MUMBAI: NDTV has been trying various measures to keep its spending under control and to increase its profits for the group. In a shareholder meeting held recently, the company has laid out its past and future plans for profit.
A special focus is being given to special events as well as the introduction of pre-sponsored bands beginning with NDTV Prime.
What the network has also been doing is cost optimisation according to a study by E&Y. Thus, it restructured NDTV Profit by bringing down personnel and overhead cost as well as extensive cost cutting measures in NDTV Goodtimes.
Now it is looking at focusing on its core businesses for growth while cutting down on non-core businesses. One of its core businesses is NDTV Convergence, the digital side, which it says has been giving it revenue growth at 46 per cent CAGR in last six years while it turned EBIDTA positive in FY 2012. On the other hand NDTV 24X7, its flagship property has been giving it average annual profit of Rs 40 crore per year over the last three years.
To tap into the digital sector, the network is continuing to invest in its online assets namely NDTV News, NDTV Sports, NDTV Movies, NDTV Gadgets, NDTV Cooks and the newly launched NDTV Auto. It is also contemplating restructuring so that shareholders can squeeze out maximum value from NDTV Convergence.
NDTV Convergence clocks more than 40 million unique visitors per month, more than 2.4 billion minutes of premium videos streamed per annum. The statement says that ‘the sum of the parts of NDTV group assets is not reflected in the market cap of NDTV. This is particularly true for the value of its digital assets.’
On the other hand, NDTV India, its loss making Hindi channel got its EBIDTA breakeven in FY 2014, which it hands out to the new content strategy of offering relevant content to the Hindi speaking market. NDTV Prime that launched with pre-sponsored bands for technology, auto and property with channel sponsor Micromax for a period of three years, was draining out Rs 40 crore on an annual basis. With the dual channel model, it hopes to achieve financial stability by next year.
