The broadcaster said advertising revenues for 2002 will be £632m, a £28m increase on last year, as peaktime ratings climb to a record 9.6% of audience share, up from 9.3% last time.
Since autumn 2000, Channel 4 has undertaken a rigorous cost-cutting programme, which has seen 300 jobs axed along with its FilmFour production division. As a result of these cuts, the broadcaster said it has reduced its overheads by 33% since 2000.
Last year, Channel 4 reported pre-tax losses of £20.6m, its first losses in 10 years, which was blamed largely on its commercial operation 4 Ventures.
The company announced today that its 4 Ventures has halved its losses and that, despite reduced coverage following the closure of ITV Digital, its digital channel E4 has achieved record viewing figures among its target audience of 16- to 34-year-olds.
Its share of this audience in multichannel homes has doubled to 3%, the broadcaster said in a statement.
The channel also recently axed its long-running soap 'Brookside', shunting it to a single Saturday episode ahead of pulling it off air next year, and said that viewing figures rose after the move.
Last week, the ITC said that Channel 4 rose to 10% of TV audience share, up by 0.9% from last time, as its digital offshoot E4 retained its 0.9% share.
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