Network18 Media & Investments on Tuesday reported 58.1 per cent year-on-year surge in its consolidated net profit to over Rs 61 crore during Q4FY22.

The media company reported a 14.6 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated revenue from operations to over Rs 1,621 crore.

News business (TV and digital) delivered a sharp improvement in annual profitability, while the entertainment business maintained strong margins despite a step-up in investments, IANS reported from New Delhi.

“FY22 was a remarkable year, not only from the perspective of numbers, but in terms of building a strong foundation on which the business can continue to grow for the foreseeable future,” said Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman, Network18, while announcing the results.

“The financial performance has vindicated our decision of investing in new businesses a few years ago which have started showing encouraging positive results. In a similar vein, we have set ourselves an ambitious target to become a leading player in the digital space while strengthening our core TV offering,” Zainulbhai added.

Meanwhile, TV18 Broadcast too announced its Q4 earnings on Tuesday, reporting a 13.4 per cent year-on-year fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 146 crore for the quarter ended March 31.

The broadcasting company’s consolidated revenue rose 11 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,496 crore during the quarter under review.

In late April, Reliance and Viacom18 had announced a strategic partnership with Bodhi Tree Systems — a platform of James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems and Uday Shankar — to form one of the largest TV and digital streaming companies in India.

In addition, the JioCinema OTT app (currently owned by another Reliance outfit) will be transferred to Viacom18.

Given the importance of distribution reach in a highly cluttered and competitive digital landscape, this partnership will allow Viacom18 to reach out to India’s largest mobile and broadband user base.

The investment will enable utilisation of a large smartphone and JioPhone user base for advertising and driving subscription revenue for premium contents.

“Ad revenues had a pulsating journey, with strong growth during the year bookended by events which impacted the growth. The year began with the second pandemic wave sweeping across the country, slowing down the growth momentum which had begun in the second half of the last fiscal,” the company said.

However, increasing inflation, further worsened by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, impacted consumer demand and consequently the advertising spends, it added.