Global revenue at the Financial Times Group was above half-a-billion pounds for the second time in 2024, growing by 6% to £540m.
The publisher saw revenue growth in paid content and events, but advertising revenue was slightly down.
Global operating profit for the business newsbrand and its wider operations also increased, by 41% to £42.2m in 2024 – the publisher said.
The global figures were revealed in consolidated and unaudited figures shared internally and seen by Press Gazette.
The FT is wholly owned by private Japanese firm Nikkei, which does not publish any global financial figures for the news group, making this report the best indicator of the 137-year-old newsbrand’s financial health.
UK accounts for Financial Times Ltd have also been published on Companies House, showing revenue up 2% to £454.6m but operating profit down 19% to £7.3m – a drop attributed to inflation and investment in 30 extra employees.
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Last year was the final of 20 years under chief executive John Ridding, who was succeeded on 1 July this year by former chief commercial officer Jon Slade.
In the internal report, Ridding said reader engagement among its most engaged “super fan” subscribers “passed the 600k mark for the first time” (a number which is recorded over a 90-day rolling period).
The FT also measures global paying audience as its “North Star” goal: the number of people who have paid for journalism and other products and services across the FT Group, including via the Financial Times itself, FT Specialist, FT Chinese and those paying to attend FT Live events.
The FT Group’s global paying audience increased from 2.57 million people at the end of 2023 to 2.83 million at the end of 2024, growth of 10%. The FT alone, according to the Companies House accounts, reached 1.48 million paying readers across all formats in 2024 of which 1.35 million were digital subscribers.
The internal report said: “This momentum was driven by strong performance across our core FT and FT Specialist readership, the successful acquisition of Endpoints News, and expanding audiences in India, as well as among younger readers in education.”
A goal has been set to reach three million paying readers by the global paying audience metric by 2028.
FT revenue 2024 broken down
Almost a quarter (24% or £128m) of total revenue came from FT Commercial, which includes advertising on FT.com and in the newspaper, and in-house creative studio FT Studio. Luxury advertising, for example on HTSI (formerly How To Spend It), was highlighted as a strong area.
This meant advertising was down 4% from £134m in 2023, which had been its best year since 2012.
Consumer revenue, meaning paying subscribers, was up 5% to £110m with average annual revenue per user of almost £400.
The internal report said the growth was “thanks to a focus on deepening customer relationships, innovating our acquisition and retention strategies, and sustaining long-term growth.
“Driving value from our core audience has been a major focus… We invested in AI-driven personalisation and tested new ways to engage audiences and ensure we’re ready for the future, such as smarter registration-to-subscription journeys and a strong focus on first-party data growth.”
FT Specialist, which comprises 17 brands such as The Banker and Investors’ Chronicle, saw revenue up 11% year on year. Biopharma title Endpoints News in which the FT took a majority stake in 2023 reported revenue up 26%. Readership across the FT Specialist brands was said to be up 18% year on year.
FT Professional, which includes corporate subscriptions to FT.com and other services for companies, saw revenue grow by 12% year on year to represent a “significant share of the FT Group’s global paying audience” with a substantial share of new clients coming from India.
FT Live (events) revenue was up 11% to £37.3m with an operating profit increase of 29% year on year. The fastest-growing events were The Future of the Car, Global Banking Summit and Future of Asset Management North America.
Consulting arm FT Strategies, which works with publishers, brought in more than £15m in revenue.
The FT also launched investment arm FT Ventures in 2024 and initial investments included future-of-work media and research company and Canadian business and tech newsbrand The Logic.
John Ridding: FT ‘on track’ for medium-term targets
Ridding said in the report that the business had “successfully navigated a turbulent news cycle, an uncertain economic landscape, and the rapid evolution of generative AI”.
He said: “Our business performance was driven by a combination of editorial excellence and growth across all major revenue lines.
“Advertising was resilient, while our major engines of paid-for content and events – FT Specialist, FT Professional, FT Live, and the Consumer Revenue Group – all experienced revenue growth.”
Ridding described the £41m global operating profit as “healthy” and “keeping us on track for our medium-term targets and a sustainable operating margin”.
Staff were given a one-off bonus payment to recognise the performance and their hard work, Ridding said. This was £1,000 (or the equivalent in local currency) paid in January 2025.
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