The rise in profits marked a jump of £11.7m on the broadcaster's 2003 profit.
Channel 4 said ad revenue was up 8%, helping group turnover increase from £769.6m in 2003 to £841.4m in 2004.
The channel's overall audience share was up from 9.6% in 2003 to 9.8% in 2004 thanks to a strong helping of reality TV shows, such as 'Brat Camp', 'Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares' and record 'Big Brother' audiences, as well as award-winning documentaries including 'The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off'.
Operating profits at 4Ventures more than tripled from £3.2m in 2003 to £12.1m in 2004. Total contribution from 4Ventures, which included E4 and Film Four before they were reintegrated into Channel 4 earlier this year, was £161m or 19% of group turnover.
Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan is planning to plough the extra profits into Channel 4 programming, with total expenditure set to rise by £28m to £485m for 2005.
"Our unique status means all our profits are invested back into our programmes and services, for the benefit of viewers and not shareholders," he said.
Multichannel stations E4 and the soon-to-be launched documentary channel More4 will also benefit from increased funding.
E4 will benefit from an extra £20m when it launches on Freeview on May 27, More4 will receive a £33m annual programme budget and money has also been set aside for broadband documentary channel FourDocs and a music .
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