The Independent publishes full year results

The Independent has reported an increase in its profit for the past financial year ending December 2023, its seventh consecutive year of profit since going fully digital.

The Independent says it has increased its annual operating profit by 82% to £3.5m by developing the business model to concentrate resources on the five key pillars of Independent TV, Ecommerce, US Expansion, AI and Reader Revenues.

According to the publisher, the continued strong performance comes despite a challenging environment for the media industry and reflects the reward for a strategy that has focused on diversifying revenue sources beyond advertising. It has allowed The Independent to recruit to spearhead the business’s key areas of growth, and put in place the foundations for further profit and expansion.

John Paton, chairman of Independent Digital News Media said: “Last year we announced our key strategic pillars to grow profit and boost revenue by diversifying beyond a reliance on advertising. This strategy has continued to flourish, helping us to defy an extremely challenging trading environment with profits up by over 80 per cent, and making it yet another year of incredible growth. Our deal with BuzzFeed emphasises the scale of our ambition and industry-leading innovation as we continue to expand.”

Christian Broughton, chief executive of Independent Digital News Media, said on Monday: “The strong results we have announced today have already enabled us to double down on our strategic focus. We have hired outstanding talent to drive forward growth across the business, including in TV and Ecommerce, as well as growing our newsrooms in the UK and in the US.

“This investment and the work we are doing across the board have put us on track for double-digit revenue growth in 2024.”

The Independent says operational highlights included:

• Annual Operating profit rose to £3.5m (FY 21/22: £1.9m), up 82% on the previous financial year, making it the seventh consecutive year of profitable growth.
• Revenue of £56m (FY 21/22: £46.3m), as The Independent strategically invested in its key business pillars. On an annual basis, turnover for the calendar year of 2023 was stable year on year at £46.1m.
• Recruitment of senior talent including Al Brown (head of content, Independent TV) and Holly Hathaway (head of ecommerce), working with established Independent talents Sandro del Grosso and Philippa Jenkins to lead the high-growth Independent Ventures portfolio.
• 26% increase in revenue from Ecommerce as new partnerships saw the platform grow further despite the cost-of-living crisis.
• Independent TV was a significant growth-driver with revenues up 30% year on year. Original programming, such as Bel Trew’s documentary on war crimes in Ukraine, The Body in the Woods, saw monthly viewers pass the milestone of 100 million in June 2023.
• 42% increase in registered users to 5.7m by December 2023, as the investment in reader revenues and the ‘A2K’ (Anonymous to Known) first-party user data strategy continued to pay dividends.
• Pilot projects to integrate AI under the Group’s new code of practice showed the potential to improve productivity in the newsroom by as much as fourfold.
• The US editorial team grew by 40% as investment in quality journalism continued, overseen by Zach Leonard taking on his new role as president, North America and Global COO. The US newsroom is now led by Louise Thomas, who left her role as editor of MailOnline to join The Independent.
• The Independent was regularly cited as the largest quality digital news brand in the UK (23.4 million monthly readers) and a top 10 news brand in the US with an audience of 26.2 million readers.
• Audience growth in the US outperformed the market, with visitor numbers growing by 20.4% in 2023 compared to an average rise of 6.2% for UK news publishers.
• Following the largest investment in editorial this year of any previous year, excellence in editorial content, led by Editor-in-Chief Geordie Greig, saw industry recognition for The Independent’s journalists with prestigious awards. Foreign Correspondent Bel Trew received the Marie Colvin award at the British Journalism Awards, Travel Correspondent Simon Calder won Broadcast Programme of the Year, and Health Correspondent Rebecca Thomas won the Health and Science Journalism award at the British Media Awards.
• Following the close of the financial year The Independent announced a multiyear licensing deal with BuzzFeed to operate their brands in the UK and Ireland, creating a combined audience that will reach half of all British consumers and create a dominant audience network reaching multiple generations, via multiple brands, across multiple platforms.
• The Independent is working with leading AI providers to develop AI-driven products that will be launched next year.

Five pillars of growth

In 2023, the group says it set out its strategy to grow profit and revenue through five key pillars: Independent TV, Ecommerce, US Expansion, AI and Reader Revenues. The intervening year has seen significant success across all of these areas.

Independent TV

The publisher says Independent TV continues to go from strength to strength, delivering 30% growth in revenue as it hit the landmark of 100 million video views per month on The Independent website alone. 2023 also saw the platform broadcast its first long-form documentary, Bel Trew’s The Body In The Woods, a feature-length film on war crimes in Ukraine, and an exclusive interview with Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska.

Ecommerce

According to the publisher, ecommerce continues to be a central pillar in The Independent’s financial success. It delivered a 26% increase in revenue despite the headwinds from the cost-of-living crisis, with highlights including strong growth from Black Friday and Travel. The Independent also entered into a major five-year betting partnership with Gambling.com.

US Expansion

2023 saw former CEO Zach Leonard take up a new role as president, North America, and Global COO. The publisher says Zach is expanding the commercial reach of the brand in the US as it translates its reader growth into revenue growth. The title increased editorial headcount by 40% to 46 journalists over the year as it bolstered its team ahead of the 2024 presidential election. The team is now led by Louise Thomas, who joined from Mail Online in New York.

Reader Revenues

The Independent says it has made significant investments in its Reader Revenues and A2K strategy, delivering a 42% increase in the number of registered readers. This emphasis on growing first-party data is designed to grow yield, enrich customer relationships and protect the brand against the possible future disruptions to the use of third-party cookies. Its success in converting readers to register has been driven by the quality of the editorial content.

Artificial Intelligence

Over 2023, The Independent says it has been exploring the use of Artificial Intelligence, with a new code of practice in action across the organisation. This programme includes initial experiments on the use of the technology to empower editorial staff and enable them to devote more time to original and investigative journalism. One pilot project for Independent en Espanol demonstrated the potential of the new technology by delivering 4x improvements in productivity.

BuzzFeed

The publisher says the financial year closed before a multiyear licencing deal was agreed with BuzzFeed, which created a digital supergroup by giving The Independent responsibility for overseeing their brands in the UK, including Tasty, Seasoned and HuffPost. The deal is the largest yet for the group’s Publisher Partnerships division, which will operate the brands’ editorial, social media, and commercial offering and is targeted for significant future growth.

The Independent says the BuzzFeed deal has enabled it to significantly expand its reach, with its audience growing to half of all British consumers, including 45% of those aged 18-34. The Independent is operating the editorial and commercial activities in the UK of BuzzFeed, the HuffPost, Seasoned and Tasty.