Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) CEO Punit Goenka on Thursday said that while its linear channels continue to maintain a strong foothold in regional markets, the company is focusing on strengthening Hindi programming.
During the earnings call while releasing the third quarter results for FY25, Goenka said, “On the linear side, our language markets continue to maintain a strong foothold and post positive results. We are also witnessing an uptick in the Marathi market where we have invested a significant amount of time and energy over the last few quarters to identify and fill in the required gaps.”
“We are focused towards strengthening our Hindi programming and considerable investments are being made in content to enhance the value for our customers,” he said.
Speaking about the upcoming budget, Goenka expressed hope that it will revive the consumption cycle and help capitalise on the increased spending by advertisers.
“We are hopeful that the upcoming union budget will encompass urgent steps by the Honourable Finance Minister to revive the consumption cycle. On the back of these factors, we remain optimistic about a gradual recovery in the new fiscal that will enable us to capitalise on the increased spending by advertisers,” he said.
During the quarter, the subscription revenue of the company grew by 7 % Y-o-Y with Goenka asserting that it will grow more after a couple of quarters as the new RIOs have just been released.
“In line with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regulation, we have published a new Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) that reflects the competitive pricing approach adopted by the company. We expect subscription revenues to continue growing after a couple of quarters of implementation. Zee5 has also enabled us to consistently boost retail on subscriptions and margins,” he said.
He also said that ZEEL is taking concrete steps to enhance the growth on digital post a thorough calibration of the cost structure.
Speaking about Zee’s music and movie business, he said that Zee Music Company has maintained healthy profitability and market relevance.
“However, it was a lean quarter for the movie business. That said, we have key releases lined up during the fourth quarter and these will reflect in our performance going forward,” he said.
Assuring his investors, Goenka said that his company is maintaining a sharp eye on the profitability levels and investing for long term growth.
“We have identified the gaps and our teams are working around the clock to innovate and build solutions that will enhance the company's competitive advantage in the market.
“The company remains on strong footing to drive robust growth in the future with a balanced investment approach. The lateral leadership team structure is enabling the company to direct concerted efforts towards each business segment and we remain optimistic about firing on all engines as we move forward,” he said.
According to Deputy CEO Mukund Galgani, the company is looking at ways to maximize ad revenues in this environment and “will remain cautious in the near term on the pace of our ad revenue growth. Through this phase, the subscription revenue momentum has held us in good stead. It has allowed us to offset macro ad environment-led softness in our ad revenues.”
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