Christian Broughton. Picture: Dominic Ponsford, Press Gazette
The Independent has said video, AI summary product Bulletin, e-commerce and US growth helped it reduce its reliance on traffic from Google and report record revenue for 2025.
Independent Media has reported revenue growth of 4% to £55.1m in the year to 31 December 2025.
Pre-tax profit was up 9% to £3.5m. This means the publisher, which closed its print edition in 2016, has reported nine consecutive years of profitability.
Revenue is now more than double where it was in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. It already surpassed (in 2024) where revenue had been in the final full year before The Independent and The Independent on Sunday closed in print and The i Paper was sold.
Independent 2025 revenue growth followed diversification
The figures reflect both organic growth and the impact of The Independent taking over the operations of Buzzfeed UK, Huffpost UK, food vertical Tasty UK and black British identity brand Seasoned from Buzzfeed in a multi-year licensing deal in March 2024. In April, after the end of the 2025 financial year, The Independent also took over the running of the Standard website.
In August The Independent was the fourth-biggest commercial newsbrand in the UK with an online audience of 18.3 million people , down 14% compared to the year before according to Ipsos iris. Minutes spent with its content were down 17% to 140.6 million.
The Independent’s UK traffic peak of the past two years was July 2025, with an audience of 22 million and 140.3 million page views.
Globally, website visits to The Independent peaked in the past year in September 2025 on 77.4 million according to Similarweb. In August this year , 63.8 million visits were recorded.
The Independent Media results state that its latest growth was “delivered during a year that was challenging for digital publishers. Marketing budgets were impacted by global trade disruption, and Google made significant changes to its search engine,” referring to the continued increase in the number of queries that generate AI Overviews at the top of search results.
Chief executive Christian Broughton said: “Global media is changing fast, but we have managed to remain one step ahead. The last time the industry shifted this dramatically, we saw the opportunity and took a bold leap into digital… Now we are evolving again, and we do it from the strongest financial position in our history.”
The Independent launched a major expansion into the US in 2023 with former chief executive Zach Leonard moving to become president, North America. A dotcom URL was then created in 2024. Leonard was recently succeeded by Chris Anthony, formerly chief revenue officer at social publisher Gallery Media Group, charged with overseeing the US through its “next phase of growth”.
Revenue from the US and Canada made up 24% of the total for the group for the second year running, but grew 5% in a year to £13.3m.
In early 2025 The Independent launched Bulletin , which uses a team of dedicated journalists and Google AI model Gemini to summarise stories with the aim of keeping readers on site for longer. Bulletin also has its own app, billed as “the news app for seriously busy people” curated by “one of the UK’s most trusted editorial teams”.
The publisher said AI revenues went from zero to make up 7% of the group total in a year.
Independent Studio creates personality-led video and podcasts and revenue through the likes of traditional advertising and brand partnerships was up 31% year on year.
No figures were given for e-commerce revenue growth, but the publisher said the team “responded well to rapid changes in search engines, delivering excellent performance”.
‘Momentum has continued in 2026’
The Independent has said both AI and Studio revenues are set to grow by more than 60% year on year in 2026.
The publisher also cited reader revenues as a new growth area: this week The Independent launched a new membership offering replacing its previous Independent Premium subscription.
Paying members will get member-only content, newsletters and events, no or fewer ads depending on their tier, a personalised newsfeed, puzzles, commenting ability and other perks.
A standard membership costs £11 per month or £99 a year, and all-access members (who also get a digital newspaper edition and ask-me-anything question and answer videos) pay £15 a month or £130 per year.
The Independent said AI innovation, Independent Studio, e-commerce, US and reader revenue now together make up more than 60% of all revenue.
The publisher said: “This more diversified growth model has deepened audience engagement while reducing reliance on any single platform or revenue stream. The company anticipated the impact of AI and Google’s shift towards more zero -click experiences, which have changed search behaviour and reshaped how audiences discover and consume news.”
Chairman John Paton said: “The foundations for the next phase are already in place. Independent Studio is growing strongly, AI is becoming a key revenue stream, and the business continues to reach new audiences and grow its presence in new markets.
“This momentum has continued in 2026, and the group is in a strong position to build on the success o f the past decade.”
The business reports as Independent Digital News and Media on Companies House, where the new accounts have been published.
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