ZEEL shares fell to a day’s low of Rs 90 after its June quarter net profit dropped 48% year on year to Rs 74.3 crore.

The steep fall in profit overshadowed what was otherwise a decent quarter for revenue.

Here’s the breakdown. Total income actually rose 4.8% to Rs 1,938.5 crore, but expenses grew faster, climbing 12.8% to Rs 1,864.4 crore.

That gap hit profitability hard. EBITDA slumped around 65% to Rs 78.9 crore, and the EBITDA margin shrank to just 4.1%.

The company attributed this to a tough advertising environment, higher programming costs linked to the FIFA rights acquisition, and heavier marketing spends around the launch of new sports channels.

Breaking it down further, advertising revenue fell 11.5% to Rs 671.4 crore compared to Rs 758.5 crore a year ago, largely due to the Middle East conflict weighing on ad budgets.

Subscription revenue, on the other hand, was a bright spot, growing nearly 16% to Rs 1,136.9 crore on the back of higher linear pricing and digital subscriber growth.

Advertisement and promotional spends jumped 62% because of FIFA 2026 marketing costs alone. There’s a longer term angle here too.

ZEEL holds an 8 year media rights partnership with FIFA running from 2026 to 2034, giving it exclusive TV and digital broadcasting rights across India and the subcontinent for 39 major FIFA events.

Separately, the company also completed a slump sale of its content licensing business to its wholly owned subsidiary, ZI-IPR Enterprises, transferring net assets worth Rs 490.2 crore effective April 1, 2026.

As of 11:33 am, ZEEL was trading at Rs 92.85 on the NSE, down 1.66% for the day.

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