By BestMediaInfo Bureau

Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (ZEEL) on Thursday reported an increase of 8.92 per cent in its consolidated net profit to Rs 122.96 crore for the September quarter.

It had posted a net profit of Rs 112.89 crore in the July-September quarter a year ago, according to a regulatory filing.

Its total income was 23 per cent higher at Rs 2,509.57 crore in the second quarter of this fiscal in comparison with Rs 2,040.87 crore in the year-ago period.

This was led by a "strong performance in digital and healthy viewership gains in linear," an earnings statement from ZEEL said.

However, "YoY margins lower due to increase in content cost and investment in ZEE5," it said.

ZEEL's total expenses in the September quarter rose 23.02 per cent to Rs 2,205.67 crore.

Its revenue from advertisement fell 3.3 per cent to Rs 979.17 crore in the July-Septemer quarter of FY24.

"Some early pick up in Ad spending was witnessed led by FMCG during Q2, the overall pace of Ad environment recovery continues to be slow," ZEEL said, adding, "Ad revenue is also impacted by busy cricket season (Asia Cup, ICC World Cup)."

Subscription revenue was 8 per cent higher at Rs 887.83 crore in the September quarter.

This growth was "driven by pick up in linear subscription revenue post-NTO 3.0 & ZEE5".

Revenue from 'Other sales and Services' was over two-fold to Rs 570.79 crore in the September quarter

This increase was "aided by higher syndication and strong theatrical performance of movies," ZEEL said.

On its proposed merger with Culver Max (formerly Sony Picture India), the company said it is in the process of obtaining the balance regulatory approval, completion of conditions precedent and closing formalities for the merger to be effective.

Shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd on Thursday settled 1.15 per cent higher at Rs 262.80 apiece on the BSE.