India Watches Annual Report 2017-18 Contents Corporate Overview Financial Statements A message from the Chairman 02 Standalone We are TV18 04 Independent Auditor’s Report 100 Multiple channels. Multitude of experiences. 06 Balance Sheet 106 Watched by millions. Everyday. 08 Statement of Profit and Loss 107 Well integrated into India’s Statement of Changes regional landscape 10 in Equity 108 Nurtured through creativity, Cash Flow Statement 109 defined by excellence 12 Notes to the India watches TV18... anytime, Financial Statements 110 anywhere 18 Board of Directors 20 Consolidated Independent Corporate Information 22 Auditor’s Report 146 Consolidated Balance Sheet 150 Statutory Reports Consolidated Statement of Profit and Loss 151 Management Discussion & Analysis 24 Statement of Changes in Equity 152 Board’s Report 52 Consolidated Business Responsibility Cash Flow Statement 153 Report 76 Notes to the Consolidated Corporate Governance Report 83 Financial Statements 154 Notice Notice, Attendance Slip & Proxy Form 196 To view the online version of this report www or for other information log on to: www.network18online.com TV18 is more than just a brand to 700 million people who watch our channels and represent about 90% of television viewing universe in India. It is a brand that exudes trust. It informs, enlightens and entertains. TV18 brings to life the work of some of the world’s most talented anchors, journalists, story tellers and actors for its audiences. Its wide canvas brings together powerful personalities, global leaders, fresh ideas and topical subjects. It connects with viewers across India's diverse landscape through screens of every size and nature; whether on handhelds, of televisions or in cinemas. It strives to inform and entertain; and its brands resonate with millions of Indians across demographies, languages and regions. It is a place where Indians like to be and where India’s diversity unites. India Watches TV18 Broadcast Limited A message from the Chairman Dear Shareholders, “The last Financial Year has been a year that consolidated TV18’s position as a leader in the fast-evolving media and entertainment space. We took conscious steps to elevate TV18 into one of the country’s premier broadcasting networks" A year of consolidation FY 2017-18 was in many ways a year of continued investment in growth areas, while we consolidated certain businesses. I am very proud to state that our channels now touch the lives of 700 million Indians. We made a strategic investment to acquire 1% additional stake in the Viacom18 joint venture to increase our overall stakeholding to 51%, thereby gaining operational control. The JV partners are aligned in the vision of superior growth at Viacom18, and believe that this will add value and bring synergies across the Group. We continued to fill white spaces in the regional content space. We understand India’s linguistic and socio- cultural diversity and their appetite for consuming content in their local language; and hence have identified 2 204 Corporate Overview Statutory Reports Financial Statements A message from the Chairman Annual Report 2017-18 regional vernacular content as a key converges to smaller screens, digital strong team of storytellers, creative for future growth. In view of this, we content consumption is bound to rise. experts, journalists, anchors and actors, strengthened our regional footprint with Already, the online video consuming we will continue to launch innovative the launch of Colors Tamil around the is witnessing a massive upsurge with concepts and formats. end of the year in February 2018. viewer base growing by 64% to 250 million users in 2017. The increasing My colleagues and I appreciate the Colors Tamil with its fresh subjects and smartphone penetration, rising internet excellent work and commitment of our cinematic quality content has generated speeds and decreasing data charges teams. Our efforts to bring on-stage strong appeal among viewers, especially will only intensify this growth. By 2020 some of the world’s most powerful in the urban region. Within its first it is expected that the userbase will people, encourage thought leadership month of launch, the channel has made double to 500 million. And this will drive and spread positive social message only its presence felt in a highly competitive monthly data consumption, which is goes on to show our social and economic market, garnering 5% viewership share. expected to increase over four-fold from importance to the nation. With this, TV18 now has 7 regional 3.9 GB per smartphone in 2017 to 18 GB entertainment and 14 regional news by 2023. (Source: FICCI-EY Media and I take this opportunity to thank all the channels. We will continue to explore Entertainment report, 2018) other stakeholders for their sustained more such opportunities to deliver trust in us. We continue to seek their cutting edge localised content to under- With our platform-agnostic approach support to make TV18 much stronger served audiences. and technological competence, we are than it is today. well positioned to capitalise on this The year saw us undertake an important opportunity. We have leveraged this Warm regards, transition as we brought together all the competence to build a powerful and general news channels under one mega scalable OTT platform, VOOT, which Adil Zainulbhai brand, News18. This was announced is garnering consumer admiration for Chairman at the highly prestigious Rising India its huge curated content library and Summit, amidst the presence of the user experience. VOOT had beevn Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri downloaded by ~70 million users and Narendra Modi, and other dignitaries. The has 35 million active users, spending an event was the culmination of the state- average of 40+ minutes daily. We will level Rising Series that we had initiated remain focussed on creating more digital- during the year to bring together all first content and promote fresh ideas to the stakeholders of the states and cater to evolving consumer preferences. discuss a roadmap for development. The unification marks our journey towards Content innovation remains vital becoming one of the largest news brands TV18 has always been a believer of TV18 is a full portfolio in the world. encouraging creativity and embracing artistic independence. It is this virtue broadcast company, Focussed on the digital opportunity that has enabled us to create path- including all genres of news, We believe that the digital arena will defining content that has been running entertainment, digital/OTT, be a significant growth driver in the successfully year after year and continues live and film. coming years. As the world increasingly to attract more audiences. With our 3 204 TV18 Broadcast Limited We are TV18 THE destination for news and entertainment India’s largest integrated news and entertainment network, across 53 channels in 15 languages. Subsidiary of one of India's most diversified media conglomerates, Network18 Media & Investments Limited. TV18 is the 3rd largest broadcaster in the country, and with subsidiaries/associates, commands a 13.4% share of all television viewership. India's #1 news network, taking leadership in responsible news reporting with over 1,200 journalists and anchors to provide global, national and local news. Fastest growing entertainment network in India, bringing innovative ways to entertain and engage fans and audiences across through Movies, Music, General Entertainment and Kids genres. Partnerships with global media and entertainment leaders CNBC, CNN, Viacom Inc and A+E Networks. 4 204 Corporate Overview Statutory Reports Financial Statements We are TV18 Annual Report 2017-18 Scalable Business Model We have a We meet We strengthen We leverage We strengthen We drive multi-platform evolving content network brand equity innovativeness and multi-lingual aspirations of offerings by synergy to with our products in content with presence to consumers with strategically facilitate cross- and packaging our thought cater to a diverse innovative collaborating promotion and excellence leadership consumer base content with global cross-pollination M&E leaders Highlights, FY 2017-18 3rd #1 #3 Largest broadcaster in News network in India Entertainment network the country, and with (ex-sports) subsidiaries/associates commands a 13.4% share of all television viewership New Launches Channel Performance Corporate / Other Highlights Colors Tamil, a Tamil regional Hindi movie channel Rishtey Cineplex Raised stake to 51% and took entertainment channel has broken even within 1.5 years of operational control in the Viacom18 launch Joint Venture CNBCTV18.com and CNBC-TV18 app, a premium digital platform for Hindi News channel News18 India rose Converged all 17 general news CNBC TV18 content to #3 during the year channels under News18 umbrella 9.5% Largest 11.3% Viewership share of all Regional news network, with 59.7 crore Entertainment viewership share news viewed in India average monthly reach 5 204 TV18 Broadcast Limited Multiple channels. Multitude of experiences. Inform. Enlighten. Entertain. We inspire innovation and creativity, embrace independence and diversity to inform, enlighten and entertain audience for a better future of media 20 33 News Entertainment 53 Channels + Channels = Channels Television News Business News General News Regional News 6 204 Corporate Overview Statutory Reports Financial Statements Multiple channels. Multitude of experiences. Annual Report 2017-18 Entertainment Hindi General Hindi Entertainment