David Abraham Speech to the FT Digital Media Conference

8 March 2012

What is a TV network now?

I'd like to use this platform to pose and then suggest some answers to a simple question: what is the role of a TV network in a world of connected technologies?  Perhaps none of us can have a totally precise response at this point but what I want to do today is to set out some principles and some practices that we at Channel 4 are adopting as we work our way through this most disruptive but exciting of periods in the evolution of media.

I shall preface everything I say by reminding you that Channel 4 is a unique, independent and self-financed but publically owned body that works to a very specific remit - to experiment and challenge through the work it commissions from independent producers - to always have a sense of mission with a twist of mischief.  Programmes such as this week's Make Bradford British, or our recent Dispatches on on-line ticket mis-selling; or our involvement in supporting British Film through Film 4.  As such, our approach to answering the question must be framed by this remit.  In the Digital Economy Act of 2010 we were also specifically mandated by Parliament to seek ways to deliver this remit across emerging digital media which we do with shows such the Food Hospital and Embarrassing Bodies Live.

The dictionary definition of the word ‘network' in the context of TV is this: ‘a group of broadcasting stations connected for a simultaneous broadcast of a programme'. 

That conjures up in my mind a series of television transmitters (or satellites or cables) geared and scaled to ensure that a single signal gets a single piece of content out at the same time to a mass audience for maximum and immediate social, cultural and often commercial reach and impact.  Linear broadcasting, in other words.  A technology that was always as much about scale of impact as it was scale of engineering.

Of course, linear broadcasting remains much the most important part of Channel 4's activity, and the primary way in which we reach audiences and deliver our remit.  More so perhaps than many of us in this room imagined would be the case in 2012.

But this is partly because over the past decade we have refined the execution into targeted linear channels that support our original mass-reach channel. These so called digital channels are now all profitable - but they took over a decade to mature.

With digital switchover now almost complete all channels are effectively digital - and we focus on our portfolio performance which interestingly at over 11%, is as high as it was when we were just one channel over a decade ago.

However, we're here today to think about the impact and importance of new technologies and what they mean for our audiences. So I looked for another dictionary definition.  How's this?  ‘A chain of interconnected computers, machines, or operations'.  Well, that's sounding a bit more like the digital age.  It covers activities like 4oD that rely on interconnected computers and that provide significant growth opportunities for viewing on-demand, enabling us to offer our content to viewers wherever and whenever they want it.

4oD is the leading commercial on-line catch-up player in the UK and is now available on xbox, ps3, iOS and Android as well as PC. This computer network also allows us to complement TV's longstanding approach of measuring audiences and content, with a new and deep understanding of viewers and viewer behaviour - the mythical return-path which for decades eluded traditional broadcasters.

And there's a third definition of ‘network' - which captures the biggest new development of the past 5 years: ‘a group of people who exchange information, contacts, and experiences for professional or social purposes'. Sharing stuff about themselves, their lives and their views. 

When that dictionary definition was written who could have imagined the impact of the advent of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and their ilk?  Or the possibility that social networks could sit alongside TV networks as important means of learning and talking about - and maybe even discovering - content?

What seems pretty clear is that any TV network today will need to explore and find unique combinations all three of these aspects of networks if it is to remain relevant over the next decade.

At Channel 4 we've divided up the implications of these changes into three areas:

• A long term trend towards identifying viewers more closely and individually
• The technical capacity to personalise the viewing experience more
• Leading to the opportunity to create enhanced value for our marketing and advertising partners

I'm now going to tell you what we are doing so far in each area, but before I do so, take a look at this short video that gives you a flavour of what we've been doing recently.