NEW DELHI: Zee News may be lagging behind Aaj Tak, which seems to be living up to its image of 'subse tez' channel till now, but that has not stopped it from mopping up a neat pile of revenue.
 

"The channel would improve on its profitability and is likely to end the current financial year with ad sales revenue of slightly over Rs 800 million," Zee Telefilms news director Laxmi N Goel told indiantelevision.com today.

The total advertising revenue for Zee Telefilms was Rs 1,458 million for the second quarter ended 30 September, higher by 2.4 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last fiscal.

If the subscription revenue accruing to Zee News were added to the ad revenue in March, then the total mop up during 2003-04 would make the top management of the Subhash Chandra promoted Zee Telefilms smile.

During 2002-03, Zee News' ad sales amounted to approximately Rs 620 million.

As per information available with indiantelevision.com, Zee News' monthly subscription revenue in the current financial year has crossed Rs 15 million and is nearly touching Rs 17 million.

Even if we calculate the likely subscription revenue for Zee News based on the lower figure, then also the mop up would add up to another Rs 180 million.

At the end of the second quarter this financial year, the total subscription revenue of Zee Telefilms stood at Rs 1,489 million, an increase of 22.9 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last fiscal. The domestic subscription revenue was Rs 538 million for the second quarter, signifying an increase of 45.8 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last fiscal.

"Not only the ad revenue accruing to the company from Zee News has gone up, but the subscription revenue too has increased,'' Goel said, adding that improved content on the news channel has helped, reflecting positively on the bottomlines.

However, it may not be just Laxmi Goel and team's doing where increasing subscription revenue is concerned.

In the last one year, another brother of Laxmi Goel, Jawahar Goel, who heads Zee's cable arm Siti cable, too has been aggressive by increasing Siti Cable's reach, which, according to information available, now services close to 8 million cable homes all over the country.

Zee's pay bouquet comprises 15 channels, including 11 channels of Zee, three channels of Turner (CNN, Cartoon Network and Pogo), CNBC and Reality TV channel.