ZEEL Q3 FY25 PAT up 207% at Rs 1,636 mn; Revenue sees 3% decline

Zee Entertainment Enterprises LTD (ZEEL) effectively navigated a weak festive season and continued softness in advertising environment in Q3 FY25 by focused execution. Operating revenue for the third quarter ended December 31, 2025 was reported at Rs 19,788 million, as compared to Rs 20,457 million in Q3 FY2024, a decline of 3% YoY.

Advertising revenue for the quarter improved by 4% QoQ, but declined by 8% YoY due to sluggish festive season. Sustained consumption slowdown is resulting in lower FMCG ad spending.

However, subscription revenue saw a YoY growth of 7%, driven by both linear subscription revenue and ZEE5.

ZEEL’s PAT from continuing operation for Q3 FY2025 jumped 207% YoY to Rs 1,636 million from Rs 533 million in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal.

EBITDA for the quarter came at Rs 3,184 million, with Q3 FY2025 EBITDA margin at 16.1%, up 590 bps YoY.

Analysing ZEEL’s latest quarter results, Motilal Oswal Financial Services stated that Zee Entertainment’s revenue continued the declining trend with a 3% YoY dip (-1% QoQ; 5% miss) due to continued softness in domestic advertising revenue (-11% YoY) and lower revenue from other sales and services (-57% YoY).

However, ZEE’s strong control over costs and a further reduction in ZEE5 losses led to a 1%/67% QoQ jump in EBITDA/adj. PAT (6%/30% beat).

Management indicated that advertising revenue pick-up in Sep’24 could not be sustained as the boost from the festive season was offset by a broad-based consumption slowdown, which led to lower ad spends from FMCG companies.

ZEE aspires to improve EBITDA margins to the 18-20% range by FY26. However, management indicated that growth recovery remains the key lever for further margin improvement.

Advertisement revenues declined 8% YoY to INR9b (+4% QoQ, 1% miss) as domestic Ad revenues declined ~11% YoY (vs. 8.5% YoY in 2Q) due to a sluggish festive season and sustained consumption slowdown resulting in lower FMCG ad spending.

Subscription revenue grew 7% YoY to INR9.8b (+1% QoQ, inline), with domestic subscription revenue rising ~8% YoY, driven by a pick-up in both linear subscriptions and ZEE5.

Revenues from other sales and services declined 59% YoY to INR557m due to no big-ticket movie releases and lower syndication revenue.

However, ZEE continued to exhibit good cost controls as total operating expenses declined further by 1% QoQ (-10% YoY) to INR16.6b (6% lower vs. estimates), mainly driven by controlled programming and content costs (-16% YoY; 770bp YoY decline).

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