Keeping up with the BBC: GB News invests £14m since launch
GB News have invested nearly £14m in the last year as the news channel attempts to go head-to-head with the likes of Sky News and the BBC for viewer eyeballs.
The latest accounts show how the owner of GB News All Perspectives has been drawing down £46.5m worth of cash since last spring to aid the network’s expansion.
GB News, which is headed by former Sky News Australia Angelos Frangopoulos, has attracted ongoing attention for its presenter and commentator line-up, including Nigel Farage, MailOnline columnist Dan Wootton, and former ITV presenter Alastair Stewart.
The Discovery-backed channel launched in June last year, with the overarching aim being to broadcast “original news, opinion and debate”, which crucially mixes news coverage alongside opinion-based content.
According to the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board, the TV channel reaches around two million people each month, compared to BBC News Channel’s 15.9 million and Sky News’ 10.9 million, the Press Gazette reported.
The right-leaning channel notably got off to a rocky start last summer. Not only was the launch plagued with technical difficulties, but it also saw the sudden departure of former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil as its star presenter.