Viacom’s Channel 5 Delivers Record Profits

LONDON: In its latest annual report, the U.K.’s Channel 5 recorded operating profit of £58.4 million ($71.8 million), compared to the £14.9 million ($18.3 million) for the previous financial year.

Turnover increased 19 percent year-on-year to £383.6 million ($471.8 million). Channel 5 Broadcasting retained a profit after tax and extraordinary items of £42.3 million ($52 million) compared to £36.5 million ($44.9 million) in the previous financial year. The company’s turnover, which derives largely from advertising revenues, benefited from a strong ratings performance relative to its main free-to-air competitors.

For the second consecutive financial year, Channel 5’s bouquet of channels was the only terrestrial portfolio to grow its share of total TV viewing in the U.K. in the year ended September 30, gaining 2 percent to record a 6.13 percent share. There was an increase in content spend of 11 percent during the financial year.

David Lynn, the president for the U.K., Northern and Eastern Europe for Channel 5’s parent company, Viacom International Media Networks, commented: “Channel 5 is radically different to the network Viacom first looked at buying three years ago; it has an entirely new look and just seven shows still broadcasting that were on air in 2013. This transformation has taken place under American ownership but it is being driven by original British content. We’ve transformed the business model, through our advertising partnership with Sky Media and by getting Channel 5 to work more closely with our pay-TV channels, making it sustainably profitable for the first time, in spite of recent economic uncertainty.”