The company’s consolidated EBITDA rose 80% YoY to ₹8 crore from ₹4 crore in Q1 FY26. Consolidated EBITDA margin improved to 1.5% during the quarter from 0.9% in the year-ago period.
It said its advertising business delivered a strong performance during the state elections, including those in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, securing a significant share of advertising spends during the period.
Network18’s ad inventory consumption grew 10% YoY, compared with 3% growth for the industry during the quarter. The company said industry growth was largely driven by government advertising, including Centre and state government campaigns, political party spending and public sector undertaking (PSU) advertising, while non-government advertising inventory declined more than 10% YoY.
For Network18, non-government advertising inventory consumption grew around 2% YoY, supported by its diversified portfolio and presence across markets. The company also saw an increase in monetisation on Connected TV screens, which it said is emerging as an important revenue stream.
Network18 said it delivered its fourth consecutive quarter of growth despite a continued soft macroeconomic environment, geopolitical conflicts and the absence of viewership ratings during the period.
The company maintained its leadership position on YouTube, recording 1.5 times more video views than its nearest competitor during the quarter. On election results day, News18 India, CNN-News18 and News18 Bangla recorded the highest peak concurrency, or average live concurrent viewers, in their respective markets.
Total views across social platforms crossed 32 billion during the quarter, rising 31% quarter-on-quarter, while the company’s social media footprint surpassed 472 million followers.
The company also said its lending business maintained strong momentum. The secured lending partner network expanded to include names such as Muthoot, DSP Finance and Rupeek.
Moneycontrol
The platform recorded more than 3x the time spent and 2x the page views of its nearest competitor. Moneycontrol Pro maintained its position as India’s largest digital news subscription platform, with more than one million paid subscribers. It continues to add new product features to offer greater value to subscribers.
News18.com
The platform recorded an 8% sequential increase in unique users, while engagement strengthened as average session length increased by more than 10%. During the recently held state elections, it launched a revamped Election Analytics Centre featuring constituency-level insights, live data widgets, shareable result graphics and AI-powered multilingual content generation.
Firstpost
The website continues to be a leading destination for global affairs covered through an Indian lens. It has built a strong and loyal YouTube audience, with the channel’s subscriber count nearing 10 million. Firstpost delivered more than 270 million video views on YouTube during the quarter, with over 50% of those views coming from outside India.
Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman of Network18, said, “The quarter gone by was a mixed one, for us as well as the industry. While on one hand, state elections gave a boost to advertising revenue, the ongoing geopolitical conflict and weak monsoon forecast were dampeners for the macroeconomic mood.
Government interventions on viewership ratings have also been negative for the sentiments of the industry. Despite these developments, we are fully focused on making our products better by ensuring that they serve their consumers effectively, so that when the macro environment improves, we are in the right position to benefit from it.”
Shares of Network18 Media & Investments Ltd ended at ₹31.71, down ₹0.24, or 0.75%, on the BSE.
Disclaimer: Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com, is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.
