U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 is seeing digital monetization run ahead of audience viewership, CEO Alex Mahon told an industry gathering in London on Tuesday.
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Speaking during a keynote address at the Royal Television Society’s (RTS) London Convention 2024, she was asked if a digital eyeball is worth as much as a linear eyeball for Channel 4. “It is worth more” because “advertisers want to put money into digital,” and they want to put it into “content that is high-quality,” she said.
And monetization is ahead of viewing in digital, with only about 18 percent of audience viewing on digital so far, compared with the nearly 30 percent of ad revenue, the Channel 4 boss explained. “This year, we will hit about 30 percent of our” revenue coming from digital advertising, up from 27 percent in 2023, she forecast. The goal is to get that to 50 percent in a few years, while also developing more digital and other new revenue streams.
Asked about current industry business trends, the Channel 4 boss said that “the ad market is recovering” after a tough 2023, hit by the likes of the Hollywood strikes.
Mahon also reflected on the first nine months of the broadcaster’s “Fast Forward” policy to “accelerate its transformation into an agile, genuinely digital-first public service streamer” by 2030, which included moves to reduce headcount by 18 percent, including around 200 layoffs and the closure of approximately 40 unfilled roles.”
Mahon also discussed the importance of truth and trust in the media, her plans to better represent various parts of the U.K., and how to support the growth of the independent TV sector.
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After a period of cutbacks, Channel 4 is “starting to buy and buy bigger again,” Mahon also said in the direction of production companies hit by its programming spending slowdown.
Mahon also addressed the abandoned proposal for the privatization of the broadcaster. A couple of years ago, a conservative U.K. government had explored such a privatization of Channel 4 , only to abandon that plan later. She said that the public mandates for Channel 4 would not be compatible with the focus on “maximizing profit” as a private enterprise.
The new Labour Party government , led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer , will later in the RTS conference day be represented by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy. “Think about the influence of culture in schools,” Mahon summarized one key message she would like to share with the government. “
Mahon opened Tuesday’s discussion with a reference to this week’s sentencing of former BBC News anchor Huw Edwards after he pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children, which BBC director-general Tim Davie addressed earlier in the convention day. Asked how she was, Mahon said good, adding: “No pedophiles.”
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