Channel 4.0 brief 2024

What are we looking for?

Channel 4.0 is Channel 4’s newest, and youngest, brand. It’s Digital-only and proudly premieres on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. We’ve already amassed tens of millions of views across our shows and made huge waves in the youth-culture landscape in less than a year. As we scale up in 2024, prepare for more explosive action, irrepressible joy and authentic youth content chaos brought to you by the very best Digital talent in the UK and beyond.

In the short time since launch, Channel 4.0 has brought the 16-24 target audience a plethora of fun, scampy and entertaining formats. Successes for the Channel have seen Chunkz exploring heritage through food in competition series Secret Sauce, Nella Rose quizzing friendship groups to determine who’s boarding a flight, and who is going home on Flight Mode, Harry Pinero taking A-List digital talent back to school in Worst in Class, and Tapped Out, where an all-female cast set about pranking the public in a range of cringe-worthy situations.

Our content looks and feels premium in a heavily crowded space. As well as fluently speaking the language of YouTube and socials, we’re bringing traditional storytelling to youth audiences and fusing them with a refreshed unapologetic energy through casting, talent and clever nods to cultural nuances throughout. We explore topics that matter to young people through shouty toplines and strictly entertaining vibes that have Channel 4’s DNA running through them.

TALENT

We’re looking to collaborate with the biggest Digital names as well as bring through the next generation. All our formats need to be talent-fronted and have authentic friendship dynamics at the heart of them. We love our talent to cross-pollinate the channel and feature as both host and guest in different formats. That’s why you’ll see Nella Rose, Chunkz, Mist, Adeola Patronne, BillytheGoat and Chloe Burrows pop up in various shows as we create an ecosystem of Creators who represent 4.0. We want to launch and nurture new faces who aren’t already a part of the 4.0 roster though trialling them as guests in shows with rotating casts.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

We love formats that bring the bedlam, belly-laughs and bravado out of our Talent. We’re looking for ideas that allow two creators or groups of creators to go head-to-head. The stakes can be ridiculously high, or comically low, as our Stars battle it out for bragging rights, to avoid forfeits or to win big prizes for contributors. We’re looking for innovative takes on pranks and quizzes, clever but silly twists on gameshows, and formats that subvert the norms of traditional competitions through madcap toplines with constant hits of humour with an ensemble cast. Secret Sauce ticks the food competition box for us, Tapped Out has proven pranks from the culture have a cult-like following and we’ve got a great ensemble cast in Harry Pinero’s Worst in Class – what’s the next Head-to-Head format that brings us into new arenas with a distinctive 4.0 tone of voice? How does your idea stand out with a series-defining twist, prize or forfeit? What digital talent line up is truly unmissable for our audience?

WILDEST DREAM EXPERIMENTS

We want bold exploration ideas that tap into a part of the brain that many lose once they’ve entered the confines of the adult world. Can you plug back in and bring us a format to shock, entertain and educate the next generation?

We’re looking for talent with a glint in their eye and mischief in their bones to be let loose concocting a series of stunts or experiments out in the real world that every teen wishes they could try, or be a part of. YouTube is awash with science and social experiments that push the limits of possibility or create mayhem just for the views – what’s the 4.0 format that rivals the likes of Mr Beast by allowing our Talent the chance to pull off a series of out-of-the-box stunts from their wildest dreams? Whether it’s MOST vs LEAST, I Broke Out of A… or I Got 100 people to…, these experiments should capture the imaginations of our young viewers and get them talking and instantly subscribing for more. This series should be pure playground-humour entertainment whilst thinking big, jaw-dropping and action-packed from start to finish.

UNMISSABLE EVENTS / 4.0 SPECIALS

We want to hear your boldest ideas for big, must-watch events that bring a medley of our talent together. With irresistible titles that are impossible to scroll past, what are the most anarchic stunts, specials and real-world shakers that we can host on 4.0 and feel like a huge treat for our 4.0 fans? What’s our Sidemen Football Match or Niko’s Mayoral Campaign? What’s our big end of year blowout? Or Summer holiday treat? How can we get the 4.0 community queuing up to attend and then running home to watch? These big events will work as standalone stunts and make noise on our platforms and beyond.

CREATORS DATING

In 2024 we want a Dating show that rips up the rulebooks and really gets to the heart of what the love landscape looks like for Gen Z. Our 4.0 Talent are always talking about their unwieldy dates, shockingly bad game or puffing out their chests to impress their love interests and now we want to put them to the test. How can we tackle dating, fronted by Creators, that dials hard into the nuances of how beautifully savage or terrifyingly fast-moving the dating scene can be? Still packed with Channel 4’s progressive values, pitch us ideas that rival the quick hits of 20 v 1, the boisterous humour of Does the Shoe Fit, or the digital version of Celebs Go Dating.

STUDIO SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS

We’re looking for simple studio shot formats with a rotating cast of new and old faces to the channel. Simple is good, but these formats must have something to say about us all whilst remaining funny-first and rebellious. White infinity cove and low-fi in style, we want pitches for games/experiments for a group of talent to play that rivals the likes of Cut, Jubilee and Beta Squad’s False Identity. Challenging preconceptions, divisive topics, testing social constructs and exploring different cultural perspectives is key here and the formats should be irresistible for our viewers to play along with – whilst feeling like a part of the gang of 4.0 faces who are playing them.

CELEBRITY GUEST FORMATS

We want simple but iconic formats that show a different side of celebrity guests like Mist’Driven, Hot Ones, Secret Sauce or Chicken Shop Date. These studio shot series should open up conversations with spit-your-drink out moments like Truth or Drink and be able to accommodate either a new talent or a Hollywood superstar. We want this format to become a must-have for any celebrity PR run and feel distinctive across all socials.