Times Internet Posts 24% Jump In FY20 Revenue, Crosses 557 Mn MAU

The digital arm of Times Group – Times Internet – has posted an increase of 24% in its total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2020. The company has recorded a total revenue of INR 1625 Cr as compared to INR 1526.51 Cr in FY2019.

Times Internet is part of the Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited, which owns Times of India, Economic Times, sports portal Cricbuzz, Indiatimes, Gaana, MX Player, personal finance ETMoney, real estate company Magicbricks, edtech Gradeup, food delivery platform Dineout among others. 

The company said in its annual report that it crossed 110 Mn daily active users and 557 Mn monthly active users. Also, it has crossed 67 Bn monthly page views, up from 47 Bn.  Two products from the Times Internet stable, Gaana and MXPlayer were the fastest growing product, with over 75% user growth.

Besides its news platforms growing 31%, the company said across its content verticals, non-English audience growth outpacing English growth by an average 4:1 ratio. The company said that its music and video platform propelled its advertising revenue by 22% and its subscriptions for Times Prime grew 62%.

The company did not reveal how much revenue it clocked from subscriptions, but said it had over 2 million paying subscribers and its transacting businesses grew 68%.

The company said that despite a steep revenue fall from March through June, it recovered with positive growth in July, and ended August back in positive growth territory for the fiscal year as a whole.

Two years after its acquisition of MX Player, Times Internet said that the video streaming platform now has 200 million monthly users, making it the largest premium video destination in India.

Times Internet had acquired a majority stake in Gangnam (Seoul)-based MX Player for about $200 Mn.

Besides India, MX Player is also popular in other countries including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Iran, among others. While in India, it ranks among the top 10 apps on Google Play Store, it is also reportedly among the top 20 most used apps in the above-mentioned countries.

MX Takatak, launched just 45 days ago, is already seeing hundreds of millions of daily streams, and is poised to grow well in the year ahead, the company said.

Google reached 98% of the digital population in India on web (desktop as well as mobile) in the month of June. During the same month, Facebook reached 94.9% of the population, Times Internet 77.7% and Amazon settled at fourth place with 76%, the Comscore data showed.

Times Internet said that MensXP has 30 Mn monthly users, launched MensXP Mud, the industry’s first natural, men’s beauty brand, with products ranging from BB cream to shaving. It has disrupted its category, selling over 25,000 orders in February (just before COVID).

“It requires us to build dynamically and ambitiously, because anything less means someone bolder will take your place. Our aspiration is to reach 1 Bn Indians, and become a $1 Bn revenue company by 2025, and we’ve built the foundation to help us get there,” the company said in a release.

Times Internet has also launched the M360 platform that will help Indian publishers navigate a dynamic digital media landscape with an end-to-end solution. Its Content Management System is integrated with Google AMP, Facebook IA, Apple News.