India's Zee Entertainment Enterprises reported a sharp rise in third-quarter profit and margins on Thursday, boosted by cost cutting measures which offset lower advertisement revenue.
Shares of the broadcaster closed up 2.4% after the results.
Zee reported a profit of 1.64 billion rupees ($18.96 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared to 585 million rupees a year ago.
Its subscription revenue rose 6.6% to 9.8 billion rupees, benefiting from the implementation of a 2022 tariff order which gave broadcasters more leeway to increase prices of TV channels.
Also read: Zomato Q3 2025 results: Net profit falls 57% despite 64% revenue rise, as expenses mount
However, ad revenue declined 8.5%, due to what the company described as a "sluggish festive season" that resulted in lower marketing spend by consumer facing companies. As a result, total revenue declined 3%.
With recovery in ad revenues still elusive, the company has in recent quarters sharpened its focus on cutting costs and reducing losses in its streaming business Zee5.
{{/usCountry}}With recovery in ad revenues still elusive, the company has in recent quarters sharpened its focus on cutting costs and reducing losses in its streaming business Zee5.
{{/usCountry}}Zee reported third-quarter core profit margin of 16.1% compared to 10.2% a year ago. It has said it is targeting a margin of 18%-20% by fiscal year 2026.
Its operational costs declined 16% year-on-year driven by lower programming and technology cost, while total expenses fell 10%.
Meanwhile, core losses in Zee5 narrowed to 1.36 billion rupees from 2.4 billion rupees a year ago, and revenue rose 8% as it attracted more paying customers with a new slate of content.
India's $28 billion media and entertainment sector has witnessed intense competition in recent years, with the likes of Netflix and Sony striving to strengthen their foothold.
Also read: Netflix shares soar to record high after ‘biggest ever’ subscriber gain in Q4 2024-25
Zee previously said that the merger of media assets of Reliance Industries and Walt Disney would likely give the combined entity more advertising leverage due to their larger market shares.
($1 = 86.4825 Indian rupees)