New tariff order negatively impacted viewership: Zee

Mumbai, July 23 (IANS) The new tariff order implemented in the previous quarter has negatively impacted reach and viewership of most entertainment channels, Zee Entertainment said on Tuesday.

Zee said that the ad revenue growth was slower in the June quarter as the implementation of the tariff order was underway during the period. The tariff order from telecom regulatory body TRAI has affected reach and viewership of all entertainment networks, it added.

"Due to this uncertainty, some of the brands moved a part of their advertising spends temporarily to sports channels airing cricket events which promised a higher reach. As the impact of tariff order normalizes and the festive season begins, the advertising growth is expected to return to its normal trajectory," the company said.

Zee Entertainment reported a 63 per cent rise in profit in the June quarter at Rs 5,29.76 crore from 3,25.58 crore in the comparable period last year.

The company's domestic advertising growth of 4.2 per cent YoY was considerably lower than the growth in past quarters, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd MD and CEO Punit Goenka said, adding this is primarily on account of the decision to convert two of their leading free-to-air channels to pay, which significantly impacted the ad growth for the quarter.

The TRAI's new broadcast tariff regulation that lets viewers pay only for the TV channels they want came into force earlier this year and all distributors, operators and subscribers had to get on to the new norms by March 31.

With the new norms coming in and viewers having the right to choose their preferred channels along with higher prices of the channels on a la carte basis, the viewership and subscription of several channels must have taken a dip.