Network18’s revenue grows 6% in FY 2023

Network18 has reported a 6% increase in its revenue from operations for the financial year 2022-23 compared to FY2021-22 amidst a soft ad environment, the company said in its annual report.

According to the report, the operating revenue grew from Rs 5880 crore in FY2022 to Rs 6223 crore in FY 2023 while the total income grew from Rs 5930 crore to Rs 6320 crore YoY.

For the calendar year 2023, the report said that it is expected that the advertising industry will grow at 12%, led by digital growth at 20%, while TV is expected to continue its trajectory of modest growth.

The company’s revenue from advertisement and subscription grew by 10.9 % from Rs 165.8 crore to Rs 183 crore. It said that its subscription revenue increased on account of sports business, while the movie business revenue grew YoY as it recovered from the impact of COVID-19.

“Subscription revenue remained flat for the first nine months as the ongoing litigation against NTO 2.0 prevented any change in pricing. Our subscription revenue grew in the fourth quarter on the back of Sports business,” it said.

Operating EBITDA declined by 87 % to Rs 137 crore in FY '22-23 from Rs 1080 crore in the previous fiscal as the company made investments in new initiatives.

Profit After Tax (attributable to Owners) was negative due to low operating profit and high finance costs, the company said, adding that soft revenue environment, along with an increase in costs and investments in new initiatives, dragged down the profitability of the Group. Increase in borrowing was primarily driven by Viacom18.

Group debt increased to Rs 5,815 crore in March 2023 from Rs 2,160 crore in March 2022, to fund higher payouts for content by Viacom18, mainly sports, digital content and movies, the report said.

Viacom18’s digital streaming of IPL created new viewership benchmarks on the opening weekend itself, drawing 100 mn+ new viewers, it said, adding that the platform delivered record-breaking 1.5 bn video views on the opening weekend and the number of digital viewers surpassed what was recorded across the complete season last year.

Jio Cinema set a new record for the most installed app in a single day with 25 mn+ downloads.

“An impressive start to FY23-24 has set the tone for the year ahead. Our businesses are in a strong position to leverage the improvement in macro factors.

“IPL getting more views on digital than TV has really marked an inflection point and our news business is stronger than ever. We have also onboarded some of the top talent from across the industry to help us in our transformation journey of becoming a technology driven organisation,” said Network18 chairman Adil Zainulbhai.

Total expenses of the company rose from Rs 5016 crore in FY22 to Rs 6422 crore in FY23. Marketing, distribution and promotional expenses for the company increased by 31 % from Rs 1036 crore in FY22 to Rs 1365 crore in FY23.

The depreciation and amortisation expenses grew from Rs 119 .5 crore to Rs 127.7 crore.