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5, the UK television network that sits within David Ellison’s newly minted Skydance empire, posted a 64% decline in profit last year.
The British broadcaster’s pre-tax profit stood at £11.93 million ($15.8M) in 2025, down nearly two-thirds from £33.6M the previous year, according to earnings published on UK’s Companies House.
The network, previously known as Channel 5, recorded total revenue of £292M last year, which was a decline of nearly 9% from 2024’s sales of £319.4M.
5’s post-tax profit fell 75% to £8.28M, while the company — which trades as Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited in the UK — swung into an operating loss of £10.9M.
The earnings would have been worse had it not been for a one-off payment of £19.1M after 5 transferred its investment in Viacom Interactive Limited to another part of the Skydance group.
5 blamed “challenging” ad market conditions, while also pointing to increased investment in its streaming service, content, and marketing.
5 said it was beginning to reap the rewards of this investment, with online viewing and ad revenue increasing. 5 said it had the fastest-growing public service broadcaster streaming service last year after it posted a 34% increase in total viewing minutes.
The All Creatures Great and Small collection was the most-watched scripted series on 5’s streaming platform, while it also trumpeted the performance of other series, including The Forsytes.
In its annual report, 5 detailed changes made to its streaming service: “As user numbers continue to grow around event TV on 5, the company made a significant investment to reinforce the resilience of its streaming platform to withstand major surges in viewing.
“Updates to the infrastructure allow the platform to scale automatically with increased numbers, while new monitoring tools enable staff to quickly react to technical issues. Additional functionality to elevate viewers’ day-to-day experience includes smarter recommendations on the home screen, sharper picture quality across 5’s simulcast channels, curated collections and the ability to view ads on mobile and web during live streams.”
Channel 4, 5’s closest commercial rival in the UK, posted flat revenues of £1 billion last year and recorded a deficit of £10M. Channel 4 recently partnered with 5, poaching Paramount’s £300M TV advertising sales business from Sky, meaning it now controls ad sales for Channel 4, 5, and UKTV.
5 is run by president Reemah Sakaan, who joined in January, and content chief Ben Frow.
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