India’s Zee Entertainment reported an 85 percent jump in fourth-quarter profit yesterday, as higher subscriptions and more film releases offset weak advertising demand.

Zee, which owns TV channels, produces movies and runs an online streaming platform Zee5, reported an 85 percent surge in consolidated pre-tax profit to Rs. 2.62 billion ($30.65 million) for the three months ended March 31, from Rs.1.42 billion last year, a Reuters report stated.

Subscription revenue rose 3.9 percent, helped by revenue growth from its TV channels and Zee5 streaming platform.

Overall revenue rose 1.6 percent to Rs. 22.2 billion, while other sales revenue grew over three-fold, boosted by an increase in the number of movie releases during the quarter and higher syndication income from selling content rights.

However, advertising revenue came in 25 percent below last year, marking its tenth decline in the past eleven quarters, hurt by a weak advertising environment.

A shift in advertising budgets to sports media platforms on account of the cricket events like the Champions Trophy and Indian Premier League and muted ad demand from consumer goods-makers, likely hurt non-sports broadcasters during the quarter, analysts said.

The broadcaster has been, of late, focusing on improving its subscriptions and other sales revenue, cutting costs and reducing losses as a sustainable recovery in advertising – typically the biggest contributor to revenue – remains elusive, the Reuters report added.

Zee‘s cost cutting and frugality measures, helped reduce its expenses by 4.2 percent, pushing up its core profit margin to 13.1 percent, compared to 9.7 percent last year. It aims to reach a margin of 18 percent-20 percent by fiscal year 2026.