
Revenues fell at both The Times and The Sun in the UK last year as digital initiatives failed to offset declines in print.
However, Times Media marginally increased its profits while News Group Newspapers, which reports results for The Sun, reduced its operating losses.
Meanwhile News UK Broadcasting, which aired TalkTV until its spring 2024 closure, made a loss of £50.4m, a slight improvement from £53.9m in 2023. TalkTV made £6.7m in its final year of broadcasting, up 19% from £5.6m a year earlier, but audience figures “did not meet expectations”. This brings total losses to date from the venture to £138.4m.
Sun publisher: Hacking claimant costs and social media volatility
News Group Newspapers reported revenue down 3% to £296.3m in the year to 30 June 2024, with an operating loss/loss before tax of £18m (an improvement of almost three-quarters). Losses continued to shrink – following a halving in 2023 – as phone-hacking payouts have slowed down.
The publisher has for years denied allegations of unlawful activity at The Sun, saying such behaviour was confined to the News of the World. In January 2025 (after the financial year in question) NGN admitted “unlawful activities” took place at The Sun and issued a “full and unequivocal apology” to Prince Harry and fellow claimant Sir Tom Watson, who each received “substantial” damages.
Last year NGN made a credit of £13.7m in respect of claimants’ legal fees and damages after reassessing its provision for hacking cases. This compares to a total cost to the company of £5.4m in 2023. Several hacking claims were issued in September 2022 to beat a cut-off date that month imposed by the court.
Wider costs relating to the cases were down from £45.3m in 2023 to £26.8m last year, while a further £935,000 in costs (down from £964,000 in 2023) were incurred for legal and professional fees related to the Management and Standards Committee that dealt with the hacking investigations into The News of the World.
NGN said its revenue drop “was driven by structural declines in the print market and the volatility of social platforms’ approaches toward news content, which negatively impacted both print and digital advertising revenues” although cover price increases (The Sun cost £1.10 on weekdays by January 2025, up from £1 a year earlier, while the Saturday and Sunday editions were up 20p to £1.50 and £1.80 respectively) offset circulation declines.
One area of improved revenues has been The Sun’s betting and gaming division, the publisher added.
Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) at News Group Newspapers improved from a loss of £58.9m in 2023 to a loss of £1.4m. This improvement was put down to lower newsprint and energy prices and lower one-off legal costs, but partially offset by the lower revenues.
Times digital advertising and subscriptions up
Times Media revenues, which include The Times, The Sunday Times and Times Radio, were down 0.6% to £383.4m in the year to 30 June 2024 while its operating profit and profit before tax were up 0.2% to £61m.
The company’s strategic report filed at Companies House said: “The rise in digital circulation and advertising revenues, driven by an increase in subscribers and enhanced advertising experiences, did not offset the declines in print sales volumes and print advertising.”
Times Media EBITDA was up by 27% to £84.6m (or up 18% when excluding restructuring costs in the past two years) “due to a lower cost base, aided by reduced energy costs as inflationary pressures eased, which more than offset the lower revenues for the year”.
Neither publisher puts out a public ABC print circulation figure anymore but both included an overall print and online reach from Pamco in their results. The Sun said it had a monthly reach of 26.6 million people in the UK in H2 2024, down from 27.2 million in 2023. The Times said it reached 13.7 million readers per month in the UK across both print and digital in H1 2024.
The Sun’s UK online audience fell marginally from 23.8 million people a month in 2023 to 23.4 million with the company noting “the volatility of social platforms’ approach toward news content has adversely impacted digital audiences across the industry”. The Sun globally reached 112 million people in June 2024 according to Meta Pixel.
Nonetheless the publisher said it is “developing deeper reader relationships through strong first-party data, with the added benefit of providing more targeted opportunities for our commercial advertisers” and that its relationships with major tech platforms remain “strong” with news payment agreements continuing to come in (including from a News Corp deal with OpenAI).
During the financial year in question The Sun launched the Members’ Enclosure offering for fans of its racing coverage (costing £3 per month of £27 per year). Since then it has rolled out the Sun Club partial paywall for member-only articles and other perks (priced at £1.99 a month for a year and then £4.99 a month – or £12 for a year and then £49.99).
The Times and The Sunday Times had 594,000 paid digital subscriptions at the end of the financial year, making up 84% of total subscriptions. This was a 5% growth rate for the second year running. (Times digital subscribers have since grown to 616,000 according to more up-to-date News Corp results.)
The results cited “strong” subscription growth outside the UK and said international expansion would continue to be an “important area of focus”. The Times website migrated from thetimes.co.uk to thetimes.com in June 2024 and the report said this “will be key to growth in 2025 and beyond”. The publisher also cited new verticals – such as parenting and London – and “targeted investments in product innovation”.
Both The Sun and The Times are putting an increasing focus on video, both short-form and long-form. Sister brand TalkTV closed as a linear channel in spring 2024 and its TV studios began being used for video production for all News UK brands. “Significant annual savings” were expected as a result, including through job cuts. Talk (formerly Talkradio/TalkTV) is being produced from its visualised radio studios.
[Read more: How The Sun became biggest UK newspaper on Youtube with 6 million subscribers]
The results for both publishers stated: “The board notes that advertising revenues for connected TV and for programmatic video are in double digit growth and that News UK is professionalising its output so that all of its brands are well positioned for growth.”
Since the financial year-end, Talk’s star talent Piers Morgan has taken ownership of his Youtube show away from News UK although they continue to have a financial relationship meaning Rupert Murdoch’s company takes a share of the advertising revenue. Morgan had already gone Youtube-only away from TalkTV before the channel’s closure citing the disadvantages of having a daily programme and the potential of a large Youtube following.
The number of staff listed at Times Media was 646 on average during the financial year (up from 594 a year earlier) with restructuring taking place costing £3.2m (compared to £7.9m in 2023).
At News Group Newspapers staff numbers were 581 (up from 549). Restructuring expenses were up from £3.3m to £4.3m.
Earnings from all the News UK subsidiaries are consolidated into parent company News Corp’s news media segment. News Corp’s latest quarterly earnings for the three months to 31 December 2024 showed News UK cost savings from combining its printing operations with DMG Media and the closure of TalkTV helped to increase news media segment EBITDA by 30%.
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