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Business Standard

Balaji Telefilms expects stronger FY26 as digital and film units grow

Balaji Telefilms, backed by actor Jeetendra Kapoor and his family, expects the financial year 2025–26 (FY26) to be better than FY25 in terms of business and profitability. From FY27, the company anticipates reaping the benefits of its scaled movie business, digital segment growth, and realisation of its digital content order book, alongside a steady television business. Sanjay Diwedi, group chief executive officer and chief financial officer, Balaji Telefilms, said the growth expectation in FY26 is ₹250 crore for the TV segment, over ₹100 crore for the motion picture segment, and around ₹50–55 crore for the digital segment. Additionally, the B2B (business-to-business) part of the digital segment, which has an order book of over ₹350 crore, will contribute depending on its release schedule over the next two financial years. Given the growing prominence of the digital segment due to OTT (over-the-top) platforms, Diwedi noted that the TV segment will continue to grow from ₹250 crore to ₹300 crore. However, the company's motion pictures and digital segments are expected to outgrow television soon. He explained that the TV business was under stress in the last six months of FY25, and this weakness is expected to continue in the April–June quarter of FY26, due to several long-running shows ending or nearing their end during this period. Currently, Balaji Telefilms has two shows on air, and Diwedi expects this segment to return to normal from the July–September quarter onwards. He pointed out that some improvement will be seen in the numbers from the April–June quarter of FY26. Till the quarter ended December, all six of its shows were on air. In the first nine months of FY25, revenue from the TV business stood at ₹194.2 crore, according to its earnings release. The company has not released the Q4FY25 results yet due to the merger of its subsidiaries, ALT Digital Media Entertainment and Marinating Films, with Balaji Telefilms. 'It is a cyclical phase. This largely happens in the TV business every four to five years, as it takes time to relaunch shows or return to the normal six shows on air,' Diwedi noted. To strengthen its digital segment, the company recently entered a long-term creative collaboration with Netflix for a range of projects across different storytelling formats. Separately, Balaji Telefilms is looking to diversify its digital business unit in the coming years. This follows the ban on several Pakistani dramas in India, which originally featured over 50 episodes per show on YouTube. Nitin Burman, chief revenue officer, Balaji Telefilms, said the company has started producing original and long-format shows on YouTube, taking advantage of the void left by the removal of Pakistani dramas. Its show Pyaar Kii Raahein, which has 70 episodes, garnered over 200 million views on the platform. 'The company is taking its YouTube business ahead with a clear focus on maximising returns,' Burman said. Its OTT streaming platform, ALTT, had faced losses ranging from ₹145 crore to ₹125 crore in earlier years. Now, the platform has nearly eliminated those losses. Diwedi added that the digital segment has minimal cash burn, with the goal of becoming cash-positive and scaling gradually in the coming years. However, he noted that it is still early—by about six months—for the company to decide which particular digital business segment to push further. Through its motion pictures segment, the company also plans to expand its existing IPs (intellectual property) with films such as Laila Manju (which performed better at the box office during its re-release), Ragini MMS, and Shootout at Wadala, among others.