With digital media taking away a major chunk of ad revenue, the major Indian newspapers struggle to maintain their growth.
HT Media
The net consolidated income for Q2 of FY 19-20 of HT Media, the English daily, news website and radio business of the New Delhi headquartered group, declined from Rs. 540.21 crores in Q1 to Rs. 520.52 in Q2, a drop of 3%.
The company recovered its losses from the previous quarter from Rs. 148 crores to Rs 21 crores but still did not make any profits.
Hindustan Media Ventures
Hindustan Media Ventures, a sister company of HT Media Group that prints English dailies – Hindustan Times and Mint, experienced a 12% drop in consolidated income to Rs. 192.74 crores in Q2 FY 19-20 from Rs. 217.94 crores in Q1.
The company’s profits took a dive from Rs. 20.57 crores in Q2 from Rs. 39.67 crores in Q1.
Jagran Prakashan
The total consolidated income for Q2 of Jagran Prakashan Limited, a Hindi daily with 12 print titles in 5 languages and 100 editions, radio business, and 5 digital brands, was Rs. 514.50 crores as on 20 September 2019, which is almost 12% lesser than the last quarter, Rs 584.28 crores. The total revenue of the Q2 of FY19-20 can be broken down as 80% print, 12% radio, 2% digital, and 8% events and outdoor activities. However, the net profit for Q2 was Rs. 125.91 crores – highest as of yet in FY19-20.
The total ad revenue suffered a loss of 3% in Q2 FY20 in comparison to Q2 FY 19 from Rs 311 crores to Rs. 301 crores. Jagran also experienced a decline in ads from the auto category, which was lower than Q1 FY20 and reduction in prices of newsprint, which will get fully reflected in H2 FY20. In terms of digital, revenue remained flat for print digital at Rs 21 crores in H1 FY20.
