The loss comes despite a rise in group sales to £93.6m, up from £81.3m last year. New media losses of £9.1m wiped out an operating profit of £4.3m for its core business.
However, the firm remains dedicated to its new media ventures and will support them with a £26.8m fund it has set aside. It expects that the current tough market will bode well for its three main operations -- sports site Rivals.net, music site Darkerthanblue and cities portal Citipages -- by eliminating its competitors.
It says its radio division, the fourth-largest radio group in the UK with brands such as Heart and Galaxy, has continued to outperform the market as a whole and the company has reassured shareholders with expectations of potential for growth.
Chrysalis's wholly owned TV production subsidiary Cactus recently won the contract to produce the new Richard and Judy show for Channel 4, while established series through its visual entertainment division such as Midsomer Murders, Formula 1, Top 10 and Clarkson have been recommissioned.
This morning the share price dropped 5p to 265p on news of the results.