All3Media: Losses balloon at The Traitors maker amid £100m hit
Losses have ballooned at the production giant behind the likes of The Traitors, Race Across the World and Gogglebox as its revenue slumped by almost £100m, it has been revealed.
All3Media has reported a pre-tax loss of £113.5m for 2024, after also posting a loss of £27.8m in 2023.
New accounts filed with Companies House also show the group’s revenue fell from £995.1m to £895.9m over the same 12-month period.
All3Media said its revenue fell because of “softer demand in a challenging market”.
The group’s revenue from programmes that were shown in the UK fell from £355.2m to £297m while its US revenue declined from £352.6m to £314.8m.
In the rest of the world, All3Media’s revenue went from £287.2m to £284m.
The group’s pre-tax loss of £113.5m was made up of a net finance cost of £82.3m that included interest on a shareholder loan.
It also included an impairment of goodwill of £62.5m which was a non-cash, one-off accounting reduction and was triggered by a reallocation of goodwill following the acquisition of the group by RedBird IMI.
All3Media also pointed to it posted an EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation] of £105.3m for the year, compared to the £107.4m it reported for the prior 12 months.
However, All3Media’s UK profit was slashed from £50.3m to £25.4m in the year. However, in the US, it went from a loss of £1.5m to a profit of £13.2m.
The new accounts have also revealed that All3Media’s headcount reduced in 2024 from 3,419 to 3,113.
The London-headquartered company has been owned by RedBird IMI after being acquired from Warner Bros Discovery and Liberty Global in a deal valued at £1.15bn in February 2024.
RedBird IMI is led by chief executive Jeff Zucker and is a partnership between New York-based RedBird Capital Partners and Abu Dhabi-backed International Media Investments.
All3Media’s production companies are also behind shows such as Call the Midwife and Squid Game: The Challenge, Great British Menu, Hollyoaks and Sort Your Life Out among others.
The maker of The Traitors owns more than 40 production companies in the UK, US, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
‘Soft’ US market hitting The Traitors maker
A statement signed off by the board said: “While there continues to be an uncertain economic environment with weaker demand, as well as pressure on margins in the production sector, the group’s ability to produce and sell programs internationally, together with its continued ability to attract and retain creative talent, helps to mitigate the impact of this.
“A softer US market continues to impact and delay commissioning decisions, but we expect growth to return in the future.
“In 2024, we implemented a number of operating cost initiatives across the group and are on course to deliver a full-year impact in 2025 and this will help mitigate the impact from weaker demand.
“We are also diversifying into social media to align with ongoing demand.
“We continue to have a strong pipeline of programmes and we see further diversification towards streamers in 2025 which is in our strategic long-range plan.”
The results come after it was reported in July that All3Media’s owner is among the possible suitors looking to take over Whisper Group, the firm founded by broadcaster Jake Humphrey and former F1 driver David Coulthard.
It was also reported earlier this year that ITV was in talks with RedBird IMI to spin off its production arm into a separate £3bn entity.