ZEEL banks on linear TV for retail ad growth, holds 8% FY26 ad growth target

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) is expanding its focus on retail advertisers, leveraging both its linear television and digital platforms. During the Quarter 1 earning call of the company, ZEEL MD & CEO Punit Goenka emphasized that the focus on retail advertisers is not limited to linearTV. “I never suggested for a minute that this is only for linear TV. It is for both the digital markets and linear business,” he said.

Goenka responded to questions about the value proposition of linear TV for local retailers—especially when digital platforms offer region-specific ad targeting. Goenka argued that while digital is effective for transactional advertising, ZEEL’s strength lies in brand building, particularly in regional markets.

“Given that we are operating in 12 different languages in this country, we are very well poised to give an opportunity for these advertisers to come on board and build brands,” he said. “What they are doing on the likes of the digital platforms that you mentioned is purely transactional. And what we offer as a linear platform is more of brand building.”

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Further, Goenka expressed optimism about a recovery in advertising revenue, backed by positive monsoon trends and growing consumption. He said the network is maintaining its earlier guidance of 8% growth in advertising revenue for FY25, despite current market uncertainties.

"Given the monsoon and other things, the consumption is looking very positive and therefore we are cautiously optimistic on advertising revenue coming back," Goenka said. "But right now, it's still very early days for us to comment and give you any outlook on that… We are not withdrawing or changing our guidance."

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Vikas Somani, Chief of Strategy, M&A, Business Development & Investor Relations, echoed a measured optimism, noting that all new initiatives will start showing results in the latter half of the fiscal. “All our new initiatives --whether it's attracting retail advertisers or in-content brand integrations--will start having an impact only in the second half,” he said. “Structurally, this year is a bit back-ended, and our business plan is built around that," he added.

While both executives acknowledged that FMCG players have signaled a pickup in volumes, they remain cautious about near-term gains. “Hopefully, that gets translated into numbers,” Somani said. “But we are still not setting our expectations high. We are just holding back and watching right now.”

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Goenka also highlighted efforts to diversify the advertiser base by targeting brands not traditionally seen on television. “The new initiatives we are trying to build around retail and attracting advertisers currently active on other media will begin to pay off in the second half.

Zee Entertainment on Tuesday announced its first-quarter earnings for the fiscal year 2026. The media company posted a 21.7% increase in profit in Q1 FY26, while the advertisement revenue saw a slump of 16.7% year-on-year. The drop marks a nearly 17% year-on-year decline and a 9.4% quarter-on-quarter decline.

The ad revenue of the company declined to Rs 758.5 crore in the quarter ended on June 30, 2025, compared to Rs 911 crore in the same duration last fiscal. The domestic advertising revenue declined by 19% YoY. ZEEL attributed the decline to the extended sports calendar and the slowdown in FMCG spending.