ITN, the company behind ITV News, Channel 4 News and 5 News, saw its profits nearly halved in 2024.
The firm reported a pre-tax profit of £779,000 for the financial year, a significant drop from the £1.4m recorded in 2023, which itself was a substantial decrease from the £8.9m reported in 2022, as reported by .
According to accounts filed with Companies House, ITN's revenue also fell from £155.8m to £150.6m over the year. The company attributed this 3% decline primarily to the closure of its sports production division.
While news revenue rose by 3% to £113.8m, some of these earnings were not profit-generating as they were tied to increased news gathering activity.
ITN explained that its pre-tax profit reduction was due to fewer news syndication contracts and non-recurring corporate costs, partially offset by stronger contributions from newsrooms and overhead savings.
Channel 4 and 5 News growth for ITN
Despite these challenges, ITN highlighted growth for Channel 4 and 5 News. Channel 4 News saw a 49% year-on-year increase in global digital views, reaching 1.83 billion in 2024.
Meanwhile, 5 News was the only peak-time news bulletin to achieve year-on-year audience growth, increasing its share to 3.4% - its highest since 2018.
Discussing its future, ITN stated: "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."
The company also noted that these focal points should be viewed in light of increasing operating costs due to inflation and the challenging TV production environment, as well as the industry-wide commissioning slowdown.
ITV holds the largest single share in ITN with a 40% stake, while the remaining shares are equally divided between Reuters, Informa, and the owner of the Daily Mail.
