Channel 4 executive pay increased by nearly a third last year, despite the UK commercial broadcaster slashing content spend and jobs.
The network behind The Great British Bake Off and Gogglebox had a steady year in 2024, with revenue inching up 1% to £1.04B ($1.39B) and its pre-tax deficit being reduced by £50M to £2M.
Channel 4 rewarded its top team with pay packets totalling nearly £2.9M last year, which was an increase of 32% on 2023 and the second-highest level in 15 years, per the company’s annual report.
Outgoing CEO Alex Mahon‘s earnings rocketed 44% to £1.3M, including a £544,000 bonus, which was more than double her variable pay in 2023.
At the same time, Channel 4’s total content spend stood at £643M, which was down 3% year-on-year and was at its lowest level since the pandemic turbulence of 2020.
Channel 4 said 2024 was a “challenging” year, in which it was forced to make “tough but necessary” decisions to cut costs. This included making around 200 employees redundant.
Asked by Deadline how Channel 4 justified increased executive pay amid belt-tightening, interim chair Dawn Airey said the top team did “extremely well” to grow revenue, including a 30% increase in digital sales to £306M.
“We saw a massive restructure that took costs out of the business to ensure that we had the performance that we did, and the amount of money spent on the schedule was still extremely significant,” she added. “That resulted in very good bonuses being paid for the year that are absolutely justified because this team did an extraordinary job.”
Channel 4 content chief Ian Katz pointed to a strong year of ratings, claiming that the network had the “best overall viewing performance” of any commercial broadcaster in the UK.
Channel 4 boasted a record 1.8B streaming views in 2023 (up 13%), while 39% of the state-owned company’s revenue came from non-linear sources. The plan is to get this up to 50% by 2030.
Mahon said: “In 2024, Channel 4 showed how powerfully our public service model can evolve and thrive in a changing world.”
Channel 4 published its annual report against the backdrop of executive upheaval, with CEO Mahon following chair Ian Cheshire out of the exit door. Media regulator Ofcom is currently searching for Channel 4’s next chair, who in turn is expected to play a pivotal role in appointing a new CEO.
Airey paid tribute to Mahon during a press conference on Wednesday. She said Mahon had been “quite an exceptional” CEO and leaves the company in “really strong health.”
Alongside the annual report, Channel 4 unveiled plans to take majority stakes in third-party production companies as part of its move into in-house production.
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