Zee Q4 FY16 ad revenues up 29%; subscription revenues grow 16.4%

Zee Entertainment Enterprises has reported consolidated revenue of Rs 15,316
Million for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2016. The consolidated operating profit (EBITDA) for the quarter stood at Rs 4,136 million. Profit After Tax (PAT) for the quarter was Rs 2,659 million. The EBITDA margin for the quarter stood at 27.0 per cent, while the PAT margin was 17.4 per cent.

For the full year FY16, consolidated revenue stood at Rs 58,515 million. The consolidated operating profit (EBITDA) for the year stood at Rs 15,096 million. PAT for the fiscal was Rs 10,289 million. The EBITDA margin stood at 25.8 per cent and the PAT margin was 17.6 per cent.

Zee’s advertising revenues during the quarter stood at Rs 8,645 million, showing an increase of 29.1 per cent y-o-y. During the quarter, domestic advertising revenues stood at Rs 7,525 million, while international advertising revenues stood at Rs 1,120 million.

Advertising revenues for FY2016 were Rs 34,296 million, recording a growth of 28.9 per cent over FY2015.

Total subscription revenues for Q4 FY16 were Rs 5,944 million. During the current quarter, domestic subscription revenues stood at Rs 4,682 million, registering a growth of 12.1 per cent over the corresponding period last fiscal, while international subscription revenues were Rs 1,262 million, up 35.3 per cent over last fiscal.

Subscription revenues were Rs 20,579 million for the financial year ended March 31, 2016, recording a growth of 14.7 per cent over FY2015. During the year, domestic subscription revenues stood at Rs 16,302 million, while international subscription revenues stood at Rs 4,276 million.

Other sales and services include syndication sales, film distribution, commission on sales, play out & transmission services, facility usage income, among others. During the quarter, other sales and services stood at Rs 727 million. The company had recorded revenue of Rs 1,666 million under this head during the corresponding period last fiscal.

Zee’s international business continued to perform strongly driven by global demand for the company’s products. For the quarter ended March 31, 2016, the international business did:

• Advertisement revenue of Rs 1,120 million
• Subscription revenue of Rs 1,262 million
• Other Sales and Services of Rs 210 million
• Total revenue of Rs 2,592 million

Commenting on the results of the company, Dr Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, said, “The growth in the quarter has been satisfactory and the investment in the new channels has started showing results. We strive to seek out growth opportunities which will give sustainable long term growth. True to our philosophy of ‘World is one family’, we will continue to entertain the audience around the world with our content.”

Punit Goenka, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Zee, added here, “I am happy to announce that our sustained growth momentum through the year continued in the fourth quarter as well and we have ended the year on a strong note. Our growth has been ahead of the market growth trajectory, which is being reflected in the improving viewership share of our network. We continue to see strong growth in both existing and new products.”

He further said, “In the last quarter we launched Ozee, which is a one-stop destination for all Zee content online. We understand that digital will be a key part of our growth in the future and hence, we are geared for expansion on that front as well. We also rebranded our sports channel portfolio in line with our vision to provide the consumer a superior viewing experience. We would continue to innovate on the content front to serve our audiences. With the growth in consumption on digital platforms the content production has been democratised and it will lead to increase in content variety for the consumer. Zee has a strong pedigree in the content creation business and we will continue to maintain and build on it.”