Reliance Industries’ (RIL) media business saw its revenue jump by 49% to Rs 10,826 crore in FY24, from Rs 7,266 crore in FY23, primarily driven by news and sports.
In a regulatory filing, the company said that its media business revenue in the Q4 jumped 62.2% compared to the same period last year, reaching Rs 2,808 crore, up from Rs 1,731 crore. In the previous quarter, it was Rs 2,064 crore.
“Media business delivered one of the strongest performances, setting new operating and revenue
benchmarks across verticals. Operating revenue for the year was at Rs 9,297 crore, up by 49.4% YoY, driven by strong growth across all segments,” the company said.
“News business revenue was up 19% YoY, Viacom18 revenue was up 62% YoY. Sports was the biggest driver of revenue growth for Viacom18 while news revenue growth was driven by both TV network and digital platforms,” it added.
Coming to the quarterly performance, media business recorded a strong operating and financial performance across verticals during the quarter. Revenue from operations was up by 63.0% YoY to Rs 2,419 crore, driven by sports, movies and news verticals. News business revenue was up 25% YoY, driven by the strong growth in advertising revenue of both TV and digital platform.
Furthermore, the company said, “Viacom18 revenue grew 83% YoY led by sports and movies segments. Sports revenue growth was primarily driven by 13 IPL matches held during the quarter, as the tournament kicked off earlier this year.”
In FY24, the total loss of RIL’s media arm stood Rs 397 crore, compared to a smaller loss of Rs 16 crore the previous year. In Q4, the media business reported a loss of Rs 207 crore compared to a loss of Rs 35 crore in the same quarter last year. The loss in the third quarter was Rs 108 crore.
Meanwhile, the company stated that the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 began with a huge impact on JioCinema, registering over 50% increase in reach on the opening day of the season with 11.3 crore viewers. On the other hand, Women’s Premier League (WPL) saw 3x growth in watch-time with 70% higher reach compared to the first season.
