Q1-10: ZEEL Ad Revenues Fall 13%; Strategic Refocus On Subscriptions

It’s another quarter with a QoQ rise in net profits and revenues for Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd – profits are up 25.9% to Rs. 913.2 million, though down 43% from Q1-09. Revenues rose 50.2% to Rs. 4759.3 from Q4-09.

Expenses were controlled and fell by 9.1% to Rs. 3664.2 million. Operating profit margin stood at 24.6% and EBITDA Rs. 1170 million. In the quarter, the company redeemed Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs) aggregating $3.79 million.

Details: Release | Financials

Ad Revenues Fall 13% QoQ; Change in Biz Model To Subscriptions

Though the company rallied its operating efficiencies, attempted content improvement and balance sheet management (to reduce debt during the quarter and consequently interest costs) , it was unable to make up for the adverse effect of the slump in advertising revenues.

Revenues from ads fell 13% from Q4-09 and by 29% from Q1-09 to Rs. 1979.6 million during this quarter. Explaining the situation, ZEEL chairman Subhash Chandra said that the macro advertising environment remained weak and the quarter saw intense competition in Hindi entertainment segment. Overall ad expenditure on TV, he predicted, would not be as buoyant as they were in the last few years.

The company has announced that over the next few years, it will shift its business model from an advertising led model to a subscription led one, following global trends. Advertising was the prime revenue generator for the company in FY09, contributing 49% (Rs. 10.6 billion) to revenues of Rs. 21.73 billion.

International Subscriptions

International subscriptions brought in Rs. 1092 million in Q1-10. They contributed 21% to the company’s top line in FY09 and countered falling advertising revenues for the company. Zee’s channels reach 500 million homes, of which 4.75 million paying subscribers are in South East Asia, 2.6 million in the Middle East, 575,000 in Americas, 200,000 in Europe and 250,000 in Africa, according to a company corporate presentation dated June.

The company recently launched local language TV channels in Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. Domestic subscriptions brought in Rs. 1318 million.

Subscription revenues rose by 2.7% to Rs. 2409.8 million from last quarter. Subscription revenues from domestic cable grew by 6% over the corresponding quarter in 2009.

DTH Subscriptions: Revenues from domestic DTH subscriptions rose 23% to Rs 467 million from the fourth quarter of last fiscal and by 88% from Q1 FY2009. Last fiscal, DTH subscriptions grew 93% from FY08 to Rs. 1.2 billion, but contributed only 5% to total revenues.

Other Segments

Syndication sales, income from education segment, film distribution, play out and production services, events and commission on advertisements and subscription sales, brought in revenues of Rs 370 million. Content & Broadcasting revenues fell 11.7% to Rs. 4640.6 million compared to Q1 09.

High costs due to cricket rights were incurred by the Sports business. Expenses fell 57% YoY to Rs. 91 million and losses amounted to Rs. 272 million. Sports business contributed 18% to the company’s top line in FY09.

Education revenues rose 43% to Rs. 88.7 million. Zee Entertainment Studios, which produces movies under the banners Zee Limelight and Zee Motion Pictures, saw revenues fall 75% to Rs. 30 million.

Market Share

With 13 entertainment channels, 4 international channels, two sports and two movie channels, the company is competing with Star, TV18, Sony and Sun TV. Zee TV claims to have a market share of 19% in the Hindi general entertainment category; movie channels Zee Cinema, Zee Premiere, Zee Action, Zee Classic together hold 36% of the Bollywood movies genre; Ten Sports & Zee Sports hold 29%; while Zee Café, Zee Studio, Zee Trendz claim to have 22% of the English entertainment market. Its music channels ETC, Zing (Zee Music was rebranded as Zing) and ETC Punjabi claim to have 12% of the music TV marketshare while Zee Jagran captures 27% of the spiritual/ lifestyle channel viewership, according to TAM data for Q4-09.