Channel 4 CEO: ‘Privatising the channel would damage the advertising and creative industries’
Channel 4's propensity to take creative risks would be dampened and consequently its value to advertisers eroded if it were under private ownership, according to chief executive David Abraham.
The media boss believes the calibre of his channel’s content could be lost if its remit changed and it had to deliver return on investment at the expense of quality. It is being considered if the state-owned, commercially funded broadcaster, which prides itself on its contribution to the country’s creative economy, should be put up for sale in a bid to raise an estimated £1bn for Treasury coffers.
“[Channel 4] is delivering something instinctive to advertisers but its also delivering something very important to the creative industry in the UK,” Abraham said when asked how privatising the channel would impact its advertising at its Upfront event yesterday evening (17 November).
He added that the media owner is predicated on having a “distinctive, additive” experience to the BBC and ITV, which “still stands to this day” with shows like Gogglebox and Hunted.
His reasoning is that its unique stream of content is what advertisers buy into and forms the focal point of how it differentiates its inventory. If privatisation does happen then there’s more pressure on it to produce commercially strong content that might not always be innovative, which Abraham fears ultimately will stunt the flow of great shows.
“It’s remarkable to me how different our schedule is [to the BBC and ITV] and how many more new programmes we try every week compared to them both,” he continued.
Of the channel’s top 500 programmes by rating, it has 176 different programmes, whereas 80 per cent of ITV’s top 500 are either Emmerdale or Coronation, the broadcaster claimed at the event.
Some of the UK’s biggest media agencies share Abraham’s view and believe a privatised Channel 4 would compromise the quality of its content.
“If privatisation happens with Channel 4 then there’s more pressure to deliver a certain profit number,” said Dan Clays, chief executive of OMD. “Anything that gets in the way of creating brilliant content, which Channle 4 does very well, is problematic. It’s really important that we do whatever we can to protect against [Channel 4’s privatisation] because we want as much funding as possible for great content.”
Such a move would mean that shows that deliver a return on investments would be preferred to those that “might be good quality” but don’t deliver the same returns, according to Josh Krichefski chief operating officer at Mediacom UK. “That would be terrible for the UK market because I think we’re quite unique in terms of the quality of content that we’re producing. It would become much more of a commercial thing, which would be a shame.”