As per the company’s filing with the registrar of companies, Novi Digital’s net loss for the fiscal was at Rs 361.8 crore, down from a net loss of Rs 554.38 crore in FY19.
Total income was up to Rs 1,628 crore, compared to Rs 1,123 crore in the previous fiscal. Total expenses, meanwhile, was up 18.6% to Rs 1,990 crore, as against Rs 1,677 crore a year ago.
Disney+Hotstar, which follows a hybrid model in India – with both advertising as well as subscription video-on-demand (VOD) service – witnessed a 56% increase in ad revenues and 32.6% jump in subscription revenues.
Ad revenue stood at Rs 974.23 crore in FY20, up from Rs 622.75 crore in the previous fiscal, while subscription revenue went up to Rs 618.79 crore, from Rs 466.64 crore in FY19.
The company’s license fee payment was up 46% to Rs 722.53 crore, from Rs 493.84 crore in the previous fiscal.
The biggest jump in the expenses was in the rights of programme costs, which went up by 79.4% to Rs 328.65 crore, from Rs 183.22 crore in the previous fiscal.
The company cut down spends on advertising and promotions to Rs 286 crore, from Rs 402.5 crore in the previous fiscal.
Disney+ Hotstar has a paid subscriber base of over 26 million as of December last year. The company offers two annual subscription plans – Rs 399 (VIP) and Rs 1,499 (Premium).
According to sources, less than 15% of paid subscribers have opted for the Premium plan.
Overall, the company claims that the OTT app has been downloaded by over 400 million Indians and the company has claimed over 300 million monthly active users.
