UK’s Zinc Media bucks market with 34% revenue rise & highest profits in 13 years

Bargain Loving Brits

UK-based Zinc Media Group is looking at “strategic acquisitions” after reporting a 34% rise in revenue during 2023 and its highest profits for 13 years.

The company, which owns firms including Brook Lapping and Tern TV, confirmed expectations set in February with a positive set of results today that saw revenues to end of 2023 soaring from £30m ($37.5m) in 2022 to £40m in 2023. EBITDA rose from £0.1m to £1m over the same period.

The results, which came after an overhaul of the business in 2019, were fuelled by TV revenues growing £4m (+19%) year-on-year, while branded content firm The Edge – acquired by Zinc in 2022 following a £5m private investment – reported revenues of £13m.

Mark Browning

The Mark Browning-led group reported its highest level of international business ever with 23% of revenues coming from outside the UK, up from 18% in 2022, while its slate now includes 15 TV series that were recommissioned alongside six new series.

Zinc said it produced 250 hours of TV in 2023, with shows such as BBC’s doc Putin vs The West and Channel 4’s Gender Wars highlighted, alongside Fighter Pilots: The Real Top Gun (w/t) for National Geographic, which will be available on Disney+.

Its label, Red Sauce, also secured its largest-ever TV commission in a two-year deal from Channel 5 for 136 hours of the hit show Bargain Loving Brits and digital branded commissions such as Big In America with Alex Polizzi, commissioned by the Department for Business & Trade and broadcast on LinkedIn, also pushed up revenues.

Zinc’s revenues from TV shows made outside of London also ticked up from 67% in 2022 to 70% in 2023, with the broader results bucking a challenging UK and international market as commissioners cut back on spend.

Browning, CEO at Zinc, added that the “year of record achievement” followed “significant investment in our people and our businesses along with our acquisition of The Edge 18 months ago. We have big ambitions to scale this group through organic expansion and strategic acquisition.”

There was little change to Zinc’s share price which is down 2% on the day and 13% over the past 12 months.