Channel 4 and Paramount have agreed to bring advertising sales for Channel 4 and 5 under the same sales house roof for the first time. From 2027, Channel 4 Sales will represent 5 and a substantial portfolio of Paramount television brands in the United Kingdom, in a long-term agreement intended to offer advertisers greater scale. It is a significant commercial deal in its own right, but its timing raises some interesting questions about the future shape of Channel 4, Channel 5 and the wider British television market.
Under the agreement, Channel 4 Sales will take responsibility for airtime sales across 5, Milkshake!, 5USA, 5Star, 5Select and 5Action, together with Paramount channels including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. The arrangement covers television and streaming inventory and brings together the advertising operations of two commercial public service broadcasters for the first time. Paramount describes 5 as the third largest commercial broadcast network in the UK, reaching 28.5 million people each month, with 24 million registered streaming users.
There are important exclusions. Paramount will continue to handle advertising for its direct-to-consumer services Paramount+ and Pluto TV, as well as social advertising, sponsorship and creative partnerships across its portfolio. This is not a transfer of the entire Paramount advertising operation in the United Kingdom. It is principally an alliance around the advertising inventory of its broadcast television brands and their associated streaming services.
Nevertheless, it considerably increases the scale of Channel 4 Sales. The Paramount television advertising business has been reported to be worth more than £300 million annually. Channel 4 already represents other broadcasters, notably BBC Studios-owned UKTV, for which it has sold advertising since 2010. It added the Great Network to its portfolio at the beginning of this year, taking that business from Sky Media as well. UKTV has also gone a step further, making hundreds of programmes from its U service available within Channel 4 streaming.
For Rak Patel, the chief commercial officer of Channel 4, the attraction is about “scale, simplicity and effectiveness”. Reemah Sakaan, president of 5, says the partnership “strengthens public service media in the UK”. Those phrases perhaps say rather more than the usual enthusiasm surrounding an advertising sales contract. The two broadcasters are presenting the agreement partly as an answer to the need for British public service media to achieve greater commercial scale.
Channel 4 chief executive Priya Dogra calls it a “tremendous proposition for advertisers”. She said: “This groundbreaking collaboration will give advertisers seamless access to a unique portfolio of trusted, premium brands and even larger audiences. It will also generate new commercial opportunities for two distinctive commercial PSBs, helping support further investment in British programming.”
Her involvement makes the timing particularly interesting. Dogra only took over as chief executive in March. Before joining Channel 4 she ran advertising, data and new revenues at Sky, including responsibility for Sky Media. Previously she spent 14 years with Time Warner, WarnerMedia and Warner Bros. Discovery, ultimately becoming president and managing director for EMEA. Earlier still, she headed mergers and acquisitions and corporate strategy at Time Warner and WarnerMedia. She began her career in investment banking.
Six months into her new role, the new chief executive has begun what Channel 4 describes as a major transformation. The broadcaster proposes to remove 340 roles, around 28% of its workforce, reducing management layers and non-programming expenditure. Channel 4 says this is only the first stage of a wider strategy, with its future direction based around distribution, partnerships and platforms. It has also appointed a new chief strategy and corporate development officer with responsibility for partnerships, growth and corporate development opportunities.
It is therefore reasonable to wonder whether the Paramount agreement could eventually become more than an advertising relationship and develop into something more serious.
There is no suggestion yet that Channel 4 and 5 are planning a merger, and their ownership could hardly be more different. Channel 4 is publicly owned and operates under a statutory remit, while 5 belongs to Paramount, an American media group that is itself in the process of attempting to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. That $110 billion transaction has received competition clearance in the United Kingdom and federal approvals in the United States, although legal challenges remain unresolved.
If the deal completes, however, 5 will form a relatively small British public service broadcasting operation within an enormous international group containing Paramount, CBS, HBO, Warner Bros., Discovery and other global media businesses. That inevitably raises questions about the strategic place of Channel 5 within such a group. Equally, Channel 4 needs to establish a sustainable role as viewing and advertising continue to migrate towards global platforms.
The answer need not involve common ownership. Channel 4 and 5 could remain editorially distinct while sharing more of the machinery underneath them. Advertising is one obvious area. Technology, data, distribution, content partnerships and perhaps elements of streaming infrastructure offer others. A leaner Channel 4 could increasingly become a platform through which other media owners obtain reach and commercial scale, while retaining its distinctive commissioning and public service role.
That possibility also complicates another strand of thinking about the future of British public service media. Government policy has explicitly encouraged the BBC to use its scale to develop partnerships with other public service media providers and the wider commercial sector. Channel 4 might appear an obvious partner. It already sells advertising for UKTV, which is owned by BBC Studios, while since January the U service has also been carried within Channel 4 streaming.
Until now, television advertising for Paramount in the United Kingdom has been represented by Sky Media. Moving more than £300 million of business from Sky to Channel 4 means giving up a relationship with the largest television advertising sales house in the country, including access to the addressable capabilities associated with Sky AdSmart.
There is nevertheless an intriguing coincidence of timing. Sky, now part of the giant Comcast group, is proposing to acquire the ITV media and entertainment business for £1.6 billion. The Competition and Markets Authority is currently considering the transaction and has specifically invited views on its impact on competition.
Transferring the Paramount advertising business from Sky Media to Channel 4 reduces Sky’s advertising representation while creating a substantially larger alternative sales operation at Channel 4. That may prove convenient when the competitive consequences of a combination of Sky and ITV are being considered. There is no evidence that the transactions are connected, but the resulting market structure could be easier to defend.
What begins to emerge is the possibility of a broader rebalancing of British commercial television. Sky and ITV could become more closely integrated through ownership. Channel 4 and 5 are becoming commercially aligned through advertising sales. BBC Studios-owned UKTV already has both an advertising and streaming relationship with Channel 4. At the same time, government policy is encouraging greater collaboration across public service media as the domestic industry confronts global technology and entertainment groups of vastly greater scale.
None of this means that the familiar British broadcasting brands are about to disappear. They may remain very important to viewers, commissioners and regulators. What could become less important is the assumption that every broadcaster needs to maintain an entirely separate commercial and technical organisation behind its brand.
The Channel 4 and 5 advertising agreement may simply be a sensible sales partnership. In the present circumstances, however, it is difficult not to wonder whether it also offers a glimpse of how British public service media may begin to reorganise itself.