TV Today Network Ltd Q1 FY26 – Aaj Tak’s TRPs Are Fine, But Profits Are Breaking News for All the Wrong Reasons
1. At a Glance
TV Today Network (TVTN), the India Today Group’s broadcasting arm, trades at ₹146 with a market cap of ₹870 Cr, after a 38% one-year nosedive. EPS is ₹5.11 (P/E 26.7), ROE is a fragile 8.4%, and OPM a thin 3.7%. Quarterly sales fell 36% YoY, and PAT collapsed by 86%. The company has more YouTube subscribers than India has patience for Arnab Goswami, but monetisation is still limping. Dividend yield is 2.06%, so at least they pay you some paisa for watching the circus.
2. Introduction
Imagine being the undisputed king of Hindi news on YouTube, yet struggling to make profits on your TV channels. That’s TV Today in 2025. Aaj Tak has 72 million subscribers (world’s most followed news channel on YouTube), The Lallantop is the go-to for desi satire, and India Today TV pretends to fight the English-language battle against NDTV, CNN-News18, and Times Now.
But while the TRPs and YouTube subs scream “rockstar,” the P&L statement whispers “bhookha artist.” Operating margins have fallen from a respectable 25% (2017–2020) to a skeletal 3–4% today. Meanwhile, the company is spending ₹200 Cr on a shiny new Noida property and another ₹200 Cr to acquire Romesh Films, even as its core business bleeds.
Question for you: Is TV Today a media powerhouse in digital disguise, or a legacy broadcaster stuck in the past?
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
TV Today’s business has three pillars:
Television Broadcasting:
Hindi: Aaj Tak, Aaj Tak HD, Good News Today.
English: India Today TV.
Digital & Social Media:
30+ Tak-branded channels across genres and languages.
Lallantop (33M YouTube subs) and Aaj Tak Digital (72M subs).
Radio (Exiting): Ishq 104.8 FM in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata – but this loss-making arm is being offloaded to Manoranjan TV (deal still hanging).
Revenue mix FY24: 84% ad income, 10% subscription, 3% other. Translation: They live and die by advertising budgets. One slowdown, and the company looks like Doordarshan in 2002.
4. Financials Overview
Source table
Metric
Q1 FY26
Q1 FY25
Q4 FY25
YoY %
QoQ %
Revenue
₹197 Cr
₹309 Cr
₹249 Cr
-36.2%
-20.9%
EBITDA
₹7.5 Cr
₹71.8 Cr
₹4.3 Cr
-89.5%
+75.6%
PAT
₹7.4 Cr
₹51.4 Cr
₹6.1 Cr
-85.6%
+20.8%
EPS (₹)
1.23
8.61
1.03
-85.7%
+19.4%
Annualised EPS = ₹4.9 → P/E ~30×. Comment: From TRP king to margin pauper.
