TV18 reports highest ever Q2 revenue (ex-film), growing 28% YoY

TV18 Broadcast has reported strong revenue growth driven by viewership for the quarter ended September 30, 2021; and also saw the highest ever Q2 revenue (ex-film), growing 28% YoY (and 18% vs Q2 FY20). TV18’s consolidated operating revenue grew 29% YoY to Rs 1,308 crore in Q2 FY22, from Rs 1,013 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Consolidated EBITDA for the quarter grew 47% YoY (2.3x of Q2 FY20); while operating margin stood at 18.5%.

Both News and Entertainment businesses further improved profitability. Viacom18 is building a strong sports portfolio and has acquired rights to FIFA World Cup’22 and three major football leagues. Voot’s digital exclusive property, ‘Bigg Boss OTT’, drove substantial growth in paid subscriber base.

TV18 reported 18.5% operating margin despite a lingering impact of the second COVID-19 wave. Entertainment margin stood at ~19%; while ex-film revenue was up 31% YoY (up 20% vs Q2FY20). News margin was reported at ~18%, with revenue growing 18% YoY (15% vs Q2FY20). Profit after tax (PAT) rose to Rs ~231 crore (2x of Q2FY21, ~4x of Q2FY20), driven by improved revenue performance, controlled opex and lower finance costs.

Domestic ad-revenue comes out of the shadows of COVID

Entertainment revenues surpassed pre-COVID levels as ad volumes registered a strong growth during the quarter. As the number of cases came down sharply and the pace of vaccination drive accelerated across the country, consumption and advertiser sentiment got a big boost. Having already scaled to FY20 levels in Q1, ad revenue registered a strong growth (vs both FY21, FY20) during the quarter, driven by an action packed programming calendar that strengthened the network’s viewership share. TV News advertising also witnessed strong growth (both YoY and vs FY20) even as viewership normalised to pre-COVID levels and channel ratings remained suspended by BARC. 

Sports set to be the next frontier of expansion 

Viacom18 is expanding its presence in sports genre. As a step in this direction, it acquired the rights to the next FIFA World Cup. It has also acquired rights to three of the five most watched football leagues in the world – La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy) and Ligue 1 (France). These properties will add to the existing portfolio of ATP Masters (tennis), Abu Dhabi T10 cricket, Road Safety World Series (cricket) and Carabao Cup (football).

Live sports on broadcast and digital platforms will complement the current entertainment offering and will strengthen the consumer value proposition of the network.

OTT push

Increasing investments on Voot is expected to drive the next phase of growth and has seen a sharp jump in paid subscriber base during the quarter, powered by the launch of ‘Bigg Boss OTT’, the first marquee property to go digital exclusive. With 24x7 unedited live stream, access to the latest episodes a day before free users, and viewers voting to nominate contestants out, it delivered a phenomenal reach and engagement among the paid subscriber base. The show garnered 10 billion+ minutes of watch time (AVOD+SVOD) over the 6-week period, truly delivering an ‘Over the Top’ experience.

Voot is also evolving as a sports destination with streaming of 3 major football leagues and a host of other sports properties.

Voot was the fastest OTT in India to reach 1 million B2C subscribers and continues to grow at a healthy clip, driven by increasing investments in content and consumer experience.

Commenting on the performance, Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman, TV18, said, “This quarter has been quite remarkable, both from a macro as well as company’s point of view. The way the country came out of the grip of second wave of COVID was truly heartening, and equally reassuring was the full-swing return of economic growth. The outlook is looking quite promising from a medium term perspective and this is good news for our consumer facing businesses. With expansion into sports genre, we have taken a significant step towards scaling up our entertainment portfolio to the next level. This will help establish us as a truly integrated media company across broadcast, OTT and content studio business spanning general entertainment, news, movies and sports.”