By David Price, Managing Director
Channel 4 is preparing for major change, with hundreds of jobs set to go and a new strategy taking shape under CEO Priya Dogra.
But cutting costs is only part of the challenge. With linear advertising declining, global streamers competing for audiences and the proposed Sky-ITV combo threatening to reshape the UK TV market, Channel 4 needs to rethink where it can compete – and where it can’t.
David Price, Managing Director of The Grove Media, argues that the broadcaster’s future could depend on becoming smaller, smarter and more distinctive, while radically changing how it works with advertisers.
The recent news of Channel 4’s proposed redundancies came as little surprise. That said, the numbers are quite startling and give some indication as to why significant change at the channel is inevitable and, frankly, necessary.
Around 340 roles are to go at Channel 4 – 28% of workforce – as the first stage of a broader transformation led by CEO Priya Dogra. While that’s a drastic cut, Channel 4’s average monthly head count has rocketed from 814 in 2016 to 1255 in 2025.
Dogra is also expected to make changes to the content and commissioning operation, cutting back on the number of shows it commissions with a focus on finding fewer but more well-funded programmes, a strategy she adopted while at Sky and Warner Bros Discovery.
While questions have been raised about the financial management of Channel 4, it isn’t facing a financial crisis, but rather a structural squeeze. Revenues have remained above £1bn for five consecutive years, but the broadcaster has moved from a £101m pre-tax surplus in 2021 to deficits in each of the past three years.
Meanwhile, linear advertising revenue has fallen by almost a third since 2021, from £835m to £576m, even as revenue from its growing streaming and digital business have grown by more than 50%.
And competitive pressure is coming from on two fronts. Traditional broadcaster reach continues to fall as the likes of Netflix and Prime grow in strength. In 2025, 70% of people watched content from traditional broadcasters for at least 15 minutes in an average week, down from 73% in 2024 and 78% in 2022.
And, the recently announced takeover of ITV by Sky will create a broadcasting giant with around 70% of traditional linear TV in the UK and an estimated 44% share of the UK TV ad market – heaping yet more pressure on Channel 4.
So, it’s clear to see why change is needed at Channel 4. Cutting costs, while painful, is arguably the easiest lever to pull; making the right strategic changes to ensure a healthy future for the channel will be a greater challenge. So what are some of the changes that Channel 4 could make?
Stop chasing scale
Dogra has already indicated her intention to commission fewer, better-funded programmes and this is arguably the right approach. The channel can put more marketing weight behind turning them into genuine cultural moments, while retaining the breadth and diversity of programming required by its public-service remit.
Sky’s takeover of ITV means Channel 4 simply cannot compete on scale; nor can it match the sheer content volume of the global streamers. Instead, it should lean into what is harder to replicate: distinctive programming, younger and harder-to-reach audiences, trusted environments and cultural relevance.
This approach could shift the advertising model away from the scale that Sky/ITV will command towards attention, context, audience quality and cultural relevance.
Make distinctiveness pay
Inherent in the shift to selling scarcity is embracing a true quality/premium position. While Channel 4 is still a relatively small player, its streaming transformation is working. The challenge is for more audiences and advertisers to choose Channel 4 in a world of Netflix, Disney+ and YouTube.
Channel 4 needs to lean into its advantages: distinctive and sometimes challenging British drama, brave and market-leading news/current affairs, respected public-service credentials and well-earned cultural identity.
It can make distinctiveness central to its commissioning and package the strongest properties as premium opportunities across linear, streaming and digital. In this way, premium is all about quality, originality, trust and cultural impact.
Collaborate without losing what makes Channel 4 different
On the day the news of the redundancies broke there was discussion on some broadcast channels that pointed to the need for the channel to work more closely with the BBC. And, yes, the BBC and Channel 4 face the same pressure from global platforms, creating opportunities to collaborate on content and co-productions where pooling resources can produce stronger British programming.
But that should arguably be where closer integration stops. Channel 4’s value lies in being editorially and culturally distinct – importantly it has the ability to take editorial and creative risks, which the BBC seems less and less able to do.
Collaborations can also take other forms and with other partners. The channel has just announced that it will become the exclusive ad sales partner for Paramount’s brands in the UK, including 5, owned by Paramount subsidiary Channel 5 Broadcasting. It is the first time advertising for both Channel 4 and 5 will be handled under one roof. I’m sure that Dogra will be looking for more smart deals and collaborations like this.
Make Channel 4 easier to buy
A combined Sky and ITV is likely to offer agencies a single point of entry, enabling them to plan, buy and optimise campaigns across a much broader inventory. No need to stitch together multiple commercial relationships. And the likes of Google and Meta have conditioned advertisers to expect buying to be straightforward and accessible.
Channel 4 is making life simpler through Universal Ads and programmatic buying, but it could go much further and focus on becoming much more flexible in its approach to advertising.
Simplifying products, making smaller campaigns viable, improving cross-platform measurement and providing easier creative routes for businesses without existing TV assets are all actions that would benefit advertisers.
Go where the audience is
Channel 4 is successfully shifting its distribution to streaming and it needs to continue on this journey. Distribution should be focused on wherever audiences actually spend time, and where advertisers will inevitably follow. YouTube is one such place.
There is a real opportunity for the channel to commission and package content for YouTube as well as linear and streaming. As a public-service broadcaster, Channel 4 now has far greater flexibility to deliver content through on-demand and online services.
Channel 4 started its life back in 1982 as an innovative and alternative broadcaster. It was focused on quality and delivering programming that audiences were not getting elsewhere.
While it was very much part of the mainstream, some of its content was not for everybody, and that was fine. As Channel 4 looks to transform itself, where it started could offer good guidance for how the channel can make itself more relevant, attractive and easy to access for both audiences and advertisers.
This article appeared in a recent edition of Mediashotz, link below
