ZEE dethrones Times Group as India’s largest media group

ZEE has dethroned the long running, Times Group as India’s largest media group.

The list released by Business Standard India has put ZEE ahead of its rivals, with the Times Group second and the likes of Star India, Network18 and Sony Entertainment Television following behind.

According to the publisher, the listing was a difficult exercise because some of the largest firms in the Rs 80,000-crore Indian media and entertainment (M&E) business are unlisted and very closely held. Nevertheless, the list has been put together using a combination of help from within these companies, Media Partners Asia’s estimates, CRISIL’s credit rating notes and Capitaline.

Business Standard also states that some large groups such as ABP are missing. In many cases, partial numbers have been used ��� for example, only two companies from Reliance’s media business are listed. Also, since operating profit numbers are not available for all companies, those have not been included in the analysis.

The report indicates that once Star TV’s acquisition of ESPN-Star Sports is complete, it should hit at least Rs 6,000 crore in the top line, to share the number one position with ZEE. Note ‘television’ includes firms which distribute TV signals such as Tata-Sky and Dish TV (part of ZEE). The Times is the only print media firm in the top five, dominated by electronic media firms and one telecom company (telco), Bharti Airtel.