Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) has grown its net profit by over 30% on a year-over-year basis to ₹325.88 crore in Q1 FY 2019, on the back of a generally healthy quarter for the media business. Specifically, stable ad revenue pushed operating incomes up — total income stood at ₹1821.78 crore, an almost 11% increase from Q1 FY 2018. The company's ad expenditure went up by 12.95% to ₹140.16 crore. Financial highlights — Q1FY19 Advertising revenue: ₹1146.01 crore Domestic ad revenue:₹1087.01 crore (22.3% yoy increase) International ad revenue: ₹59 crore (2.07% yoy increase) Subscription revenue:₹518.64 crore (8.25% yoy increase) Domestic subscription revenues: ₹425.2 crore (12.3% yoy increase) International subscription revenues: ₹93.4 crore (6.6% yoy decrease) Digital The company launched its streaming service Zee5 last quarter with content from Zee's network as well as licensed titles — Zee5 is essentially a combination of Zee's erstwhile streaming apps, OZee and Ditto TV. It offers about 90 live TV channels, TV shows (both Indian and International), movies, original shows and other videos. Currently, the platform operates on a freemium model, with the paid premium section offering five original shows; movies such as Moonlight and Pelé; TV shows like Doctor Foster, War & Peace, and The Young Pope; five Zee Theatre Plays; and Zindagi Digital shows among others. The company said that it is going to launch original content in 6 languages. Punit Goenka said that unlike most of the existing apps which are either focused on the English-speaking segment or the youth audience, Zee5’s vast content catalogue is designed with…
