BENGALURU:  Zee Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL), the erstwhile Zee News Limited reported a 3.1 percent deline in Total Income from Operations (TIO) to Rs 127.04 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2015 (Q2-2016, current quarter) as compared to the Rs 131.12 crore in Q2-2015. TIO in the current quarter was 6.1 percent lower than the Rs 135.26 crore in Q1-2016.

Notes: (1) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

(2) The figures in this report are consolidated figures unless stated otherwise

ZMCL’s EBIDTA however improved 9.7 percent to Rs 6.71 crore in the current quarter as compared to the Rs 6.12 crore in Q2-2015. ZMCL’s EBIDTA in the immediate trailing quarter was higher at Rs 14.76 crore.

ZMCL’s existing television channels returned positive operating results (Positive EBIDTA) of Rs 17.43 crore crore in Q2-2016. Its TV Broadcasting EBIDTA was negatively impacted to the extent of Rs 7.26 crore by its new channels, and hence the TV Broadcast business returned a positive EBIDTA of Rs 10.17 crore.  Overall, ZMCL’s EBIDTA was further impacted by a negative EBIDTA of Rs 3.45 crore from its Print Business, hence the company reported the EBIDTA of Rs 6.71 crore mentioned above in Q2-2016.

While the company’s Television Broadcast business revenue grew YoY grew 1.8 percent to Rs 100.30 crore in the current quarter as compared to Rs 98.56 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter, its Print business revenue declined 7.9 percent to Rs 30.02 crore as compared to Rs 32.59 crore. TV Broadcast business revenue in Q1-2016 was higher at Rs 108.64 crore, while Print business revenue was lower at Rs 28.04 crore.

Advertisement and Subscription Revenues

The company’s overall advertising and subscription revenues declined both YoY and QoQ in Q2-2016. ZMCL reported 2.6 percent lower advertising revenue of Rs 90.69 crore (71.4 percent of Total Revenue) in the current quarter as compared to 93.14 crore (71 percent of Total Revenue) in Q2-2015 and was 6.3 percent lower than the Rs 96.75 crore (71.5 percent of Total Revenue).

TV Business advertisement revenue increased 2.1 percent to Rs 72.59 crore in Q2-2016 as compared to the Rs 71.1 crore in Q2-2015, but declined 8.9 percent as compared to the Rs 79.72 crore in the immediate trailing quarter. TV Business Advertisement revenue from existing channels declined 3.9 percent in the current quarter to Rs 65.93 crore as compared to the Rs 68.58 crore in Q2-2015 and declined 11 percent as compared to the Rs 74.05 crore in Q1-2016. Advertisement revenue from new channels more than doubled (went up 2.7 times) to Rs 6.66 crore as compared to the Rs 2.52 crore in Q2-2015 and increased 17.3 percent as compared to the Rs 5.68 crore in Q1-2016.

Overall subscription revenue in the current quarter declined 3 percent to Rs 27.24 crore (21.4 percent of Total Revenue) in Q2-2016 as compared to the Rs 28.07 crore (21.4 percent of Total Revenue) in the corresponding year ago quarter and was 5 percent lower than the Rs 28.67 crore (21.2 percent of Total Revenue) in the immediate trailing quarter.

TV Business YoY subscription revenue declined 0.2 percent in the current quarter to Rs 24.44 crore as compared to the Rs 24.62crore in Q2-2015, and declined 5.4 percent as compared to the Rs 25.84 crore in Q1-2016.

Let us look at the other numbers reported by ZMCL

ZMCL’s Total Expenditure in the current quarter declined 3.4 percent to Rs 133.35 crore as compared to the Rs 138.01 crore in Q2-2015, but increased 0.3 percent as compared to the Rs 133.01 crore in Q1-2016.

Employee Benefits Expense in Q2-2016 declined 7.2 percent to Rs 38.60 crore in Q2-2016 as compared to the Rs 41.60 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter and was 8.3 percent lower than the Rs 42.11 crore in Q1-2016.

Operational Cost in Q2-2016 declined 17.5 percent to Rs 21.14 crore as compared to the Rs 25.62 crore in Q2-2015 but was 1.7 percent higher than the Rs 20.79 crore in Q1-2016.

Marketing, Distribution and Business Promotion Expenses in Q2-2016 increased 66 percent to Rs 24.97 crore as compared to the Rs 15.04 crore in Q2-2015 and was 15.3 percent more than the Rs 21.65 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.

ZMCL’s loss in Q2-2016 increased to Rs 16.98 crore as compared to the loss of Rs 11.53 crore in Q2-2015 and the loss of Rs 7.1 crore in Q1-2016.

Group CEO, News Cluster  Bhaskar Das said, “With hardly any content differentiators, news has become commoditized over the years. Fragmentation has also not helped the cause of the genre. However, we at Zee Media have been constantly investing on breaking the clutter and creating path breaking content so that we can distinctly set ourselves apart from the current normal. Our breakthrough experiments in content have borne results."

Das further added, "Zee News, the pioneer in news broadcasting in India, has turned into viewers’ first choice of late as we continue to make the content meaningful and relevant in the context of the current discourse. The bouquet of ZMCL channels and our newspaper, dna, continue to be one of India’s largest news networks and we leverage our multiple access points to reach both our viewers and advertisers, providing value to every stakeholder at every step.”