The year gone by has been a story of harnessing internal synergies and leveraging them
to exhibit the collective strength of the Network18 Group. Our portfolio of brands truly
stands out as the only one catering to every flavor of Indian audiences' layered content
preferences. As India's most diversified media organisation with a strong presence in both
traditional and new segments, we are in a prime position to lead the expansion and growth
of Indian media landscape, which has a significant runway for growth.
Our news business delivered phenomenal operating performance in the last fiscal.
Climbing to the top of the rankings in each of the big markets, we have fortified our
position as the preferred news network of India, across TV and digital. We continue to
expand our footprint and go deeper to reach customers wherever they are present. Our new
channel in Jammu Kashmir region, launch of Firstpost Vantage which covers global news with
an Indian lens, and Local18 which is driving hyperlocal news with stories from over 300
districts, are all examples of this approach. Along with creating new reach and engagement
benchmarks, we are also working with a strong focus on convergence to sharpen our
consumer-centric approach. Not only are our cross- platform teams working in close tandem,
we have also enabled them with a state-of-the-art integrated workspace with cutting edge
technology infrastructure, modern design and innovative features, that cater to the needs
of businesses and employees. A common content backbone backed by a robust technological
architecture will bring in efficiency and productivity and will make us ready for any
challenges that future will bring. Our entertainment vertical, Viacom18, recently
completed the strategic partnership with Reliance, Bodhi Tree and Paramount Global, with
an aim of leading India's transformation to a streaming-first approach. The collaboration
will enable Viacom18 to make investments in scaling up its digital, sports, and regional
entertainment franchise. We saw initial glimpse of this strategy in action with the
success of IPL. It is truly a landmark achievement for our OTT platform, JioCinema, to
become the #1 in the country in such a short timeframe. Our innovation in sports
programming was one of the key drivers of this success, and we are extending these
innovations to our entertainment offering as well, to make our digital platform the
default destination for users looking for any type of content. A combination of quality
content, distribution reach and technology infrastructure will be the drivers of growth
for our entertainment business. FY 2022-23 was a challenging year as unfavorable
macro-economic conditions led to a weak advertising environment, the biggest revenue
driver of your Company. Despite a strong performance delivering some of the best operating
KPIs, it did not translate into desired financial metrics. Revenue increased by 6%, but
EBITDA declined as the Company made substantial investments in new initiatives. We believe
that given the stage at which Indian media landscape is today, investments are required to
create a compelling value offering for consumers, which will help the Company grow over
the long- term. With a presence across genres, we are in a strong position to bring
audiences, from across the country, into our fold and keep them engaged by continuously
serving them quality content that is contextually relevant and spread across diverse
genres. An impressive start to FY 2023-24 has set the tone for the year ahead. Economic
conditions for growth of the media sector look more promising than same time last year.
Our businesses are in a strong position to leverage the improvement in macro factors. IPL
getting more viewers on digital than TV has really marked an inflection point and our news
business is stronger than ever. We have also onboarded some of the top talent from across
the industry to help us in our transformation journey of becoming a technology driven
organisation. We are working with an unwavering commitment to make our platforms the
default choice of consumers by harnessing the combined strength of all our assets.
Adil Zainulbhai
Chairman