Channel 4 is offering £1m in free TV advertising space to a campaign featuring disability and disabled talent.
The broadcaster has launched the £1m competition for the ad space, called Superhumans Wanted, as part of its “year of disability” built around the broadcaster’s coverage of the Rio Paralympic Games later this year.
“As part of Channel 4’s year of disability we want to ensure that our commitment to better reflecting disabled people goes beyond just our editorial approach and into our ad breaks,” said Channel 4 sales director Jonathan Allan. “The aim is to inspire agencies and clients to think about what they can do to champion disability.”
The name of the competition has echoes of Channel 4’s own “Meet the Superhumans” ad campaign that promoted its coverage of the London 2012 Paralympics.
The competition, unveiled at Advertising Week Europe on Tuesday, is open to the brand, organisation or ad agency that submits the strongest campaign.
The winning campaign will be given £1m of airtime across Channel 4’s portfolio launching in the first ad break of the Rio Paralympic Games opening ceremony on 7 September.
“By us putting some serious skin in the game through giving away this significant amount of TV airtime, we hope to encourage the best creative ideas from our ad partners that will resonate with our viewers and challenge perceptions of disability, just as our Meet the Superhumans campaign did in 2012.”
In January, Channel 4 announced its year of disability with commitments to boost on- and off-screen representation of disabled people.
This includes doubling the number of disabled people appearing in 20 of Channel 4’s biggest shows, including Gogglebox, The Island, and Hollyoaks the First Dates.
Channel 4’s coverage of the Rio Paralympics will be hosted by Clare Balding and Breaking Bad actor RJ Mitte, who played Walter White’s disabled son Walt Jr.
