Star, Viacom merger will change nothing for us: Punit Goenka, ZEEL

After two years of anticipation surrounding the Zee-Sony merger, which began with optimism but ultimately collapsed, the media industry is now gearing up for the $8.5 billion merger between Viacom18 and Disney+ Star. However, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL) remains unfazed. "This merger changes nothing for us," said Punit Goenka, MD and CEO of ZEEL, during the Q2 FY25 earnings call.

In the earnings call of Q2 FY25, Punit Goenka, MD and CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd shared how they view competitive dynamics in the current market scenario. 

He explained, “As you will agree, we competed with both Disney-Star and Viacom independently. With them coming together, nothing much changes except that they may have a little bit more leverage on the advertising dollars that they can command, even though they may have a significantly higher market share.” 

On the subscription side, it is regulated, so there is nothing that is going to change from that perspective, as per Goenka.

He is further of the opinion that on the digital side, their competition’s entire strategy is sports focused, whereas Zee’s strategy is completely entertainment focused. 

“And therefore, I do not think that we are really competing in that space or that segment, because as I have maintained multiple times that we are not going to enter the sports business very aggressively,” he mentioned.

In February 2024, Walt Disney and Reliance Industries (RIL) announced a merger of their media operations, combining Star India and Viacom18 to create India's largest media company. 

Meanwhile, ZEEL reported a remarkable 70% year-on-year increase in its consolidated net profit, totalling Rs 209 crore for the quarter ending September 2025, up from Rs 123 crore in the same quarter last year.

However, the company faced a 19% decline in total revenue, which reached Rs 2,034 crore during the reporting period, down from Rs 2,516 crore in Q2 FY24. 

The company's advertising revenue fell by 8% from Rs 979.2 crore in Q2 FY24 to Rs 901.7 crore in Q2 FY25. On a more positive note, subscription revenue increased by 9% to Rs 970 crore this quarter, compared to Rs 888 crore in the same period last fiscal year. 

However, income from other sales and services experienced a sharp decline of 77%, dropping from Rs 570.8 crore in Q2 FY24 to just Rs 129.1 crore in Q2 FY25.