Network18 Media & Investments Ltd closed the financial year ended March 31 with solid gains in its standalone news business, despite reporting a consolidated net loss due to restructuring-related impacts.
The company’s standalone operating revenue for the news division rose 4.3 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,896 crore, while operating EBITDA nearly doubled to Rs 33 crore. This growth was driven by stringent cost control, improved advertising pricing, and expanding viewership.
Network18 continued its leadership in the Hindi, English, and Business news segments, and also claimed the top position in Marathi and Bengali markets. These viewership gains contributed significantly to the improved EBITDA.
In the fourth quarter of FY25, the company reported a standalone operating EBITDA of Rs 13 crore, despite a muted advertising environment and a high base effect from the previous year’s election-driven revenues. The EBITDA margin improved to 2.6 percent from 2.2 percent in Q3. Standalone operating revenue for the quarter increased 9.5 percent sequentially to Rs 522 crore, while operating expenses rose 3 percent year-on-year to Rs 508 crore.
The company narrowed its standalone loss in Q4 to Rs 69 crore, compared to a loss of Rs 31 crore in the year-ago period. Total standalone income stood at Rs 524 crore—higher than Rs 484 crore in Q3, but slightly lower than Rs 537 crore in Q4 FY24. Advertising volumes remained subdued across the TV news industry, with a 15 percent year-on-year drop in inventory consumption, although Network18’s digital ad revenues remained strong.
Moneycontrol Leads the Digital Charge
Network18’s digital portfolio, anchored by Moneycontrol, maintained its leadership. Moneycontrol Pro surpassed 1 million paid subscribers, making it the largest subscription-based financial platform in India and among the top 15 globally. The fintech vertical expanded its reach, with over 6 million users accessing credit scores and new partnerships emerging in lending and credit card services. The platform also rolled out investor tools and a new ETF section to boost user engagement.
Regional and Digital Segments Power Growth
With a 14.1 percent all-India market share and a weekly reach of over 180 million viewers, Network18 ended the year as the top TV news network. Regional channels saw sharp gains—News18 Lokmat and News18 Bangla rose to number one in their markets, while News18 Kannada more than doubled its market share to become the second most-watched Kannada news channel.
In national genres, News18 India remained the top Hindi news channel, CNBC-TV18 led business news, and CNN-News18 retained its leadership in English news.
Restructuring Weighs on Consolidated Results
Despite the strong performance of the standalone news business, the company posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 1,777 crore for FY25. This was primarily due to an exceptional loss of Rs 1,436 crore, following the derecognition of Viacom18 as a subsidiary and the sale of Indiacast.
Chairman Adil Zainulbhai commented, “We are really happy to end the fiscal on a strong note as the largest news network in the country on all fronts—viewership share, audience reach and language footprint. Despite short-term macro headwinds, we are confident in the company’s long-term growth trajectory.”
