Balaji Q2 consolidated revenue down 2% to Rs 76.7 crore
The company's cost of production jumped 34% to Rs 80.9 crore from Rs 60.5 crore
EBITDA loss widened over 3 times to Rs 38.5 crore from Rs 12.4 crore. Net loss more than doubled to Rs 39.4 crore from Rs 19.5 crore.
The TV production business revenue stood at Rs 60.3 crore while operating and net loss stood at Rs 4 crore and Rs 4.7 crore respectively. During the half year TV business produced 363.5 hours of content across 7 shows for 4 broadcasters. Five new additional shows have been lined up and will commence shortly.
Hourly realisations remain soft at Rs 28 lakhs per hour and expected to remain soft as broadcasters continue to assess Covid-19 impact.
ALTBalaji earned Rs 18.5 crore in revenue on an operating loss of Rs 35.2 crore and net loss of Rs 35.4. The company sold 2.9 million subscriptions during the H1 and currently has an active direct subscriber base of over 1.45 million. This excludes subscribers on partner apps where the content continues to do well.
The company continues its strategy to drive deeper audience engagement by creating content that is targeted at mass India seeking differentiated stories. The platform has over 87 shows and some of the hits launched in H1Fy22 includes Punchh Beat Season 2, Broken but Beautiful 3 and Cartel.
Balaji Telefilms MD Shobha Kapoor said, “ALTBalaji continues to drive subscription growth, and we added 2.9 million subscriptions during the half year. We added 9 shows in the half year and now have a very strong line up for the rest of the year. Our strategic content sharing deals will ensure we maintain control on the cash spend while driving overall profitability. Our TV business has shown good recovery in terms of production hours, and we hope to improve this momentum as 5 new shows commence. In the movie business, production for some of the exciting projects are at various stages of completion, and we are closely monitoring the availability for theatrical releases as well and direct to digital launches. Overall, the year has started well, and we will build on this momentum through the year.”
The company continues to wait for availability for theatrical launch windows and looking at deals across direct to digital as well. As part of its strategy, the company continues to control investments in movies and pursue pre-sales and co-production deals where feasible. The company has five projects in the pipeline. These include Villain 2 directed by Mohit Suri and staring John Abraham, Goodbye directed by Vikas Behl and staring Mr Amitabh Bachchan, Dobaaraa directed by Anurag Kashyap and staring Taapsee Pannu, 100% shoot completed, U Turn staring Alaya F, remake of hit Kannada movie, and Freddy with Kartik Aaryan.
