Channel 4’s long-form content deal with YouTube is a cracking deal for the broadcaster, but at what expense to the UK market?
The deal, which puts 4oD on the most popular online video site, gives UK users access to free long-form content including Channel 4’s catch-up and archive programming.
At a time when the publishing industry debates the validity of the paid-for content model, Channel 4 has bravely embraced ad-funded content
The revenue-sharing deal gives the broadcaster a massive boost in eyeballs for its services and creates new premium inventory for its sales teams.
It’s also a big boost for the broadcaster’s 4oD service, which was once the market leader in VOD but has fallen behind its rivals – most notably ITV – in recent months.
It was Channel 4 that took the biggest blow when Kangaroo was prohibited by the Competition Commission. Having invested heavily in the joint-venture service, its collapse left the broadcaster scrambling to reassert itself against rivals which had gained significant ground.
This deal will not only help Channel 4 to realise its ambitions to consolidate 4oD as the leading commercial video-on-demand service, it should also deliver huge revenues, with the broadcaster reportedly getting the majority of the revenue split.
The timing is also significant, coming as speculation increases that ITV is merely weeks away from securing an ad-revenue deal with Hulu, the joint-venture online TV service from News Corporation, NBC Universal and Disney.
Channel 4’s deal with YouTube is certain to be the first of many from the Google-owned behemoth and makes it a serious contender to Hulu et al. But as Hulu readies for its UK launch, rumours abound it’s not the only US network sniffing around our shores.
When Kangaroo was quashed, the fear was it would leave the market open to a US invasion, damaging investment in UK programming and services. Sadly, this deal is the first of many we’ll see in the coming months that make those fears a reality as content deals with big US companies become inevitable for UK content owners.
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-newmediaage.co.uk
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