Channel 5 loses £160m ahead of major rebrand amid audience growth
Channel 5 has insisted its operating model remains stable despite losing almost £160m during 2023, it has been revealed.
The channel, which is set to rebrand simply as 5 in April 2025, has slumped to the loss as a result of the value of its investment in Viacom Interactive – a subsidiary of parent company Paramount Global – and unrelated to Channel 5’s trading business – was impaired by £273m “due to adverse global market conditions”.
This, the firm said, led to its pre-tax loss of £159.5m for 2023, after having posted a pre-tax profit of £78.1m in 2022.
Newly-filed accounts with Companies House also show its turnover rose from £370m to £398m helped by a payment of £80.9m, plus £9.1m in interest, from Channel 5’s sales partner because of a correction in that firm’s internal reporting between 2017 and 2023. Excluding the payment, the channel’s turnover totalled £318m.
The channel’s operating profit increased from £80.1m to £112.4m in the year. However, excluding the payment, its profit totalled £22.7m.
The results for 2023 have only just been made public having been filed with Companies House on 6 December, after the deadline of 30 September.
A statement signed off by the board said: “Despite the tough commercial environment, Channel 5’s portfolio – which includes 5STAR, 5USA, 5Select and 5ACTION – achieved a fifth consecutive year of share growth (five per cent), making it the only public service broadcaster (PSB) to increase its total share of the UK viewing audience.
“In addition, Channel 5 was the only commercial PSB to increase its audience share in peak time (one per cent) as well as its share of ABC1 viewers in peak time (four per cent).
For a fourth consecutive year, My5 achieved growth in its viewing, reflecting the success of the free streaming service and the appeal of Channel 5’s content to a streaming audience.”
On its future, the business added: “Looking ahead, the business continues to work to future proof its offering and enhance the experience for viewers, advertisers and content partners.
“To that end, it recently announced plans to relaunch Channel 5 and its free streaming service, My5, under a united brand of 5, leveraging its combined power across linear, streaming and digital.”