Channel 4 govt pay elevated by practically a 3rd final yr, regardless of the UK industrial broadcaster slashing content material spend and jobs.
The community behind The Nice British Bake Off and Gogglebox had a gradual yr in 2024, with income inching up 1% to £1.04B ($1.39B) and its pre-tax deficit being decreased by £50M to £2M.
Channel 4 rewarded its high crew with pay packets totalling practically £2.9M final yr, which was a rise of 32% on 2023 and the second-highest degree in 15 years, per the corporate’s annual report.
Outgoing CEO Alex Mahon‘s earnings rocketed 44% to £1.3M, together with a £544,000 bonus, which was greater than double her variable pay in 2023.
On the identical time, Channel 4’s complete content material spend stood at £643M, which was down 3% year-on-year and was at its lowest degree because the pandemic turbulence of 2020.
Channel 4 stated 2024 was a “difficult” yr, through which it was compelled to make “powerful however vital” selections to chop prices. This included making round 200 staff redundant.
Requested by Deadline how Channel 4 justified elevated govt pay amid belt-tightening, interim chair Daybreak Airey stated the highest crew did “extraordinarily properly” to develop income, together with a 30% enhance in digital gross sales to £306M.
“We noticed an enormous restructure that took prices out of the enterprise to make sure that we had the efficiency that we did, and the sum of money spent on the schedule was nonetheless extraordinarily important,” she added. “That resulted in excellent bonuses being paid for the yr which can be completely justified as a result of this crew did a rare job.”
Channel 4 content material chief Ian Katz pointed to a powerful yr of scores, claiming that the community had the “greatest general viewing efficiency” of any industrial broadcaster within the UK.
Channel 4 boasted a document 1.8B streaming views in 2023 (up 13%), whereas 39% of the state-owned firm’s income got here from non-linear sources. The plan is to get this as much as 50% by 2030.
Mahon stated: “In 2024, Channel 4 confirmed how powerfully our public service mannequin can evolve and thrive in a altering world.”
Channel 4 revealed its annual report towards the backdrop of govt upheaval, with CEO Mahon following chair Ian Cheshire out of the exit door. Media regulator Ofcom is at the moment looking for Channel 4’s subsequent chair, who in flip is anticipated to play a pivotal position in appointing a brand new CEO.
Airey paid tribute to Mahon throughout a press convention on Wednesday. She stated Mahon had been “fairly an distinctive” CEO and leaves the corporate in “actually robust well being.”
Alongside the annual report, Channel 4 unveiled plans to take majority stakes in third-party manufacturing corporations as a part of its transfer into in-house manufacturing.
