Ross Sergeant joins GB News as chief revenue officer amid growth push
Former Allwyn global media director Ross Sergeant has joined GB News as its chief revenue officer.
Sergeant will lead the broadcaster’s commercial team amid an expansion effort.
He will work alongside commercial director Nicole O’Shea, who called his experience “invaluable” as the broadcaster looks to “continue to grow our relationships with advertisers and agencies.”
The move comes after the right-wing free-to-air channel reported it grew revenue 66% to £26m in the year to May 2025, while annual losses fell 34% to £22m.
Advertising revenue grew 42% year on year to £14.2m, while digital revenue increased 29% to £7.3m. Ad sales efforts for the broadcaster are handled by Sky Media.
Since its founding in 2021, GB News has cumulatively lost £131.5m.
Such losses have meant the broadcaster has remained dependent on patronage from its owners, which include hedge fund boss and Spectator owner Sir Paul Marshall and Dubai-based investment firm Legatum.
Companies House accounts show GB News received £17.7m in additional funding from its parent company, All Perspectives Ltd., last year. While that is less than the £28.8m it received in 2024, the total balance it now owes to its parent is £141m.
The channel has picked up recent momentum among audiences. According to Barb figures, GB News has beaten both BBC News and Sky News in average audience and audience share in seven of the last eight months.
The broadcaster claims its TV audience share rose by 53% and its radio share rose by 61% last year, while online page views climbed 41%.
GB News still lags behind its competitors in total reach and digital followings, suggesting a more niche but loyal base of viewers. Still, it grew its total social media following from 3.9m to 6.1m last year.
Speaking to The Media Leader, Sergeant said he was “hugely excited” to join GB News at a “pivotal moment” for its commercial growth prospects.
“In recent months, it has led UK TV news ratings while delivering record-breaking growth across radio and digital. The scale of the audience is no longer a projection. It is proven, measurable and continuing to grow at a pace,” he said.
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The broadcaster also expanded to the US last September in a bid to grow its audience across the pond.
At a US launch party attended by Trump administration officials, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said GB News “share[s] the values this administration holds dear: Free speech, that men cannot be women, secure borders — we don’t want illegal aliens invading our countries, we want to protect the integrity, democracy and culture that make our countries two of the greatest countries in the history of the world.”
GB News chairman Alan McCormick added: “Britain has been infected by a mind virus that sees no value in place, in family, in community, in love of country, and these views have been reinforced by an establishment media that has suppressed any alternative viewpoints. GB News was launched to end this neglect.”
Courting controversy
GB News has been criticised by media commentators for taking inflammatory stances on social issues and demonstrating a lack of care toward broadcast television standards.
Ofcom has received thousands of complaints about the channel, including comments about its contributors and the employment of sitting politicians, such as Nigel Farage, as presenters. The broadcast regulator has found GB News in breach of its rules 12 times, and fined the broadcaster £100,000 in October 2024 for breaking due impartiality rules.
However, a High Court ruling in March 2025 quashed two of Ofcom’s breach decisions against GB News, with Ofcom subsequently withdrawing three other such decisions.
The ruling related to broadcasts hosted by Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, who had presented programmes on GB News while a sitting MP. The High Court overturned Ofcom’s rulings on the basis that the “due impartiality” rule applies only to “news programmes” and not to “current affairs shows”.
The broadcaster has routinely aired incendiary remarks. Last winter, GB News presenter Josh Howie compared LGBTQ+ individuals to paedophiles, saying that “full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons […] includes pedos”. Non-profit campaign organisation Good Law Project collected over 70,000 complaints about the broadcast to deliver to Ofcom.
Ofcom subsequently found Howie’s comments breached its Broadcasting Code on harmful and offensive material, but resolved the complaint without sanction, citing GB News’ subsequent broadcast apology.
GB News has also faced calls to cut ties with regular contributor Lucy White after she was accused of racism for arguing that Nusrat Ghani, the House of Commons deputy speaker, should not be allowed to serve in the house because she was born in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, former GB News presenter Albie Amankona last year took legal action against the broadcaster, alleging he was a victim of race discrimination, belief discrimination, whistleblowing detriment, unequal pay and unfair dismissal after he was taken off air for expressing his belief that former home secretary Suella Braverman is racist. (GB News has denied the allegations.)
For its part, GB News has branded itself the “People’s Channel”, with leadership regularly arguing its editorial slant speaks for an “underserved audience” of Brits, particularly those outside of London.
Pitch to ‘cautious’ advertisers
GB News’ reputation has led many advertisers to steer clear due to concerns about brand safety and suitability.
The channel’s presenters, including Howie and Michelle Dewberry, have accused advertisers of conspiring to “boycott” the platform, echoing similar claims as the litigious Elon Musk.
But as Manning Gottleib co-founder Nick Manning explained in 2023, advertisers are not “mysteriously corralled by pressure groups” to avoid advertising on GB News. Rather, he argued, “advertisers want to sit beside the benign and predictable, not the combustible.”
Sergeant told The Media Leader his initial strategic focus will be “straightforward”, explaining: “It is to close the gap between audience performance and agency adoption.”
Sergeant admitted there “remains caution in parts of the media and AV planning community” over whether to invest in GB News. But he argued that investment decisions should be “guided by reach, attention and effectiveness, not inherited assumptions”.
Sergeant continued: “As media practitioners, our responsibility is to reach all available category buyers. GB News is delivering a significant proportion of those viewers, alongside strong and growing engagement levels. Excluding the channel from media schedules means overlooking measurable commercial value for clients”.
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GB News CEO Angelos Frangopoulos called Sergeant’s appointment “a clear signal of the scale of our ambition and the trajectory of the business”, adding that “attracting a commercial leader of Ross’s calibre reflects both the momentum behind GB News and the maturity we have now reached as a multi-platform media brand.”
Frangopoulos added: “As we continue to lead in ratings and accelerate across digital and social, it is vital that our commercial strategy fully reflects the strength, loyalty and scale of our audience. Ross brings the experience, credibility and strategic focus required to translate that performance into deeper, long-term partnerships with advertisers and agencies.
Sergeant resigned from his role at the national lottery operator in January. The Media Leader reported at the time that Sergeant had already lined up his next role.
Before his stint at Allwyn, Sergeant held leadership positions at beverage companies Asahi and Diageo, and at WPP media agency Wavemaker. Earlier in his career, he worked for WPP and Omnicom agencies in his native South Africa.
“With audience momentum firmly established, I am confident we can build trusted, evidence-led partnerships with Tier 1 advertisers and their agencies who are prepared to judge the platform on performance and results,” Sergeant added. “GB News’s story is only just beginning, and I am excited to help shape its next chapter.”
