Zee Entertainment's consolidated net profit nearly halves to Rs 106.6 Cr YoY

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), which runs one of the biggest cable TV networks in India, saw its consolidated net profit fall to Rs 106.6 crore in Q1 of FY2023 amid challenging macroeconomic conditions.

The entertainment conglomerate recorded a net profit of Rs 208.78 crore in April-June 2021.

It generated a total consolidated income of Rs 1,879.5 crore in the first quarter of FY2022-23—up from Rs 1,808.5 crore earned during the same period last year, according to filings with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

"Q1 FY23 operating performance impacted due to Zee Anmol FTA withdrawal and challenging macroeconomic conditions; Healthy momentum in Zee5," the company said in the filing.

ZEE5, which released 38 shows and movies during the quarter, recorded a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase of 23 million monthly active users (MAUs), taking total MAUs to 103.3 million. Content including Nushrat Bharucha-starrer Janhit Mein Jaari, high-grosser RRR, and The Broken News featuring Sonali Bendre, were released on the conglomerate's streaming platform.

But despite multiple releases and featuring original content across languages, the subscription revenue from Zee5 fell 5.1% YoY, and 10% from Q4 FY2022.

"Pricing embargo continues to impact linear revenue growth. Q1’23 is also impacted by timing of some of our B2B deals and renewals," the company said.