Channel 4 has said it no longer sees its future in traditional television channels, in a decision that could spell the end for some documentaries and other programmes that do not attract younger online audiences.
The broadcaster has announced it will now prioritise commissioning for its All 4 streaming service rather than obsess over ratings on its traditional channels. Its director of programmes, Ian Katz, said the approach was likely to result in fewer one-off films and more investment in longer series that younger viewers like to binge on. “In terms of value of your spend, it’s better to commission series … and where we do singles, they’ll have to be higher impact,” he said.
He highlighted specialist factual shows – for example, documentaries that cover topics such as history, science or religion – as programmes that tended to attract older viewers and would be less likely to be commissioned under the new approach.
Instead, the focus will be on youth-skewed reality shows like The Circle, and buzzy documentaries like the Michael Jackson investigation Leaving Neverland, along with comedies like Derry Girls and The End of the F***ing World.
The announcement came in the same week that Channel 4 recorded its highest live TV audience of the past two decades, as 9.2 million people tuned in to watch the final of The Great British Bake Off.
At the moment the broadcaster is overwhelmingly reliant on income from traditional TV advertising, which collapsed in value during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic but has since largely bounced back.
It said it hoped to make 40% of its revenue from digital advertising and other sources of revenue not linked to the traditional TV market by 2025 – around double the current amount. As part of this it wants more people to pay for All 4+, the ad-free version of its catch-up service, which costs £3.99 a month.
Channel 4’s annual programme budget of £660m a year makes it a relative minnow compared with the likes of the BBC and Netflix, which is investing more than $1bn (£750m) just in UK-filmed productions this year.
The culture minister, John Whittingdale, a longtime proponent of privatising Channel 4, has raised concerns recent months that the broadcaster’s business model may struggle to survive in the face of competition from the likes of Netflix.
The decision to publicly announce the new focus on the digital service is likely to be partly influenced by the government’s ongoing review of Britain’s traditional public service television channels, which is being overseen by Whittingdale.
