Indian broadcaster Zee’s quarterly revenue falls on advertising woes

India’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises reported a 14% drop in first-quarter revenue on Tuesday, as the broadcaster was hurt by weak spending by companies on advertisements.

Zee, which runs channels like ZeeTV and ZeeCinema, reported consolidated total income of 18.5 billion rupees ($214.24 million) for the three months ended June 30, compared with 21.5 billion rupees a year ago.

Shares of the company closed 5.7% lower after the announcement of the results.

Zee’s revenue from advertising — which accounts for nearly 40% of the total — was 16.8% below last year, marking its eleventh decline in the past twelve quarters.

Advertisements are generally the biggest source of revenue for media companies including broadcasters.

A shift in advertisement budgets to sports media platforms on account of cricket’s lucrative Indian Premier League, coupled with subdued ad volume demand and the absence of last year’s election-related spending, likely weighed on non-sports broadcasters during the quarter, analysts said.

India’s Zee fundraising fails as shareholders block founding family from raising stake

Earlier this month, these factors led Reliance Group-backed Network18 Media - which owns news and entertainment channels - post a fall in quarterly revenue.

Zee’s revenue from other sales reduced by a 63%, while its subscription revenue remained flat.

Meanwhile, the broadcaster’s cost-cutting and frugality measures helped reduce its expenses by 15%.

Zee’s net profit rose 21.7%, led by lower costs and a one-off loss in the year-ago period.

Core losses in Zee’s streaming service, Zee5, narrowed 63%, while revenue rose 29.6%, boosted by new content releases on the platform.