Channel 4 braced for cuts to marketing budget

by Alison Donnelly, Marketing 16-Sep-08, 08:40

LONDON - Channel 4 is to slash marketing spend across its portfolio of channels as part of a round of budget cuts.

A spokesman for Channel 4, which spent £14.9m on advertising in the year to June, according to Nielsen Media Research, confirmed that spend would be reduced.

'We will be slowing down our off-air marketing, because, when budgets are cut, this is obviously going to be affected,' he said.

As part of the cutbacks, Channel 4 is also set to reduce the amount of new programmes in its schedule and replace them with more repeats ahead of setting its 2009 budget in November.

The broadcaster insisted that it would protect its flagship documentaries, such as Cutting Edge and Dispatches, but said it would reduce the number of one-off factual commissions.

Steve McDonnell, TV director at MediaCom, said: 'It's worrying when they cut marketing budgets, but it will be the end of the year before we can judge whether it has affected audiences and ad revenue.'

However, McDonnell added that he expected broadcasters to spend more money on programmes designed to attract big ratings rather than those aimed at niche audiences.

Channel 4 claims it will have a £150m funding shortfall following the completion of digital switchover in 2012.