PRE-TAX PROFITS at GAAGO, the controversial GAA pay-walled streaming service established by the GAA and RTE, last year surged by 28% to €1.11m.

New accounts filed show that pre-tax profits increased sharply at GAAGO Media Ltd as subscription revenues increased by 7% from €4.96m to €5.3m.

Overall revenues rose by 10% from €5.23m to €5.74m as the platform benefited from its deal to broadcast GAA championship games to a domestic audience behind a pay-wall.

Revenues are made up of the subscription revenue of €5.3m, sponsorship income of €285,417, and ‘other income’ of €148,312.

This year, the GAA agreed to purchase RTE’s share of the business in the 50/50 joint venture and the streaming service has since rebranded to GAA+.

Against the background of a continuing GAA fan and political backlash of high profile GAA games being put behind the GAAGO paywall in 2024, post-tax profits increased by 28.5% from €761,370 to €978,986.

During 2024, the company incurred a corporation tax charge of €138,985.

The profits for the subscription based sports channel last year allowed the firm to pay a €1m dividend to its joint owners, RTE and the GAA, and this followed a €1.2m dividend payout in 2023.

The accounts – signed off by GAA Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna and RTE’s Group Head of Sport Declan McBennett on 2 September- show that the firm’s accumulated profits at the end of 2024 totalled €1.32m. Cash funds decreased from €2.87m to €2.1m.

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, a library of award winning GAA documentaries as well as archive of classic games from yesteryear.

The broadcast of the games to a domestic audience resulted in the company’s costs increasing by 6% from €4.36m to €4.62m last year.

The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €39,207.

The accounts state that the company has an operational commitment to broadcast games to an international audience until the end of the rights agreement in 2027.

Criticism of the paywall element of the service from GAA fans and politicians was more muted this year.

However, in the year under review, then-Taoiseach Simon Harris and then-Tánaiste Micheal Martin were among those who hit out at GAAGO, with Harris claiming the GAA had “gotten it wrong” in relation to the service.

Martin agreed and added: “I’ve huge concerns about it, I don’t understand it, in terms of the promotion of the game of hurling.”

GAA President Jarlath Burns defended the streaming service in an interview in May on Today with Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio.

He said: “I’m very surprised to hear the Taoiseach speaking about this, considering that last year we sat in front of an Oireachtas committee.

He added: “There were no issues and at the end of it they accepted every argument that we had, all of our rationale for the fact that we only have one broadcast partner, which is RTÉ, they have 35 matches.”