become brand’s Dharma.  He internalised the theme and said that “My face is present on over 24 product's packaging. Not endorsing tobacco and alcohol products, that's my Dharma.”

    Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar said that If you believe in your product's quality, it is Dharma. He spoke about the dangers of the virtual world that had resulted in personality disorders in young children.  He said that “Video games per say encourages violence in children. Too much of screen exposure to kids impacts their central nervous system and hence the screen usage shall be controlled.”

    Nandan Nilekeni, Ex Chairman, UIDAI and co-founder & Non-executive chairman Infosys during his session on “How India uses Digital technology” spoke about how Aadhar has been essential to provide everyone a digital ID.  He also asserted Aadhar was not a data gathering instrument and rather uses minimal data to fulfil two key requirements of providing a basic and unique identity document as well as to ensure welfare benefits reach the right person.

    HANS Paul Burkner, Chairman BCG on his topic Tech for Good talked about how personalisation is possible and doable and is absolute must for most companies as new consumers are really expecting personalisation of information and now companies have the tech to make it work. He indicated the fact that in today’s society, Privacy is dead but security is a big issue and both these are interlinked as there is need of respecting privacy and security needs of the customers. There is an issue of collecting data stealthily and utilising for the benefit of select enterprise. For true personalisation, there should be transparency in collecting data and consumers should control the data collected to bring a balance in personalization and privacy.

    Penny Baldwin, Senior VP and CMO, Qualcomm Technologies spoke about how Mobile is the world’s largest tech platform in the history of mankind and how Brand Dharma of Qualcomm is innovation.   According to Penny Mobile is the largest technology platform with 8 BN connections all over world and There's a huge opportunity for marketers and advertisers to reach their audience even in remotest areas with the rise in data consumption.

    Shivakumar Group Executive President-Strategy & Business Development, Aditya Birla Group, introduced the audience to the DUCA (Digitally unacceptable content and attitude) world. He mentioned that digital has become mainstream. Digital world consumers are more aware and more cynical and more distrusting. He said people trust people like them. In a digital world it is society not your stakeholder and not your board that matters. If you need to build trust you need to build that trust in society. He also shared nine  lessons for brands to survive in the digital age that include, Collective experience is a dominant force, Internal culture and speed of company matters , ethical vs legal (more ethical), heritage is a driver of trust, reliability is the foundation of trust, Data handling , what will you do with it as privacy is big issue and hence brands should self-regulate, should have same standards for transparency for you and partners, have clear social media guidelines, junior people should not handle the social handles of senior agreement.

    Jonas Kjellberg, lecturer, author, venture investor and co-creator Skype talked about three key gears building game changing companies and deploying capital. He spoke about customer acquisition, customer delight and zero cost innovation. Jonas said ,”what a customer loved before, today it has become commodity so there is need to spend time and energy on tomorrow ‘s delight through innovation and not only about today’s efficiency and functionality. Innovation in business model should be zero/ no cost innovation like Air B&B, Uber and Alibaba   as these businesses gained from innovating and not imitating.

  • 2018’s most watch South Indian channels

    2018’s most watch South Indian channels

    BENGALURU: The South Indian television market is huge with a television penetration of about 95 percent. This paper is based on performance in terms of viewership –  and refers mainly to weekly impressions of top 5 channels in each of the four South Indian languages as per Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data.

    The four major South India languages are (in order of populations of the major territories they are spoken in) Telugu in Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, Tamil in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, Kannada in Karnataka and Malayalam in Kerala. In terms of television households, Tamil Nadu leads because of its higher television penetration, followed by Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala in that order.

    Among the major networks, Star India, Sun TV Network, Viacom18/ETV and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) have channels that cater to the viewership pleasure of speakers of at least three of the four languages.

    Here below is the performance of the top channels for each of the four languages.

    Kannada Channels

    There were four Kannada channels – three Kannada GECs and one Kannada movie channel that featured in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Kannada channels for all the 52 weeks of 2018. Two channels were from the Sun TV Network and there was one channel each from Viacom18/ETV Network and Zeel. In alphabetical order, they were: Colors Kannada (Viacom18/ETV), Udaya Movies and Udaya TV (Sun TV Network) and Zee Kannada (Zeel).

    The most watched Kannada channels in terms of the sum of weekly impressions for all the 52 weeks of 2018 were – Colors Kannada, Zee Kannada, Udaya TV and Udaya Movies in that order.

    Colors Kannada was ranked no 1 in BARC’s list of top 5 Kannada channels during all the 52 weeks of 2018. The channel garnered a total of 21.997 billion impressions (Average weekly impressions 423.011 million) during the 52 weeks of 2018. At second place for each of the 52 weeks of 2018 was Zee Kannada. Zee Kannada scored a total of 17.825 billion impressions (average weekly impressions 342.787 million) during the 52 weeks of 2018. 

    The third-most watched channel in terms for total impressions was Udaya TV which had 11.362773 billion impressions Average weekly impressions 218.515 million) during the 52 weeks of 2018. Udaya TV was ranked third for 46 weeks and fourth for 6 weeks in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Kannada channels during the 52 BARC weeks of 2018. The fourth most watched channel was Udaya Movies – the channel was ranked fourth for 44 weeks, third for six weeks and fifth for two weeks of 2018. Udaya Movies scored 10.164323 billion impressions Average weekly impressions195.468 million) during the 52 BARC weeks of 2018.

    Two other channels that featured in BARC’s weekly lists of five most watched Kannada channels were Star India’s Kannada GEC Star Suvarna and Viacom18/ETV’s HD channel – Colors Kannada HD. Star Suvarna was present in BARC’s Kannada channels list for 46 of the 52 week of 2018 and Colors Kannada was present for 6 of 52 weeks of 2018. Please refer to the figure below:

    Malayalam Channels

    Four Malayalam GECs made it consistently to BARC’s weekly lists of top 5 Malayalam channels during all the 52 weeks of 2018. These channels were from Star India, Insight Media City and Malayala Manorama (MM) TV and Sun TV. In alphabetical order they were: Asianet (Star India), Flowers TV, Mazhavil Manorama (Malayala Manorama (MM) TV) and Surya TV (Sun TV).

    In order of total impressions for all the 52 weeks of 2018, the channels are ranked as Asianet, Surya TV, Flowers TV and Mazhavil Manorama. 

    Asianet was ahead of the pack by far – it garnered 15.766 billion impressions during the year with a weekly average of 303.186 million impressions. It was always ranked 1 during all the 52 weeks of 2108. Surya TV was second with 5.134 billion impressions during the year and a weekly average of 98.73740385 million impressions. Flowers Media was ranked third with 4.919 billion impressions during the 52 weeks of 2018 and a weekly average of 94.587 million impressions. At fourth rank was Mazhavil Manorama which had 4.891 billion impressions for the year at a weekly average of 94.062 million impressions. 

    Please refer to the figure below for weekly trends for these channels.

    Tamil channels

    As in the case of Kannada and Malayalam, there were four Tamil channels that appeared in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Tamil channels during all the 52 weeks of 2018. Three channels were GEC, while one was a Tamil movie channel. Two channels were from the Sun TV Network and there was one channel each from Star India and Zeel. The four channels, alphabetical order, were KTV, Star Vijay, Sun TV and Zee Tamil.

    Sun TV was by far the most watched Tamil GEC in 2018. The channel clocked a massive 48.490 billion impressions during 2018 with weekly average impressions of 932.508 million during the period. At second rank was Star India’s flagship Tamil GEC Star Vijay with 22.697 billion impressions during the 52 weeks of 2018 and a weekly average of 436.477 million. 

    At third rank was Zeel’s flagship Tamil GEC Zee Tamil with 21.948 billion impressions during the year and a weekly average of 422.080 million impressions. At fourth rank was the Sun TV Network’s Tamil movies channel KTV with 15.896 billion impressions during the year and a weekly average of 305.696 million impressions during the 52 BARC weeks of 2018. Please refer to the figure below.

    Telugu Channels

    Like the other three South Indian languages markets, there were 4 channels that were present consistently in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Telugu channels during all the 52 weeks of 2018. All four were GECs spread over four different networks – Viacom18/ETV, Star India, Sun TV Network and Zeel.

    In alphabetical order, these channels were ETV Telugu (Viacom18/ETV), Gemini (Sun TV Network), Star Maa (Star India) and Zee Telugu (Zeel).

    Star Maa was the most watched Telugu channel in 2018 with 29.184 billion impressions during the year at a weekly average of 561.236 million. Zee Telugu was ranked second with 25.274 billion weekly impressions at a weekly average of 486.029 million. At third place was ETV Telugu with 23.435 billion impressions during the year at a weekly average of 450.682 million impressions during BARC’s 52 weeks of 2018. At fourth place was Gemini TV with 22.818 billion impressions at a weekly average of 438.804 million impressions.

    South India is an exciting place for television viewers today as broadcasters vie for attracting more and more sticky eyeballs to their fares. There are about 225 channels spread across the four South Indian languages that beam into India, besides many more that beam South Indian language content into other geographies. New channel launches, HD channel launches were the name of the game in 2018. Viacom18/ETV lunched its Tamil GEC – Colors Tamil in 2018, Zeel lunched a Malayalam channel in 2018 – both the pan-India networks wanted to mark their presence in these markets.

    Besides, Star India has been wooing sports viewers in South India -it now has 3 sports channels in South Indian languages – the last one to be launched near the end of 2018 – Star Sports 1 Kannada. Earlier, on 7 December, the network had launched Star Sports 1 Telugu to join Star Sports 1 Tamil. The launch of Star Sports 1 Kannada took the Star Sports channel count to 15 with 10 standard definition and five high definition channels.

    As many as nine HD channels were launched by two pan India networks in South India. Seven of the new HD channels were Telugu– five GEC and two movies and one each GEC HD channel was launched in Kannada and Malayalam. Network18 through Viacom18 and ETV launched five, while Zeel launched four HD channels. Zee Kannada HD was launched on 3 November 2018, while Zee Telugu HD and Zee Cinemalu HD were launched on 1 January 2018. Zee Keralam HD was launched on 5 December 2018.

    As is obvious from above, among the 4 languages, it was Sun TV that topped BARC’s weekly ratings in Tamil, Star Maa that generally topped the weekly ratings in Telugu, Colors Kannada that topped the ratings in Karnataka and Asianet that topped the ratings in Malayalam during 2018.

    BARC data for top10 channels across genres NCCS All India 2+ reveals that the Sun TV Networks flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV is the most watched channel in the country. In 2018, Sun TV headed BARC’s list of top 10 channels across genres for 48 of the 52 weeks of 2018.It was only during some weeks of the eleventh edition of the Indian cricketing bonanza IPL that channel lost its prime position in BARC’s list of top 10 channels across genres for four of the seven IPL weeks. Sun TV, one of the earliest players in the Indian television industry, has continued to dominate the Tamil television market despite the entry of national level big networks in the Tamil market. However, the Sun TV Network channels in the Kannada and Telugu markets had to concede numero uno status to national level players.

    With the entry of strong players such as Viacom18/ETV and Zeel, ratings could have a shakeup, especially in the Tamil and Malayalam language space. Over the next few years time will tell which player will top the ratings. In the meantime viewers will be spoiled for choice with quality content being beamed into their televisions.
     

  • Ad, subscription revenues drive Zeel numbers up for third quarter

    Ad, subscription revenues drive Zeel numbers up for third quarter

    BENGALURU: The Subhash Chandra led Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited reported 17.9 percent year-on year (y-o-y) growth in operating revenue at Rs 2,166.77 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2018 (Q3 2019, quarter or period under review) as compared to the Rs 1,838.07 crore for the corresponding year ago quarter Q3 2018. EBITDA for the quarter under review increased 26.9 percent y-o-y to Rs 754.29 crore from Rs 594.42 crore.

    Growth in numbers was driven by 21.7 percent and 23.3 percent y-o-y in advertisement and subscription revenues respectively. The company reported ad revenue for Q3 2019 at Rs 1,462.57 crore as compared to Rs 1,202.02 crore in Q2 2018. Subscription revenue for the period under review was Rs 618.48 crore as compared to Rs 501.69 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter. Zeel says that domestic subscription revenue grew by 28.6  y-o-y to Rs 519.2 crore. International subscription revenue for Q3 2019 was Rs 99.3 crore.

    The company reported 50.6 percent growth in profit after tax (PAT) and 49.2 percent higher total comprehensive income (TCI) for Q3 2019 as compared to Q3 2018. PAT in Q2 019 was Rs 562.76 crore as compared to Rs 373.77 crore in Q3 2018. TCI for Q3 2019 was Rs 475.97 crore as compared to Rs 319.10 crore.

    Zeel chairman Chandra said, "India is poised to remain one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Decline in crude oil prices and rationalization of GST rates will further boost the economy and help maintain the growth momentum in consumption. Even in M&E space, content consumption is growing at a brisk pace across mediums. This trend along with macroeconomic tailwinds will drive growth in both advertising and subscription revenues. We have delivered yet another quarter of strong performance across all our businesses. ZEE5 is scaling up in line with our expectations and is on course to become India's number one digital entertainment platform.”

    Zeel MD and CEO Punit Goenka said, "I am really pleased with our performance this quarter which further strengthens our position as India's leading entertainment content company. While our television business continues to consolidate its number one position, ZEE5 is quickly establishing itself as one of the leading digital entertainment platforms in the country. ZEE5 has already become the biggest producer of Indian content amongst the digital platforms and

    the content offering will multiply going forward. Our expanding list of partnerships with telecom operators and players in the digital eco-system, coupled with innovation in pricing, will make ZEE5 accessible to a wider audience.

    With the launch of our Malayalam channel, Zee Keralam, ZEEL now has the widest footprint in country in terms of the languages covered. It will help us further consolidate our network share.

    Advertising outlook for the industry looks upbeat and we aim to outpace the industry growth on the back of our growing network share. After much delay, TRAI's tariff order is now set to be implemented across the country next month. I reiterate that this is a positive step for the industry in the long term and will be beneficial for everyone. While it will take some time for the new system to settle, we are working with all our partners for its smooth implementation."  added Goenka.

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Zeel

    Total expenses in Q3 2019 increased 7.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 1,441.82 crore from Rs 1,338.38 crore. Employee benefit expense increased 19.4 percent y-o-y in Q3 2019 to Rs 183.38 crore from Rs 153.54 crore in Q3 2018. Operational cost in the quarter under review increased 18.6 percent y-o-y to Rs 797.81 crore from Rs 672.98 crore in Q3 2018.

    Finance costs increased y-o-y in Q3 2019 to Rs 5.52 crore from Rs 2.36 crore during the corresponding period of the previous year. Other expenses reduced 3.1 percent y-o-y in quarter under review to Rs 230.24 crore from Rs 237.51 crore in Q3 2018.

    The company benefitted from fair value gain on financial instruments at fair value through profit and loss for Q3 2019 at Rs 37.64 crore as compared to a fair value loss of Rs 41.92 crore in Q3 2018.

  • ZEEL launches media buying & selling online platform for small retail advertisers

    ZEEL launches media buying & selling online platform for small retail advertisers

    MUMBAI: Media & Entertainment powerhouse Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), has launched zeemitra.com, a first of its kind online platform to democratise advertising on television by going direct to small retail advertisers.

    ZEEL’s new initiative will directly connect and enable small retail advertisers to advertise on Zee bouquet of channels through an online platform.

    Zee Entertainment Enterprises chief growth officer of advertising revenue Ashish Sehgal says, “Our first organisational value is ‘Customer First’ which stands for the need to anticipate, understand and meet the needs of our customers, ensuring customer delight. We want to partner our advertisers in growing their business and provide customised solutions to help grow their business.”

    With a focus on small and medium scale enterprises, Zee Mitra website will enable them to advertise their brand on TV in their relevant markets, independently, at an affordable cost. The intent is to empower them to move beyond print and radio which has been the entry medium for MSMEs. TV advertising has been viewed as a costly and complicated medium. We wish to break that barrier with this initiative.

    With its presence across multiple states, this platform will offer the entire bouquet of 52 channels under the Zee umbrella, genres ranging from national and regional GECs, movies, local regional news, lifestyle, English entertainment, English movies, etc. (count of 52 is without Zee Bollywood which will be added post Nov).

    It will additionally offer the split beam of it marquee national channels — Zee TV, Zee Cinema & Zee News, for advertising across 15 key markets of India, viz., Mumbai, Rest of Maharashtra, Maharashtra, Delhi NCR, UP, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Odisha, West Bengal, North-East, Rajasthan. This will not only create an opportunity for hyper-local advertising at a cost which is much lower than national ad spot but also help expand reach by opening-up the possibility to test market product in newer territories.

    The platform has an intelligent algorithm which is based on advertiser’s business objective will suggest the ideal channel mix to reach out to the relevant target audience through an easy to use interface, which not only creates a media plan but also allows to edit and customise their plans as per their needs.

    The Zee Mitra platform will also allow advertisers to avail the services of an in-house creative team to devise a television creative in motion graphics at a nominal cost.

    In addition to the online platform, this initiative will also be supported by the Zee Mitra feet-on-street sales team, who will approach potential advertisers spread in the relatively smaller corners of India and explain the benefits of advertising on TV. These advertisers will be guided and closely assisted by the Zee Mitra sales team through the entire buying process.

    The platform intends to change the landscape of TV media buying in India, bringing more advertisers within its fold, by making it accessible and affordable to all.

  • Zeel numbers up in Q2 2019 on improved ad and subscription revenues

    Zeel numbers up in Q2 2019 on improved ad and subscription revenues

    BENGALURU: The Subhash Chandra led Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited reported 24.7 per cent year-on year (y-o-y) growth in operating revenue at Rs 1,975.86 crore for the quarter ended 30 September 2018 (Q2 2019, quarter under review) as compared to the Rs 1,582.75 crore for the corresponding year ago quarter Q2 2018. EBITDA for the quarter under review increased 37.6 per cent y-o-y to Rs 675.72 crore from Rs 491.16 crore. Growth in numbers was driven by 22.7 per cent and 21.3 per cent y-o-y in advertisement and subscription revenues respectively. The company reported ad revenue for Q1 2019 at Rs 1,210.60 crore as compared to Rs 986.74 crore in Q2 2018. Subscription revenue in the quarter under review was Rs 608.16 crore as compared to Rs 501.41 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    The company, however, reported lower profit after tax (PAT) and lower total comprehensive income (TCI) for Q2 2019 as compared to Q2 2018 on account of higher taxes in Q2 2019 and income from exceptional items in Q2 2018. PAT in Q2 019 was 38.2 per cent lower at Rs 386.10 crore as compared to Rs 625.09 crore in Q2 2018. TCI for Q2 2019 was 19.8 per cent lower at Rs 521.43 crore as compared to Rs 649.83 crore. For Q2 2019, Zeel has reported total tax expenses of Rs 262.42 crore as compared to Rs 148.87 crore in Q2 2018. Zeel had reported income from exceptional items – these were the proceeds of the sale of its sports broadcasting business to the extent of Rs 134.61 crore for Q2 2018.

    Zeel chairman Chandra said, “Media and entertainment industry around the world is going through some seminal changes and India is no different. Digital has opened new possibilities for content creators and multiplied the entertainment choices consumers have at their disposal. As India’s leading entertainment content company, ZEEL is strongly positioned to capitalise on this new growth opportunity. Our deep understanding of the Indian consumers will be as instrumental in helping us become the leader in the digital space as it was in helping us achieve the leadership in television. In a short time, ZEE5 has received an overwhelming response and I am confident that the platform will continue to scale-up going forward.”

    Zeel MD and CEO Punit Goenka said, “ZEE5 is the fastest growing entertainment platform in the country. In a little over six months, it has become the second most popular OTT platform. With a monthly active user base of 41 million and an average daily time spend of 31 minutes, it is growing faster than our expectations. Despite the strong initial performance, I believe it is just the beginning of a long digital journey for us. With a strong pipeline of original content and partnerships with key players in the digital ecosystem, we are confident that ZEE5 will become the default entertainment platform for digital audience.”

    “Our broadcast business continues to grow at an impressive pace as evident from the domestic advertising and subscription revenue growth numbers. We continue to consolidate our viewership share which is driving our market leading growth. We believe that our broadcast portfolio has the potential to further increase its market share and the launch of new channel in Kerala will surely help it. The advertising and subscription revenue growth will be aided by the scaling-up of digital business and the growth outlook for both remains strong. This robust performance also gives us room to increase our investments in digital, if required,” added Goenka.

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Zeel

    Total expenses in Q2 2019 increased 20.9 per cent y-o-y to Rs 1,290.60 crore from Rs 1,147.05 crore. Employee benefit expense reduced 7 per cent y-o-y in Q2 2019 to Rs 168.72 crore from Rs 181.40 crore in Q2 2018. Operational cost in the quarter under review increased 25.5 per cent y-o-y to Rs 725.34 crore from Rs 578.89 crore in Q2 2018.

    Finance costs increased y-o-y in Q2 2019 to Rs 5.45 crore from Rs 0.28 crore during the corresponding period of the previous year. Other expenses increased 26.6 per cent y-o-y in quarter under review to Rs 240.03 crore from Rs 189.57 crore in Q2 2018.

    The company incurred 49 per cent higher fair value loss on financial instruments at fair value through profit and loss for Q2 2019 at Rs 22.02 crore as compared to Rs 14.78 crore in Q2 2018.