REPORT: NEWS CHANNELS TOP ENGLISH NEWS CHANNEL & THEIR FINANCIAL RESURGENCE NEWS is where the major action has been in the pandemic era. Despite the controversies galore, the news channels have held on steady in terms of the advertising revenues in the Covid era. We take a look at the leading news channel and how their numbers stacked up. NDTV state monopoly and transitioned into management of a number of broadcast New Delhi Television the first independent news network in channels including the lifestyle Ltd (commonly abbreviated as NDTV) India. The company launched the first channel NDTV Good Times, the is an Indian news media company 24x7 news channel in partnership infotainment channel Astro Awani and focusing on broadcast and digital news with Star India in 1998. the news channel Independent publication. The company is Between 1998 and 2003, NDTV Television through various joint considered to be a legacy brand that was in an exclusive agreement with Star ventures. pioneered independent news India to produce all its news segment. NDTV Revenue broadcasting in India, and is News broadcaster NDTV's credited for launching the consolidated revenue from operations first 24x7 news channel and the for the quarter ended 31st December is first lifestyle channel in the ` 105.83 crore compared to ` 93.67 crore country. It owns and operates in the same period last year. the broadcast news channels Total expenses stood at ` 82.4 of NDTV India and NDTV 24x7. crore compared to ` 85.03 crore a year The two channels of the ago. company have received 32 Ramnath In 2003, the company became an The company said that it has Goenka Excellence in Journalism independent broadcasting network delivered the best third quarter results Awards. with the simultaneous launch of the in the last 11 years with a net profit of NDTV was founded in 1984, by Hindi and English language news ` 22.69 crore compared to ` 12.13 crore. the journalist Radhika Roy and the channels known as NDTV India and The company posted an economist Prannoy Roy, a husband and NDTV 24x7. It also launched a business operating profit of ` 32.64 crore from wife duo from the city of Kolkata in the news channel NDTV Profit which was the television media and related state of West Bengal. It began as a later converted into an information and operations segment compared to ` 19.09 production house for news segments entertainment channel NDTV Prime. crore. for the public broadcaster Doordarshan The company has had business Revenue from the segment was and international satellite channels interests in general entertainment and ` 105.83 crore compared to ` 92.23 when television broadcasting was a e-commerce, and is part of the crore. BROADCAST AND FILM28 MARCH - APRIL 2021 REPORT: NEWS CHANNELS The company reported nil owned by Network 18 and ` 52 crore in the corresponding period revenue from the e-commerce/retail WarnerMedia. CNN provides the previous year. segment. international coverage for the channel, "Rise in the ranking of our On a standalone basis, NDTV's while Indian Broadcasting Network flagship entertainment channel and revenue from operations stood at ` concentrates on Indian and local upsurge in news consumption helped 56.37 crore compared to ` 55.35 crore. reports. the group post growth in ad-revenues The company’s expenses In May 2014, Reliance in the quarter, even as advertising was were ` 51.56 crore compared to ` 51.85 Industries announced it would be severely impacted during late-Q4 due crore. taking over Network18. The move was to the COVID-19 related lockdown," the Net profit increased to ` 10.53 touted as "the biggest-ever deal in the company said. crore compared to ` 6.66 crore. Indian media space". Reliance TV18 Broadcast said its profit According to NDTV, this is the Industries already had indirect control for the financial year 2019-20 surged company's best quarterly result in the of the TV18 network by virtue of 98.57% to ` 417 crore and revenue grew last eight years. investments it made in Network18 by 5% to ` 5,175 crore compared to the NDTV Convergence, the starting from January 2012. previous year. company's digital arm, has marked its The full-year best quarter ever with a profit of more operating EBITDA than ` 10 crore; its revenue has stood at ` 703 crore, increased by 32% over the same quarter growing 124% over last year. ` 314 crore reported in Despite the business the previous fiscal. challenges thrown up by the pandemic, TV18 said the the company has so far in this financial benefits of a year reduced its bank borrowings by ` transparent and non-discriminatory CNN NEWS18 Revenue 27 crore. B2C regime created by the TV18 Broadcast, a subsidiary of “NDTV thanks every member of implementation of the NTO (New Tariff Network18, has registered a 373.33% its team for ensuring quality news was Order) in Q4FY19 continued to accrue year-on-year growth in Q4FY20 delivered to its vast audience despite for the entire FY20. consolidated profit due to strong the many impediments presented by the Distribution improvements revenue and operating EBITDA. Coronavirus outbreak. Its reporters and through tie-ups with cable and telecom The profit for the quarter stood crews have travelled all over the platforms boosted the reach and at ` 142 crore, up from ` 30 crore in the country to share the most credible and enlarged the value-proposition of same period last year. latest information on how India is channel brands across a varied cross- Controls on operating handling the pandemic,” the company section of viewers, it added. expenses and subscription revenue said in a statement. TV18's Q4 average viewership growth more than filled in for the It further stated that the share in news was 10.5%, up from 10.2% decline in advertising helped the management is aware that the financial in Q3; while TV18 group's Q4 news business remain profitable, the challenges of an economic slowdown entertainment viewership share was company said. continue to linger, with advertising yet 9.9% in Q4 versus 10.1% in the last Revenue from operations to recover to pre-Covid levels; it is quarter. grew by 21% year-on-year to ` 1,425 focused on mitigating any risk The contribution of crore in the quarter ended March presented by this for the next few subscription to the revenue mix has 2020, the company said in its BSE quarters. increased to 35% in FY20 from 26% in filing. Linear TV subscription revenue FY19, the company said. growth was at 41% in Q4 and B2C CNN NEWS18 annuity nature provided solidity, it CNN-News18 (originally CNN- added. INDIA TODAY TV IBN) is an Indian English-language Its operating earnings before India Today (formerly news television channel founded interest, tax, depreciation and Headlines Today) is a 24-hour by Rajdeep Sardesai located in Noida, amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter English language television network Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently shot up 365% to ` 240 crore against based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh that BROADCAST AND FILM29 MARCH - APRIL 2021 REPORT: NEWS CHANNELS carries news, current affairs and Income from others stood at channel in India in its first week of business programming in India. The ` 27.55 crore in the current quarter airing in May 2017 with 21.1 lakh (2.11 channel is owned by TV Today under review versus ` 27.97 crore in million) impressions and accounted for Network Ltd, which is a part of Living the same quarter of last year. 51.9 per cent viewership as per data Media. released for the week by the BARC. The Financial Express noted Republic The channel was launched in REPUBLIC TV 2003 as a sister channel of the Hindi Aaj TV to be the most-watched English Tak news channel. It is one of the four Republic TV is a free-to-air news channel in India for 100 weeks in news channels from the TV Today news channel launched in May 2017. a row since its founding. The top news Network stable, the others being Aaj It was co-founded by Arnab channel spot was taken over by DD Tak, Tez and Delhi Aaj Tak. Alok Verma Goswami and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India, a public service broadcaster, in was brought in as the Executive before the latter relinquished his stake February 2019, according to the Indian Producer to successfully launch TV in May 2019, leaving Goswami as the newspaper Mint. Today group's foray into the English majority stakeholder. Chandrasekhar news channel category. was an independent legislator from Republic TV Revenue the National Democratic Alliance who The free-to-air (FTA) channel India Today Revenue later joined the Bharatiya Janata has been launched with 19 strategic TV Today Network Limited, Party and Goswami was the former partners, with a commitment of spent which runs news channels Aaj Tak, editor-in-chief of Times Now. The of Rs 100 crore. “We are a cash positive India Today TV and Tez, and FM venture was funded primarily by company, with very less debt on our radio station Ishq FM, posted a net Chandrashekhar through his books. Also one of the reasons we have profit of ` 12.77 crore in Q1FY21, company Asianet News. been able to launch the second channel down 75% from ` 51 crore in the within 19 months of corresponding quarter of the rolling out the first one, previous year. is that our delivery to The company’s total revenue advertisers is highest. for the quarter ending June 30, 2020, We ensure a good return- stood at ` 175 crore, down 32% from ` on-investment,” Vikas 260 crore in Q1FY20.