Sun TV Network, the second biggest home-grown entertainment broadcaster, reported a sharp jump of 40% in its ad revenue during the July-September period compared to the preceding three months as ad spends normalized rapidly after the second wave of COVID-19.
Compared to the same three months of last year too, ad revenue was up by a similar percentage too. The company did not disclose the ad revenue of the July-September period of 2020, as it was hurt by the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown.
For the latest period, the company did not disclose its subscription revenue.
Over the last two years, subscription revenue has overtaken advertising revenue as the company’s mainstay.
Still, overall income was up about 9.6% at Rs 829 cr.
Given that advertising generated around Rs 342 cr, subscription revenues are estimated to have generated around Rs 450 cr, better than the Rs 427 cr reported last year.
SLOW GROWTH
Despite the bounce back, the company’s advertising revenue of Rs 342 cr for the three months ended September 2021 are historically on the lower side. Before COVID-19 hit, the company had been able to report ad revenues in the range of around Rs 350 cr plus.
On a sequential basis, the higher ad revenue helped the company offset the impact of the missing IPL revenue. IPL matches were held during the Apr-Jun quarter, and contributed significantly to the company’s top line for the quarter.
However, on a positive note, the absence of IPL revenue also meant much lower ‘other expenses’ during the latest quarter.
‘Other expenses’ fell to Rs 96 cr from Rs 135 cr in the preceding quarter.
As a result, despite almost no sequential change in the overall revenue, Sun TV was able to increase its pretax profit by around Rs 9 cr on a sequential basis. The number was up by Rs 67 cr compared to September quarter of last year.