GB News' Audience Grows, But Losses Persist: A Structural Issue?

GB News is posting record-breaking growth in audience numbers—and equally striking financial losses. Despite a surge in broadcast reach, the channel remains deeply in the red, casting doubt on the underlying business case. The paradox at the heart of this venture poses serious questions about the economic future of alternative media in Britain.

Persistent losses despite surging audience

Paul Marshall has now poured £120m into GB News since 2021, and the broadcaster's latest accounts reveal a paradox that should trouble anyone watching Britain's media market. The channel's television audience grew by 53 per cent and radio listenership surged by 61 per cent in the year to May 2025, yet it still posted losses of £22m. Stellar audience growth, in other words, continues to coexist with eye-watering financial haemorrhaging.

The maths here tells an uncomfortable story. Revenue did climb by nearly £10m to £26.2m, but losses only narrowed by £10.7m year-on-year. For a business in its fourth year of operation, this suggests something more troubling than teething problems. Either GB News' cost base remains structurally uncompetitive, or advertisers simply won't pay the same rates for its viewers as they do for those watching Sky or the BBC. Possibly both.

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Stellar audience growth, in other words, continues to coexist with eye-watering financial haemorrhaging.

What's particularly striking is the gap between the company's bullish rhetoric and its commercial reality. Chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos insists GB News will become "the UK's largest news channel" within two years, whilst simultaneously acknowledging "inevitable challenges" in capturing market share. That word "inevitable" does rather a lot of work there. Losses of this magnitude four years into a venture don't suggest cyclical headwinds; they point to fundamental questions about the business model itself.

The billionaire's patience problem

Marshall's media ambitions extend well beyond GB News. His portfolio now includes The Spectator and UnHerd, and he was recently in pursuit of The Telegraph before withdrawing from the race. This broader empire-building raises an interesting question: is GB News a genuine commercial proposition, or a well-funded vanity project designed to shift Britain's media landscape regardless of profit?

The hedge fund millionaire has demonstrated remarkable tolerance for red ink. All Perspectives Ltd, the parent company where former Tory minister Lord Agnew sits as a director, injected another £17.7m during the year, pushing total funding north of £141m. That's the kind of financial runway most media startups can only dream about, particularly in a sector where established players like Reach PLC and the Daily Mail and General Trust are seeing revenues decline.

But here's the uncomfortable reality: even with that war chest, GB News appears no closer to profitability than it was at launch. The channel's advertising yield per viewer remains the elephant in the boardroom. Mainstream advertisers have historically been wary of attaching their brands to politically polarising content, and GB News—with Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg among its presenter roster—certainly qualifies as that.

When one billionaire can prop up a broadcaster for years despite persistent losses, traditional competitive dynamics cease to apply.

Regulatory pressure mounting

Whilst GB News battles its balance sheet, regulatory scrutiny is intensifying. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has voiced "particular concerns" about Farage's dual role as presenter and political figure, warning it could erode public trust in media organisations. Given Farage's high-profile position within Reform UK, her unease is hardly surprising.

More damaging still are complaints about editorial standards. Former Ofcom director Chris Banatvala has criticised the regulator for failing to investigate an interview in which Donald Trump told GB News presenter Bev Turner that human-caused climate change was a "hoax" and claimed London operated under "sharia law". According to reporting in The Guardian, Banatvala noted that Turner offered "no challenge whatsoever" to these statements. The accounts show Ofcom was owed £100,000 in regulatory fines from GB News over the year—a detail that speaks to ongoing friction with broadcast standards.

This regulatory vulnerability represents a commercial risk beyond the reputational damage. Persistent breaches could lead to harsher sanctions or even licence complications, particularly if political pressure on Ofcom increases. For a channel already struggling to attract premium advertisers, that's not a problem it can afford.

The context that matters

The viewing figures themselves require careful interpretation. Whilst percentage growth looks impressive, BARB data released in January shows GB News still reaches fewer people weekly than both Sky News and BBC News. Growth from a low base can produce dramatic percentages without changing competitive dynamics substantially.

This isn't a simple story of a failed startup. GB News has clearly found an audience hungry for its particular editorial approach, and in a fragmented media landscape, that's no small achievement. The channel has demonstrated that there's demand for an alternative to what some perceive as establishment broadcasting, despite cumulative losses now exceeding £100m. Whether that demand can ever support a sustainable business is another question entirely.

Marshall's willingness to subsidise these losses indefinitely means GB News isn't going anywhere soon. But it does raise uncomfortable questions about market distortion. Other news organisations, operating without similar deep pockets, must compete for advertising revenue and audience attention against an entity that doesn't need to balance its books.

The next two years will test whether Frangopoulos' prediction of market leadership materialises, or whether GB News becomes a permanent feature of Britain's media landscape precisely because it doesn't need to make money. For those watching the sector, that's perhaps the most significant question of all: not whether GB News can attract viewers, but whether profitability was ever really the point.

More articles by Ross Williams