Network18's Q1: Revenue up 142% due to IPL
Network18's consolidated revenue for the quarter ended June has soared 142% to Rs 3,239 crore on the back of the Indian Premier League's (IPL) performance on JioCinema. Viacom18, a company in which Network18's subsidiary TV18 holds a 13.54% stake, has digital rights to the IPL. In the same quarter of the previous fiscal year, the company recorded revenue of Rs 1,340 crore.
The company reported an operating loss of Rs 84 crore for the quarter, compared to a profit of Rs 46 crore a year ago.Network 18's TV news segment's operating loss rose 50% to Rs 6 crore while revenue jumped 26% to Rs 337 crore. The entertainment business, comprising Viacom 18, AETN 18, and IndiaCast, incurred a Rs 49 crore loss compared to a profit of Rs 62 crore. Revenue from the segment rose 184% to Rs.
2839 crore. Losses from digital, print, others, and intercompany elimination widened by 150% to Rs 30 crore. Revenue from the segment declined 16% to Rs 63 crore.
The media conglomerate said that IPL advertising revenue on JioCinema has surpassed TV. Disney Star owns the IPL TV rights. Viacom18 Sports CEO Anil Jayaraj had earlier told ET that the overall IPL ad revenues in the 2023 season had fallen 20% compared to the previous edition.
According to Network 18, JioCinema had 26 sponsors and more than 800 advertisers, with over 40 of them using the platform exclusively to reach their premium audience on connected TVs. Network18 also mentioned that nearly 450 million viewers tuned in to JioCinema to watch the IPL, delivering a total of over 17 billion video views with an average watch time of more than 60 minutes per user per match. It added that the platform created a new milestone for concurrent viewership by recording 32.1 million simultaneous
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