ITN: Profit slashed at ITV, Channel 4 and 5 news giant
Profit at ITN, the organisation which powers ITV News, Channel 4 News and 5 News, was slashed almost in half in 2024.
The business has reported a pre-tax profit of £779,000 for its latest financial year, down from the £1.4m it posted for 2023.
The total for 2023 was also significantly down from the £8.9m ITN reported for 2022.
New accounts filed with Companies House also show that ITN’s revenue decreased from £155.8m to £150.6m over the 12 months.
ITN said its revenue decreasing by three per cent was mainly because of the closure of its sports production division in the year.
News revenue increased by three per cent to £113.8m but a proportion of the earnings was not profit generating as it related to pass-through revenue linked to increased news gathering activity.
ITN added that its pre-tax profit fell because of reduced news syndication contracts and non-recurring corporate costs which were partially offset by stronger newsrooms contributions and overhead savings.
Channel 4 and 5 News growth for ITN
The organisation pointed to Channel 4 News seeing a 49 per cent year-on-year increase in its global digital views, reaching 1.83bn in 2024.
It added that 5 News was the only peak-time news bulletin to achieve year-on-year audience growth, increasing its share to 3.4 per cent – its highest since 2018.
On its future, ITN said: “The financial plan for 2025 seeks to continue the company’s profit profile and builds upon ITN’s existing strategic priorities, including protecting our core contracts, margin improvements and targeting growth in our commercial productions divisions.
“These points of focus need to be considered in the context of upward pressure on our operating costs in the challenging inflationary and TV production environment, as well as the commissioning slowdown seen across the industry.”
ITV is the largest single shareholder in ITN with a 40 per cent stake. The remaining shares are held equally between Reuters, Informa and the owner of the Daily Mail.