To relaunch digital platform soon; aim to enter markets like Punjab, Kerala: Zee Ent

Zee Entertainment posted its second quarter numbers today, the company got a boost from strong ad revenue and subscription revenue growth. The margins were also healthy at 31 percent.

Throwing more light on the numbers, Punit Goenka, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the company said it was a tough quarter due to GST but they were able to deliver good ad growth and will continue to do so going forward as well and get the growth back in mid-teens.

He is also confident of going back to double-digits ad revenue growth in coming quarters, on a like-to-like basis.

The company's consolidated profit grew by a whopping 147.8 percent year-on-year to Rs 590.80 crore, largely led by proceeds from sale of sports broadcasting business.

The growth in ad revenues and subscription aided margin growth, he said, adding that they would be able to maintain EBITDA margins above 30 percent for the full year.

He said the business is basically capex light and have only maintenance capex as an expense.

He said the international business is seeing some difficulty but some of those market do not have significant impact on their revenues because they are very small and South-Asian markets could remain flat but expect growth to return from non-South Asian businesses.

Talking about acquisitions, he said the 9X Media being a leader in the music genre will complement their movie and music publishing business.

On investment front, he said the priority is relaunch of our digital platform besides entry into some regional markets, where they are not present – Kerala, Punjab.