BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian broadcaster NDTV reported a wider first-quarter loss on Monday, as a rise in expenses overshadowed revenue from political advertisements during the country’s general elections.
The Adani Group-owned news broadcaster reported a loss of 467.5 million rupees ($5.6 million) in the April-June period, compared to a loss of 81.3 million rupees a year before.
Quarterly expenses were surged around 77%, with production costs, among broadcasters’ biggest expenses, up 80% and marketing spends related to a newly-launched regional channel tripling.
Advertising, a news channel’s biggest source of revenue, has been frail for over a year as businesses cut back on marketing spends amid high inflation, dragging NDTV and Reliance Industries-owned Network18 Media to a string of losses.
Earlier this month, Network18 said it benefited from the general elections, which lasted from April to June.
Political advertisements boosted NDTV’s revenue by 34% to 939.2 million rupees, its second straight rise after five consecutive quarters of a revenue fall.
Since its takeover by the Adani Group in late 2022, NDTV has launched new channels, such as NDTV Profit, as it looks to catch up and compete with Network18 and Zee Media.
NDTV shares were little changed after the results, ending 0.5% lower.
($1 = 83.7193 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng)
