Channel 4 Turnover Reaches Record Levels

Channel 4’s annual report shows that its turnover increased by 5% last year, reaching a record £937 million, due to growth in digital revenues.

The broadcaster’s new media division saw its turnover more than double to £51 million last year, up from £24.5 million in 2005.

However, it blamed a drop in advertising revenues and higher spending on digital TV for a 70% slump in profits to £14.5 million last year.

The growth in its digital revenue was put down to the launch of More4 in October 2005 and E4 and Film 4 moving away from pay-TV services to free to view on Freeview.

Sales and sponsorship revenues were flat at £824 million. The core Channel 4 TV network’s sales fell £39 million to £696 million, whilst sales revenue for the digital TV channels was up £40 million to £128 million.

The group retained a surplus of £14.5m, down 70% on the previous year as a result of increased costs.

The broadcaster now looks set to cut the amount of money it spends on acquiring new shows following this decline.

Meanwhile its 4oD on-demand content saw 20 million programs pulled down by over a million viewers in its first six months, according to the Financial Times.

The 4oD service, launched last year (see Channel 4 To Launch On-Demand Service), gives users up to 30 days to access repeats of current shows such as Hollyoaks and Peep Show.

The FT said: “According to independent producers, Channel 4 guaranteed them a minimum of £500,000 in revenues in the first year of the service but this was achieved after just four months.”

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