12 highlights
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There’s no denying that in terms of both its top line and its channels’ ratings, NDTV is middle of the pack at best.
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But the company’s stock price has doubled in the past 12 months, from hovering around Rs 36 in August last year to closing at Rs 74.75 on 24 August. In the same period, Network18’s shares are up about 21%, while TV Today Network’s stock has risen about 27%. The benchmark Sensex has gone up about 45%.
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Because till not so long ago it didn’t seem like NDTV would survive its losses and the burden of debt on its books. That, plus the ire of a government which has long considered NDTV as an antagonistic media brand to be reined in. So, NDTV should have been dead by now, but it isn’t.
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However, one look at its financials tells you that NDTV has been doing a good job of cleaning up its mess. This includes repaying some of its debt, and it looks like the public markets have rewarded the company for that.
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What has largely happened in these two years is that NDTV has been discreetly and slowly letting go of its television identity; the company seems to have stopped making any significant investments in its TV division.
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Ownership of TV news is more about exercising power and influence and less about building sustainable businesses. It seems that sometime in 2019, NDTV made peace with the fact that it was done with television.
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To compensate, the company is focusing all its energies on becoming a digital news outlet.
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A comparison between the reach of NDTV and some of its peers further explains the difference in NDTV’s television strategy.
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NDTV’s online news division is housed in a subsidiary called NDTV Convergence, the subsidiary that primarily runs the online news product ndtv.com. The vertical has been around since 2006, “before anyone else even started looking at the web seriously”, says the rival executive. And that is one of the biggest reasons for its success.
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In that context, NDTV’s digital business is really an anomaly. None of India’s traditional news businesses have been able to make a transition to digital, leave alone a strong one.
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For instance, India Today has a set of niche digital channels, from food and fitness to astrology and sports. To help the overall online distribution, the companies have also been partnering with multiple video streaming platforms in a bid to reach a wider audience; monetization though has been tough to crack.
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None of this, though, is to suggest that NDTV’s troubles are behind the company. Far from it. If history has taught us anything, it is that nothing for certain can ever be said about NDTV.