Network18’s TV news business has registered a 26 percent revenue growth in the first quarter of the current financial year, despite continued weakness in the overall advertising environment.

It registered a revenue of Rs 337 crore in the first quarter of current fiscal, as compared to Rs 266 crore for the same period last fiscal.

The growth is despite a 5 percent YoY decline in news industry inventory consumption, the media company said in a press release yesterday.

News18 was able to drive growth powered by the increase in viewership shares and a strong focus on IP-events led advertising revenue. Viewership gains in key markets over the last few quarters have enabled the network to push up pricing, helping the revenue growth.

“The network’s revenue during the quarter was up 26 percent YoY, driven by the strong growth in advertising revenue. Ad revenue growth was underpinned by the strong viewership gains that the network has achieved over the last year which has helped improve pricing of certain channels. Network advertising inventory increased while the genre declined. The network also saw a strong traction in monetisation of IP-led events,” the company said.

TV18 News network continues to strengthen its position, crossing 12 percent all-India viewership share in the news genre. The network maintains its leadership position in key markets with News18 India, CNN News18 and CNBC TV18 leading the viewership charts in respective genres.

News18 regional channels are number one in five key markets, including UP/Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, MP/Chhatisgarh, making the news network top choice of viewers in the Hindi speaking markets, the company stated.

With 20 domestic channels, TV18 is the biggest news network in India with highest weekly reach and widest presence across Indian languages. The news network reaches 180 million consumers on a weekly basis.

Both its national news channels — News18 India and CNN News18 —continue to be the leaders in their respective markets.

News18 India commands 15.6 percent viewership share in the Hindi genre as well as the top position in evening primetime. CNN News18 is the number one English news channel with 33.4 percent market share in the genre.

CNBC TV18 continues to be the undisputed leader in the English business news genre with 80+ percent overall share and 90+ percent viewership share during the market hours, Network said in the press release.