Direct-to-home firm DishTV India has reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 2.85 crore in the third quarter that ended December 2022, mainly due to a decline in revenue and promotion of its OTT platform.
The company had reported a net profit of Rs 80.21 crore in the October-December quarter a year ago, DishTV said in a BSE filing.
Its revenue from the operation fell 22.31 per cent to Rs 552.09 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs 710.67 crore of the corresponding quarter a year ago.
Also Read: Dish TV shareholders vote against adoption of financial statements for FY21, FY22
“Challenges like low average revenues per user (ARPU) resulting from loss of revenues due to delayed and missing recharges impacted company revenues as offerings from free DTH and OTT remained alternatives for video watchers in the bottom and upper end of the pyramid respectively,” said an earnings statement from DishTV.
DishTV’s total expenses stood at Rs 567.16 crore, down 6.49 per cent in the third quarter of FY23, as against Rs 606.56 crore in the corresponding quarter.
“The promotion of the OTT aggregation platform launched during the period had an impact on the EBITDA margin for the quarter which came at 47.4 per cent. Net loss for the period was Rs 2.8 crore,” said DishTV.
During the quarter DishTV’s subscription revenues were at Rs 427.4 crore, down 33.82 per cent, as against Rs 645.9 crore in the third quarter of FY22.
Its subscription revenues had contributed 77.4 per cent of its total revenue in Q3/FY23, lower than 90.9 per cent of the October-December quarter a year ago.
DishTV’s advertisement revenue was at Rs 8.5 crore, down 24.77 per cent, as against Rs 11.3 crore.
However, its revenue from ‘marketing and promotional fees’ was up over two folds to Rs 100.2 crore from Rs 38.6 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.
Also Read: FM Sitharaman on Adani row: Regulators very experienced; seized of the matter
According to DishTV, the third quarter is traditionally a period of higher consumer spending due to festivals and related celebrations.
“A strong festival season aided subscriber additions which ultimately led to higher net adds during the quarter. However, fresh additions were lukewarm in rural India. Erratic rainfall in the third quarter did not help the already fragile rural sentiment resulting in rural consumers continuing to maintain spending cautiously,” it said.
According to DishTV, popularity of OTT video platforms, with personal viewing content, remained high as compared to platforms with family content.
“However, growing consumption of content on OTT may have a direct impact on data prices in future. In fact, rising data costs are already a hot topic of discussion in the country,” it said.
Over the outlook, DishTV said it is “hopeful of an overall recovery in rural and urban consumer spending” driven primarily by the impetus to increased disposable income in the hands of the consuming class in the recently announced Union Budget.