Print’s Q4 bears good news for ad revenue
In a digital age where screens dominate our lives, the print sector in India is experiencing an unexpected resurgence. Despite the rapid growth of online media, newspapers and magazines are capturing the attention of a new generation of readers. Publications like Hindustan Times, Dainik Bhaskar, and Jagran Prakashan registered substantial growth in the fourth quarter of 2023-2024 compared to the previous year’s similar quarter. DB Corp anticipated a positive outlook in their earnings call and stated, “Print Media has emerged stronger and more resilient in the current environment. And one of the key factors contributing to this steady performance is the unwavering support from major advertisers across various sectors like real estate, automobile, education, jewellery, government and health sector.” A Hindustan Times spokesperson said, “Reflecting on the past fiscal year, the Company saw revenue growth and marked improvement in operating profitability on the back of improved consumer spending and rising engagement. Cost rationalisation in primary input commodities i.e. newsprint, enhanced the profitability of our Print business, which saw steady revenue from both advertising and circulation.” Ad revenue Jagran Prakashan, which runs the national daily Dainik Jagran, reported advertisement revenues at Rs 373.19 crore. This is up by 16.2% from Rs 321.30 crore during last year, same quarter. ‘Dainik Jagran’, ‘Inext’ and ‘Punjabi Jagran’ have recorded better ad revenue growth led by increased government ads. As for Hindustan Times, ad revenues for the quarter grew by 9%. Piyush Gupta, Group Chief Financial Officer, HT shared in the earnings call, “If we break down the Print business in English and Hindi, in English our ad revenues are flat for the year with growth in key sectors like Industrial, BFSI, and IT, while Auto, Real Estate, and Retail remained subdued. Circulation revenue improved for the full year on the back of higher realisation per copy.” They added, “On Hindi, we saw double-digit growth in ad revenue for the quarter, with growth in most commercial sectors, except Retail and Auto. There was a decline in circulation revenue on a sequential and annual basis.” Dainik Bhaskar’s Q4 FY' 24, consolidated advertising revenue registered a growth of 25% Y-o-Y to Rs 445 crore against Rs 358 crore. Circulation revenues drop Jagran Prakashan’s circulation revenues dropped to Rs 85.85 crore as against Rs 92.38 crore in Q4’24. Similarly, circulation revenues for Hindustan Times were down by 6%. Dainik Bhaskar revealed that they closed on an average 41 lakhs circulation copies. And largely, they are trying their best to increase the circulation and their teams are working on it. They said that they are hopeful of targeting some growth this year. Girish Agarwal, Director of DB Corp stated offices and hotels have cut down the newspapers as a part of their cost-cutting exercise post-COVID. The publication is getting back to these two to see how they can start that again. He notes that another potential avenue is new nuclear families. Every year, people get married or branch out from their joint families and start living in the separate house, living in different houses, high-rise buildings. Since it's a new market, many vendors are not able to tap into it that quickly. "We are seeing how we can reach out to these markets also," said Agarwal. Pre-COVID, Dainik Bhaskar initiated many schemes for the circulation. However, post-COVID, since the print prices are very high, they decided against any kind of subsidised copy or schemes, unless it's 100% on their cover price. Digital Revenue wins The digital revenue for Jagran Prakashan stood at Rs 35.17 crore, up by 61.6% from Rs 21.78 crore in the previous year’s similar quarter. For Hindustan Times, the Digital segment recorded growth of 37%, where revenue tracked to Rs 43 crore on quarterly basis. The publication said, “In the Digital domain, our platforms Shine and OTTplay continued to expand, showing healthy revenue growth. Although investments in new business verticals moderated profitability for the year, we believe these to be critical for the future in an increasingly digital media landscape.” DB Corporation’s digital business registered a growth from 2 million in January 2020 to approximately 14 million in March 2024. “Dainik Bhaskar has continued its focus on building the best-in-class user experience on its digital app, while maintaining very high quality, insightful and engaging content for its readers. The omnichannel presence has been very important, and we see our digital presence as a strong supplementary pillar of growth for the future,” said Agarwal.
Tags : Print Ad Revenue Ht Media Group Newspapers Times Of India Group Dainik Bhaskar Circulation Revenue