5 profits fall 64% as ad squeeze meets streaming spend
Profit at British broadcaster 5 collapsed by almost two-thirds last year.
Pre-tax profit, meaning profit before the tax bill is paid, fell 64% to £11.93 million in 2025, down from £33.6 million in 2024. The figures come from accounts filed with Companies House, the UK's official company register, as reported by Deadline.
Revenue also slipped. The network, which trades in the UK as Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, recorded total revenue of £292 million in 2025, down from £319.4 million the year before. Post-tax profit fell 75% to £8.28 million.
The day-to-day business lost money. 5 logged an operating loss of £10.9 million for 2025, meaning its core operations spent more than they earned before one-off items were counted.
It stayed in pre-tax profit because of a single exceptional payment. The accounts record a one-off £19.1 million gain after 5 transferred its investment in Viacom Interactive Limited to another company inside the same group.
5 was previously known as Channel 5. It is now part of David Ellison's Skydance empire.
The broadcaster blamed two pressures for the squeeze. It pointed to challenging conditions in the television advertising market, where commercial channels sell airtime to brands, and to increased spending on its streaming service, programmes and marketing.
That streaming bet is getting more viewing. Total viewing minutes on the 5 streaming service rose 34% in 2025, the company said. Viewing minutes are a straight count of time spent watching.
For viewers, the trade-off is plain. Less money came in from traditional TV ads. More money went out to build streaming.
That is a familiar pattern across free-to-air broadcasting. Linear channels, meaning live scheduled TV, are losing ad pounds while owners fund their own streaming platforms to chase audiences who watch on demand. 5 has not announced cuts to programmes off the back of these results. The accounts describe the extra outlay as investment in content and in getting people to the app.
The 2025 earnings were published via Companies House. British companies of this size must file annual accounts there by law, which makes it the formal record for revenue and profit.
