TV18 reports 15.1% YoY revenue growth at Rs 1,567 cr in Q3FY2022

TV18 has reported its highest-ever quarterly revenue of Rs. 1,567cr (+15.1% YoY), despite the pandemic induced headwinds faced by the Movie business in the third quarter ended December 31, 2021. The network reported its highest ever EBITDA at Rs. 355cr with margins of 23%. News business saw a sharp improvement in the margin to 27.2% where revenue was up 13% YoY. In the entertainment business, the margin was at 21.4% with revenue up 16% YoY.

The company's PBT rose 24% YoY to Rs. 344cr, driven by growth in revenues, controlled opex and lower finance costs. 

As per the official press statement, the TV industry saw all-time high advertising volumes in the third quarter. Buoyed by the advertising demand and a robust viewership share, both Entertainment and News businesses delivered strong growth in advertising revenues with YTD revenues surpassing full-year FY21 level. 

The report also highlighted that TV entertainment network maintained its strong viewership performance. The share of the entertainment network in the non-news genre was 11.0% but news genre viewership at the overall industry level declined during the quarter even as it continued to see event-driven spikes. 

Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman of TV18, said, “We are building a strong and sustainable media franchise which not only delivers quality content to Indian audience but also value to the shareholders. Over the last few years, we have taken several significant steps which have helped us achieve the turn around on profitability front and it is really encouraging to see a visible shift in the margin profile of our businesses. As content consumption continues to grow across mediums, our aim is to build platforms of choice for consumers looking for news and entertainment content in their local languages, movies and leading sports events.”

Apart from this, advertising revenue on the network saw a robust growth during the quarter led by Business and Regional news channels. The operating margin for the quarter improved by 850bps YoY to 27.2% and EBITDA was up 64% YoY. The sharp improvement in operating margin was driven by 13% growth in revenue while operating expense remained flat. Revenue growth in regional markets helped the regional news portfolio deliver its first profitable quarter.

As per the report, 16% growth in revenues was primarily driven by channels in Hindi, Kannada, and Marathi markets. Growth in operating expense was primarily driven by content spends - increase in content hours and high production value impact properties. The operating margin for the quarter was 21.4%.

Operating Highlights

• Flagship GEC Colors was the #2 channel in the Hindi genre with leadership in 4 weekday primetime slots. 
• Colors Rishtey saw an increase of 25% QoQ in viewership in Primetime (6-12 PM) and ranked #4 in the FTA GEC genre.
• Colors Cineplex increased its viewership share to 7.4% in the Pay Hindi movie genre. In the FTA Hindi movie genre, the network had a viewership share of 16.9% with its two channels - Rishtey Cineplex and Colors Cineplex Bollywood.
• Colors Kannada was the #2 channel in the genre, with 21.5% viewership share. Colors Marathi increased its viewership share to 17.3% during the quarter.
• Nick continues to reign as #1 in the Kids genre, with 12.2% share of genre viewership. 
• English entertainment portfolios like VH1, Comedy Central and Colors Infinity, continued to be the dominant genre leader with 95%+ market share.
• History TV18 ranked #2 in the Factual entertainment genre, with an urban market share of 18.1%.