Tips Music Limited (TIPSMUSIC.NS) Q3 FY2026 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q3 FY '26 Earnings Conference Call of Tips Music Limited. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Ayushi Gupta from MUFG Intime Private Limited. Thank you, and over to you, Ms. Gupta.

Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to the Q3 and 9 Months FY '26 Earnings Conference Call of Tips Music Limited. To discuss this quarter's performance, we have from the management, Mr. Kumar Taurani, Chairman and Managing Director; Mr. Girish Taurani, Executive Director; Mr. Hari Nair, Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Sushant Dalmia, Chief Financial Officer. Before we proceed with the call, I would like to mention that some of the statements made in today's call may be forward-looking in nature and may involve risks and uncertainties. For more details, kindly refer to the investor presentation and other filings that can be found on the company's website. Without further ado, I would like to hand over the call to the management for their opening remarks, and then we can open the floor for Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Happy New Year. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Q3 and 9 months FY '26 earnings call of Tips Music Limited. We truly appreciate your time and continued support. We are experiencing strong momentum of our content usage across all platforms. These encouraging trends support our 20% revenue growth guidance and allow us to upwardly revise our PAT growth guidance to 25% for this year from 20% earlier. With these results, the Board has approved a dividend of INR 5 per share amounting to INR 63.91 crores with a total payout of INR 166.18 crores in this year. With this, the company has fulfilled its commitment to return 100% of last year's PAT to shareholders. With that, I would now like to invite our CEO, Mr. Hari Nair, who will provide more details on our business. Hari over to you.

Thank you, sir. I wish everyone a happy New Year. Our cumulative YouTube channel subscriber base has grown significantly to 145.3 million. Due to virality of few catalog tracks on Instagram, we saw 100x spike in content creation, views and streams on respective platforms. We are happy to announce our partnership with B4U TV as our broadcast partner, enabling wider reach to our rich catalog among television audiences globally. I'll now request Girish to share insights on the content business across platforms. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you, Hari. Good evening, everyone. Wish you all a very happy new year. I'm excited to share some key highlights from the quarter. Our music content portfolio expanded by 108 new releases this quarter, comprising of 70 films and 38 non-film tracks. On YouTube, the performance was headlined by a new track from the -- -- film Soulmates, titled Sheher Ghumawa and also Halki Halki Nami by B. Praak, amassing a total of 7.1 million and 6. 2 million YouTube views, respectively. Our catalog also maintained a significant momentum on Instagram. Soldier Soldier Meethi Baaten Bolkar from the film Soldier generated 2.7 billion views, while Tere Liye from the film Bas Ek Pal -- sorry from Prince reached 2.1 billion views -- creations this quarter. Meri Kahani, which was from an album from Atif Aslam's song became the personal anthem for many to express their young version versus today. It was used by our MD, Mr. Kumar Taurani, Virat Kohli, Ajay Devgn and many more on Instagram. Furthermore, as Instagram celebrated its 15th anniversary, we are extremely honored that Jeene Laga Hoon from the film Ramaiya Vastavaiya was recognized as the only Indian song in the top 10 most liked songs globally in the platform's history by an independent journalist. I will now be handing over the call to Sushant to take you through the financial performance in detail. Thank you, everybody.

Thank you, Girish. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Q3 FY '26 earnings call. Let me walk you through the financial highlights for the quarter. Our revenue for the quarter stood at INR 94.29 crores compared to INR 77.7 crores in Q3 FY '25, reflecting a Y-o-Y growth of 21%. Operating EBITDA for the quarter was INR 74.5 crores versus INR 55.6 crores in Q3 FY '25. That is a growth of 34%. Operating EBITDA margins came in at 79% versus 72%. Employee expenses reflect a onetime impact of INR 96.7 lakh related to the implementation of the new labor code. Profit after tax for Q3 FY '26 stood at INR 58.7 crores compared to INR 44.2 crores in Q3 FY '25, showing a healthy growth of 33%. PAT margin for the quarter was 62%. For the 9-month period FY '26, revenue was INR 271 crores compared to INR 232 crores in the same period last year. That is a growth of 17%. PAT for 9 months stood at INR 157.5 crores versus INR 136 crores previously, which is a growth of 16%. With this, I conclude my opening remarks and open the floor for Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Kavish Parekh from B&K Securities.

Sir, your growth aspiration for the full year spread about 20-odd percent. Now that implies an ask rate of about 28%, 29% for the fourth quarter. Is it fair to assume that the full year will end up somewhere around 18%, 19% -- because I think the fourth quarter and even the third quarter did not really have any major Hindi reasons. So do we expect to end the year somewhere around 18%, 19-odd percent or you still are confident of driving this 20% growth for the full fiscal year?

See as of now, I'm not changing this. I think we will achieve this 20%, and we are very positive. Even this quarter has responded well. YouTube, Spotify we are doing well. So I feel 20% for yearly guidance just maintain. We can achieve this, and we are really pushing hard and working very hard to achieve that.

Sure. So content spends were fairly low this quarter, 9% this time and 9-month FY '26 number stands at about 17-odd percent, which is lower than what we were guiding maybe at the start of the year. So is there any revision in the guidance for the full year considering 4Q also does not have any major Hindi movie release?

No content cost will be low this year. I think around 18% will be a content cost. And actually, we want to spend 25%, but our one movie shifted to next year. So that's why we are feeling that. But in case content is not there, then also we are maintaining these numbers. If that content should have come to maybe we have surpassed 20% even. So that's -- in our business, that happens. We presume this film will come in this quarter, but sometimes it shifts to another quarter. So these things happen, but we are okay with this. And we are not in hurry as explained in many, many times earlier, we don't want in a haste or in a panic mode, we are buying a wrong content. We are very extremely careful, and we are buying very cautiously whatever content we are doing.

Could you nail down the content release that is planned for FY '27, this will help us get an idea of, say, the growth trajectory for the fiscal because solely catalog and regional music -- it will be slightly difficult to drive, say, 20%, 22% plus growth solely on the back of catalog and regional. So could you name or list a few Hindi movies that you plan to release in the next fiscal?

We have Imtiaz Ali, Diljit Dosanjh, Vedang Raina, Sharvari and A.R. Rahman's Music. And then there is a David Dhawan, Varun Dhawan movie Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, then there is a movie Siddhant Chaturvedi and [indiscernible] Ravi. Vikas Bahl is the director. And then there is a movie, Sunny Kaushal and many other actors, Kahani Mein Twist Hai and then Shanaya Kapoor, Abhay Verma movie, JC, it's called JC. And there's so many, many, many non-film music slated for '27. I think in '27, we will achieve our target of that 20% -- 25% to 28% what we target every year, we achieve that.

So about 4 to 5 midsized Hindi movies planned for the fiscal. Is that the right understanding?

Hindi movies we have, I think 2 are pretty big that David Dhawan, Varun Dhawan is a bigger movie and that Diljit Dosanjh, Imtiaz Ali, A.R. Rahman is a big movie. Three, you can say relatively midsized movies. These 2 are not very big, but pretty big, you can say. So we have this. Plus apart from these, we have some regional films also. So we will be releasing those also plus non-film music.

Sure, sure, sure. So one last question from my side. So the presentation mentioned that there has been a negative growth in total views on YouTube, which is accounted -- is on account of YouTube shorts. Now while I do agree that from a revenue standpoint, the contribution of YouTube Shorts will be fairly limited. Could you throw some light on why this impact? Is it on account of the high base in 1Q FY '25, which I think had the impact of -- positive impact of [ crew ] and its rebound. Is that the only reason why we have witnessed a decline in quarterly YouTube views? Or is there something more to it on YouTube Shorts?

These things happen. One quarter, you will see it come down. Next quarter, you will see, again, there is a big jump. These things happen. So we are not actually bothered. And plus this short app, we are getting a lump sum money. We are not on a profit-sharing basis. So we are okay with this.

And when is the next set of negotiation due for YouTube Shorts? I believe that these deals happen on a 1- to 2-year basis. So...

Next year. Coming year, it's due.

The next question is from the line of Jyoti Singh from Arihant.

Sir, like earlier quarter, this quarter also, we have reported good EBITDA margin. So going forward, just wanted to understand as the competition intensify, so any kind of compression on the margin side we are seeing from here? And also what is the target content cost to revenue ratio over the medium term? And what levers that help to protect margin in this competitive market?

Jyoti, you check our last, I think, 13, 14, 15 quarters, we are maintaining our EBITDA and PAT. So going forward, also, we will maintain that. I'm assuring you that. Plus, as told many times earlier, we are very focused on content. We don't mind paying more, but we want to -- we are -- our focus is on the quality content. So we are not in that mad rush. So rest be assured we are very careful and very focused what we want to buy, and we are only targeting those and we are buying those movies or non-film music, what we are doing.

Okay. And sir, also, like globally, like music companies, they are expanding. So any -- like this is very hypothetically, but any chances that Warner can do -- can buy a stake in Tips going forward?

See, you only said a hypothetical question to how what I can say. Everything is open here. Anybody can talk anything. But at present, there's nothing.

Okay. Okay. And sir, given shorts currently drive high volume, but low monetization, so what structural changes are required for shorts to become a meaningful profit contributor for us?

They should give us a profit-sharing basis. They should start monetizing that service, maybe by way of subscription or by way of doing more advertising or maybe the way of blue tick they are offering. So we must take some money from there. But I think whatever is happening is happening in the entire world, but that should we are doing better than many other companies. So -- and majorly, our content, whatever we have done from '88 till now, our entire content is selling very, very well. So I think we are in a better zone and we are very happy about it. and we'll maintain. There's nothing major going to change, but we are making -- we are pretty well, I think, in that sense. So we are happy.

The next question is from the line of Ravi Naredi from Naredi Investment Private Limited.

Sir, Spotify has increased subscription by 20% to 25%. So how much revenue will we get benefited from this? Can you give the number?

I can't share the exact number with you, but let me tell you, we are doing very well on Spotify, YouTube and Instagram. [Foreign Language] We are achieving that. [Foreign Language] they want to increase their subscription [Foreign Language] so very soon, I think in the next 4, 6 quarters [Foreign Language].

Right, fantastic. Sir, please give detailed comments over paid subscription when rises in next few years, how much revenue it may rise?

[Foreign Language] This year our target is to achieve 3. Revenue top line has increased 72 [Foreign Language] next year I feel at present 20% [Foreign Language].

Sir one more thing, how many design developers uses our songs like Abhinav Mishra and Manish Malhotra for making their product popular?

[Foreign Language] as a marketing tool [Foreign Language].

By using our songs, right?

Yes.

Right. And sir, this industry with revenue rises 40% to 50% CAGR, it is where you mentioned in the investor, highlighted. So it is applicable for to Tips to rise 40% to 50% top line in our industry?

40%, 50% [Foreign Language].

We wish this time come soon. You are doing fantastic and we wish all the best to you and giving handsome dividend, it is really nice.

The next question is from the line of Akshay Kolekar from Dalal & Broacha.

So my first question is on industry side basically. So we see recently the music company has acquired, they seem like green production house. So do you see any structural changes happening in the industry? Like what are your views on this? And do you see any -- looking for any opportunity in the near future?

You're Akshay, no?

Yes.

Can you repeat?

What's your good name?

Akshay Kolekar.

Akshay, we are the first company which has -- we have our own film company. So we don't have to acquire anything, any other company. And we are only -- we are not tying up or we are paying big money and taking a partnership in that company. We are just acquiring -- at arm's length, we are acquiring only music rights. So we -- in that zone, you can say we are the best. And we did this 5 years back. So you can assume kind of a vision Tips has. We -- long term, we will have a support of our -- we have to have arrangement with some of our own company or our own -- some understanding with some other companies. So touchwood, we don't need anybody or any company whom we can tie up. There's no need.

Okay. I understand. So my second question is on like do you give a bifurcation of like how much revenue is contributed from legacy business or new music content. So is there like any percentage kind of?

As told you earlier, 85% of our business comes from a legacy business, catalog and our catalog is really, really extremely doing well for the last 4, 5 years. Every year, we are growing on the strength of our catalog. And I can assure you another next 15, 20 years, we are very, very safe and having a very best position I feel still there is a lot of potential where our catalog can really progress very well and give us a very big revenues. So that should 85% comes from there and 15%, you can say from new releases.

The next question is from the line of Robert Marshall-Lee from Cusana Capital.

Can you hear me okay?

Yes, we can hear you.

So just a couple of questions. So firstly, on the impact of the labor costs. Is there a significant one-off impact there? Or is that expected to be a sustained level going forward?

Robert, this would be a one-off impact. And recurring, we don't see any substantial impact coming down.

Okay. And secondly, just in terms of when you're thinking about market share, is market share something you're kind of very mindful of, either by particular outlets, for example, on YouTube, et cetera, but more broadly across the streaming space? And what are the trends that you're seeing in terms of market share?

Yes. I think market share, we don't normally think too much about that because we -- what we see is that our metrics, what are we doing in our views in our subscribers in our streams. So we measure ourselves with ourselves. That's what we do. But having said that, we will -- on a revenue market share, we will be around 7% to 8%. And on the growth side, as you see our results, it's steadily growing every quarter.

Sorry, your market share is growing every quarter or...

Yes.

The next question we have is from the line of Saket Mehrotra from Tusk Investments.

Sir, congratulations on a fantastic set of numbers. Just wanted to understand for this quarter, if you were to break down 3 or 4 reasons on the growth, just trying to understand what the growth bridge is. Is it like our catalog content? Is it any of the platforms? Is it PPL? It would be great if we can understand [Foreign Language] it has turned -- what would be the avenues of that?

Saket let me tell you, [Foreign Language] and as told earlier, our repertoire is really, really doing well. [Foreign Language] and then we support those songs to have more revenue. So I can give an entire credit to my repertoire. Because of that, we are growing. And as said earlier, [Foreign Language] you will see the potential [Foreign Language] we are on a different scale. We are doing business. [Foreign Language] I feel only reason is catalog. [Foreign Language] so I feel that's a big reason, so that's the major reason.

Okay. Sir, so one of the participant....

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Languages] and Ajay Devgn. Virat Kohli I think #1 on Instagram [Foreign Language].

So sir, 2 more questions on this. [Foreign Language] Did I understand that correct?

May be 80% ,85%.

85%.

85%. Sushant confirmed it, 85%.

[Foreign Language].

[Foreign Language]. This year our PAT is coming 25%.[Foreign Language]. We will keep on guiding you on.

What is the your content cost for next year, should be towards the higher side 25%, 30%. [Foreign Language].

28%.

25% to 28%?

25% to 28%. [Foreign Language] the entire content cost in the same quarter.

Correct.

[Foreign Language] We are very keen and eager to have good content. [Foreign Language]. We are very keen to acquire content but at correct price, correct content [Foreign Language].

Okay. And sir, final question, housekeeping question. Sushant, if you could tell us what's the cash balance as on December, like cash plus investment, liquid balance, what would that amount be as on Q3?

As on December end, it is around INR 303 crores.

The next question is from the line of Rohit Singh from Nvest Analytics Advisory LLP.

Congrats for a good set of numbers. Sir, just one question on next year outlook. You mentioned about 20% top line and 20% bottom line. At the same time, we are saying we will be acquiring more content next year because this year, we are falling short of our guided number. So if we are acquiring the content in next year, how are we sure like on a 20% top line growth, we will be maintaining the bottom line growth of 20%. Technically, it should be fall, right? I mean this should be like 15% kind of growth on account of higher acquisition, isn't it?

Rohit, there are 2 things. One, [indiscernible] content get acquired and -- so let's say, all the content gets released during next year, so let's say, we'll see more revenue from that and let's say, the revenue could be much more higher. And let's say, PAT at least we'll get that 20%. So there would be all the content getting released on time and everything, that factors would play in.

Understood. And sir, how the revenue growth shaping up, particularly from the Warner partnership? Like is it in the trajectory that we anticipated at the time of entering this partnership? Or maybe it is on an underperforming factor? How do you look at that?

It is going as per our expectation this year.

And in this quarter, what kind of revenue did we make from that deal, that partnership?

We don't give, let's say, platform-wise or partner-wise breakup, but it is in line with our expectation.

The next question is from the line of Yashowardhan Agarwal from IIFL Capital Asset Management Limited.

Congratulations on good set of numbers. A few questions from my side. Sir, possible to share the revenue growth from the paid subscribers versus revenue from advertisement?

So if you see the paid subscribers have grown more than 50% from last year, if you compare that and advertisement revenues are on the similar trajectory. So both are growing in the same one. But I think on the subscription side, it is growing faster. That's the only thing that we can say now.

Okay. Sir, overall subscriber base has grown by 50%, right? I'm talking about the revenue and the revenue that flows to us at what rate it has grown.

So it is to tell you that revenue growing, let's say, for the paid subscription around that 40%, 50% and let's say, ad growing at the average rate.

Okay. And out of the total revenue, what -- how much would be coming from the paid subscribers?

So paid subscription, let's say, on an overall basis would be roughly around 10% the revenue.

10%. Overall total revenue, 10% is coming from paid subscribers and that is growing at more than 40%.

Yes, in the range of...

Yes.

Okay. And sir, my second question is again on the profit margins for the next year. You have clarified earlier, but I still need more clarity on it. So assuming 20% revenue growth for FY '27, right? And it includes the new content that we are going to acquire in next year. And this year, our content acquisition cost is around 18%, which we have added earlier to be around 25% for next year, which leads to around mid-teens profit growth. So sir, how are we guiding for 20% growth? Could you please elaborate more on that?

Yes, I'll reiterate. Let's say, if all, let's say, planned movies get released as per schedule, we could see a higher revenue growth. And similarly, let's say, the profit growth could be in that range of 20%. I understand your question in terms of, let's say, currently, let's say, the margins are higher given the low content cost. But let's say, next year, if all the movies get released as per the schedule, we could see a higher revenue growth and a better profitability.

Okay. So in terms of percentage in that scenario, the content acquisition cost will be lower, even though in absolute terms, it will grow. Is that the right way to think about that?

Somewhat, yes.

Okay, sir. And sir, my last question would be on the monetization from Shorts. So in our presentation, we have shared that monetization could grow since it will migrate to share from advertising revenue for YouTube, it is supposed to be renegotiated in second quarter of FY '27. So sir, it is fair to assume that the statement is regarding our business and not a general statement on the industry side?

So let's say, in case of shorts, we are saying over a medium to long term, that model would move from a fixed fee to a revenue share. It won't happen on an immediate basis, but on a medium to long term, it would happen.

Okay. So the next, which is supposed to be renegotiated for what period of time would it be happening? The tenure of the contracts? And sir, what would be -- yes, sir, please continue.

Let's say we'll update once it get renewed.

1 to 2 years.

So this depends on the platform and both the platform needs to decide when they will share the profits with us. And their revenues from the advertisement should also grow equally. Till then, the platforms may opt in for a paid and the fixed fee kind of model, and we may continue with that.

Okay. And sir, even if it remains to be a fixed fee, do we anticipate a substantial growth in this number?

Yes, definitely a very good growth on that.

The next question is from the line of Bhargav from Ambit Asset Management.

Congratulations on a good performance. Sir, my first question is that in this revenue growth guidance, are we building in any monetization on YouTube Shorts or that would be an additional kicker once we come to know?

It is part of the growth plan. It is already captured.

Okay. Secondly, sir, when we see this presentation of Saregama, we are seeing a significant growth in terms of YouTube views, but they have put in an asterisk saying that YouTube has changed methodology. So in our presentation when we see that there is a decline for 9 months, is there any base effect? Or how should we read between you and Saregama in terms of presentation data?

[Foreign Language] Let's not compare us with Saregama [Foreign Language]. Now Sushant is replying you. Yes, Sushant?

Bhargav, we are continuing with the old methodology in terms of YouTube reporting. The sense is let's say when let's say anyone view the 30 seconds, then only the view get counted. So we are continuing with that old methodology. I think they are reporting -- now YouTube has started reporting both the views. But we continue to do with the old methodology because we think that's fair.

[Foreign Language].

In terms of views, yes.

[Foreign Language].

[Foreign Language].

[Foreign Language].

I understand. [Foreign Language] that's what I wanted to basically understand. And lastly sir, is it fair to say [Foreign Language] to start with, it will be a fixed fee and then maybe revenue share [Foreign Language]?

Yes, it will be the same. You are right on that. [Foreign Language] and then it will move to a revenue share model.

And is it fair to say that once the monetization cycle starts, we will put in more efforts to increase our views on YouTube Shorts because then we obviously get paid in the subsequent revenue share cycle.

Yes, you're absolutely right. We will definitely do that.

Okay. Because right now, it doesn't make sense to put an effort because [Foreign Language]. So there's no point in.

Correct.

Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraints, this was the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to Ms. Ayushi Gupta for closing comments.

I would like to thank the management for taking the time out for their conference call today and also thank all the participants. If you have any queries, please feel free to contact us. We are MUFG Intime Private Limited, Investor Relations Advisers for Tips Music Limited. Thank you so much.

On behalf of Tips Music Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.

Thank you.

Thanks, everyone.