Network18's digital content & e-com revenues slip 3.2% QoQ; HomeShop18 revenues up 210%, BookMyShow up 45% YoY

Network18 Media & Investments' digital content and e-commerce business saw Q1FY14 revenues increasing year on year even as they fell sequentially. Digital content and e-commerce business reported combined revenues of Rs 106.9 crore, a 174 percent per cent growth from the same period last year but a 3.2 per cent fall on a quarter-to-quarter basis.

The unit saw a slight improvement in operating margins from negative 44 per cent in the same period last year to negative 41 per cent in Q1FY14 even as they saw a major hit sequentially from negative 22 per cent during Q4FY13.

The company's digital content and e-commerce business includes a string of news sites, digital commerce properties BookMyShow.com and HomeShop18. The firm divested its entire stake in NewsWire18 during the last year and the wire service is no more a part of Network18.

Digital commerce

The digital commerce unit's revenues increased from Rs 81.9 crore in the last quarter to Rs 85.2 crore in Q1FY14. Revenues from BookMyShow.com grew 45 percent year-on-year, coming down from last year's 75 percent growth. Though Homesho18 was the major growth engine this year again with 210 percent revenue growth, its YoY growth also slipped from last year's 250 percent.

Digital content

Revenues from the digital content properties such as moneycontrol.com, in.com, ibnlive.com and firstpost.com stood at Rs 21.7 crore for the quarter, down from Rs 28.4 in the last quarter.

"Our digital content operations recorded a growth of around 30 percent year on year. All our content properties – moneycontrol.com, in.com, ibnlive.com and firstpost.com continued to innovate and maintain their market leadership positions," said a Network18 statement on Digital content business.

Parent

Network18 Media & Investments' consolidated revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 556.6 crore. Its net profit before tax was Rs 21.1 crore.