GAAGO subscription revenues rise by 118% to €4.96 million

Subscription revenues at the controversial GAA and RTÉ joint streaming venture, GAAGO, surged by €2.6 million, or 118 per cent, to €4.96 million last year.

According to new 2023 accounts filed by GAAGO Media Ltd, the company’s overall revenues more than doubled, rising from €2.4 million to €5.23 million as the platform benefited from its deal to broadcast GAA championship games to a domestic audience behind a pay-wall.

The streaming company’s revenues were made up of €4.96 million in subscription revenues and sponsorship income, which increased three-fold from €90,000 to €273,437.

Against the background of a GAA fan and political backlash of high profile GAA games being put behind the GAAGO paywall, pre-tax profits at the company increased by 47 per cent from €595,750 to €874,047.

The profits for the subscription-based sports channel of the last two years allowed the firm to pay a €1.2 million dividend to its joint owners, RTÉ and the GAA.

The accounts - signed off this month by GAA Croke Park Stadium Director, Peter McKenna and RTÉ’s Group Head of Sport, Declan McBennett - show that the company recorded a post-tax profit of €761,370 in 2023 after paying €112,677 in corporation tax.

On the company’s going concern status, the directors state that trading forecasts to September 2025 "show the company continuing to operate profitably and generating significant levels of operating cashflows".

The report adds: “As a result, the directors are satisfied that the company has sufficient available funding to continue as a going concern for the foreseeable future.”

The directors state that the GAAGO service streams GAA games to both domestic and international audiences and features over 100 live and on-demand games over the year.

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