Full year revenue up by 24%
The solid performance by network’s national news channels, along with business and regional channels led to a revenue jump as the network was able to command a high premium in ad rates
Network18’s TV news business has recorded a massive jump of 28% in its revenue in the fourth quarter of FY24. The largest TV news network in India registered a revenue of Rs 461 crore in Q4FY24, as compared to Rs 360 crore for the same quarter in FY23. The revenue for the full fiscal stood at Rs 1556 crore, as compared to Rs 1252 crore in FY23.
The TV news business delivered a strong performance, demonstrating its readiness to leverage strong operating position in the election season. The network has been able to increase its ad rates steadily on the back of solid performance in terms of viewership. It continues to be the highest reach TV news network in the country, reaching 175 million people around the country every week.
With leadership positions across key markets, the network delivered industry-leading growth in display advertising. Monetisation of IPs and events also witnessed a strong revenue traction.
The network maintained leadership positions in key markets with CNBC TV18 being the number one business channel garnering 64.3% viewership share, News18 India has been the number one Hindi news channel in evening primetime with viewership share of 14.0%, and CNN-News18 continues to be the number one English news channel for more than 2 years with over 33.3% viewership share.
The news network has had leadership in 4 regional markets of UP/Uttarakhand, Bihar/Jharkhand, Gujarat, and Jammu/Kashmir/Ladakh/Himachal. Its channels in West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Punjab/Haryana have also been strong number two players. Along with News18 Bangla which has seen a significant improvement in ranking during the year, News18 Lokmat has firmly established itself as a strong number three player.
Digital News Business sees 40% growth
The digital news business of Network18 also recorded strong growth. In Q4, it posted a total revenue of Rs 131 crore, 40% up as compared to Rs 94 crore for the same quarter in FY23. For the full financial year also, the digital news business saw a solid upside with revenues touching Rs 425 crore, as compared in Rs 356 crore in FY23.
The digital news portfolio continued to be a strong number 2 digital news publisher in the country with 180 million plus unique visitors every month. Moneycontrol continued to be the number one player in terms of both reach and engagement metrics. Moneycontrol Pro crossed 7.5 lakh paid subscribers, making it the top subscription-based news platform in India and amongst the top 20 globally as per FIPP’s Digital Subscription Report.
News18.com continued to expand its editorial coverage and analysis of events across the world along with adding new features for enhanced user experience. It was one of the highest reach news networks on WhatsApp Channels. Firstpost launched a revamped website to enable video-first experience for the users with dedicated digital destination for its key shows. Firstpost’s YouTube channel saw a 70% QoQ growth in average monthly video views.
