1. ASSIGNMENT 7 – TV CHANNEL RESEARCH
By Rahel Fasil

2. TV Channels I will be discussing..
• Channel 4
• BBC1
• ITV

3. CHANNEL 4
• Channel 4 is a British public service television broadcaster and
has been since 1982 and has a responsibility to the public to
produce neutral television.
• After a few years the channel began to focus on the controls of
the mainstream and the centre of the mass market as they
wanted a wider audience.
• Channel 4 has launched many successful channels such as
More4, E4, Film4 and 4Music. This is in order to provide diverse
viewing for audiences such as films, movies and factual shows.

4. Channel 4 Shows
US Show Themes / Target Audience
Content
Ugly Betty Culture, Identity 16-30 year old
, Image and females
Sexuality
Desperate Family, Deception 16-50 year old
Housewives and Femininity females
The Simpsons Karma, self image, 7-35 year olds
greed, consumerism
Friends Friendship, Coming 16-40 year olds
of age
ER Medicine, affairs, 24-40 year olds
addiction

5. Channel 4 Shows
Quiz/Game Content Target
Show Audience
Deal or No Deal Money gained if 25-60 year olds
low cash boxes
are chosen
8 out of 10 cats Humour from 17-35 year olds
topics that come
up in the week
Chris Moyles’ Celebrity based 20-35 year olds
Quiz Night questions
The Million General 15-40 year olds
Pound Drop knowledge based
questions
Countdown Maths 40-65 year olds
calculations and
word sequences

6. Target Audience for Channel 4
• 6-7am : 4-7 year olds
TV Show: The Hoobs
• 7-9am : 18-49 year olds mainly female
TV Shows: Freshly Squeezed, According to Jim,
Everybody Loves Raymond and Frasier
• 9-11am : 40-50 year olds
TV Show: Come Dine With Me

7. • 1-3pm : 20-50 year old males
TV Show: Channel 4 Racing
• 3-6pm : 20-60 year olds (mainly females)
TV Shows: Countdown, Come Dine With Me,
Four in a Bed, Coach Trip
• 6-6:30pm : 7+
TV Show: The Simpsons
• 18:30–00:00 : 16-50 year olds
TV Shows: Hollyoaks, The Inbetweeners, The
Million Pound Drop

8. Successful time slots
• 6pm – 9pm
Why?
• Because The Simpsons is a popular, award-winning
sitcom and Channel 4 is the only British broadcaster
providing the show. The Simpsons is the longest
running American sitcom and many people have
grown up watching the show.
• Because of the entertaining, interesting and insightful
programmes such as Embarrassing Bodies and Super
Scrimpers.

9. Documentaries
• Channel 4 provide documentaries on very controversial topics that
not many other channels broadcast such as medical, body
deformities, social groups and past disasters.
• This is because the channel wants to give audiences a better
understanding of these topics and combat prejudice against topics
like disabilities.
• Channel 4 documentaries are shown at 8-10pm. The reason for this
is that this is when the older and mature audience have finished
work and are now able to watch.

10. • Audiences for the documentaries are 25 – 45 year old females
• Examples: One Born Every Minute, Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and
Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder
Documentary Content/ Target Audience
Themes
One Born Every Medical, 20-40 year olds
Minute Parenthood mainly female
Big Fat Gypsy Life Choices, 15-40 year olds
Weddings Marriage,
Accommodation
Obsessive Obsession 20-40 year olds
Compulsive
Hoarder

11. Channel 4 in comparison to other channels
• BBC and ITV were established long before Channel 4 was
launched.
• Channel 4 is more dedicated to showing US comedy-drama
shows and factual programmes ie Come Dine With Me and
Ugly Betty.
• Whereas BBC show more crime based programmes and series
dramas such as Hustle and Waterloo Road.
• ITV are slightly different because they provide more
entertainment shows such as The X Factor and I’m A Celebrity
Get Me Out Of Here.

12. Channel 4’s documentaries compared to other
channels
• BBC show more documentaries to do with crime to give more
in depth information about what actually happened giving
audiences a better view
Examples: The 16-Year-Old Killer: Cyntoia’s Story, Riots: The
Aftershock
• ITV tend to show more nature documentaries and
documentaries about extraordinary topics from decades ago
Examples: Survival, Diana: Story of a Princess and The Walton
Sextuplets Moving On

13. BBC
• The British Broadcasting Company was founded in 1927
and is headquartered in Westminster.
• It’s the largest broadcaster in the world and has a huge
workforce
• BBC’s duty is to provide unbiased public service
broadcasting in the UK
• BBC’s work is funded by the yearly television licence
payment which is charged to all British households with
any television recording equipment

14. BBC1 Shows
• BBC1 is well known by many generations for providing award-
winning sitcoms such as My Family and Absolutely Fabulous.
• Gripping soaps such as Eastenders and Doctors.
• Programmes that are based on house hunting and auctioning
such as Antiques Roadshow and Escape to the Country

15. Target Audience for BBC1
• 9:15am - 1pm : 40-70 year olds
TV Shows: Rip off Britain, Homes Under The Hammer
• 1pm – 7pm : 35+ females
TV Shows: Doctors, Regional Weather
• 7pm – 11pm : 18-45 year olds
TV Shows: The One Show and Eastenders

16. Successful time slots
• 7:30pm till 10pm
Why?
• Because this is when the younger and older audience are all
watching.
• With entertaining shows like Eastenders and informative shows
ie Crimewatch, viewing loyalty is gained.
• Another successful time slot is Friday 8pm – 10pm where
comedy sitcoms such as Mrs Brown’s Boys and Miranda are
shown

17. Documentaries
• BBC1 show documentaries such as Cyntoia’s Story: 16-Year-Old
Killer and Hillsborough: Searching for the Truth. BBC1
documentaries mainly focus on crime.
• BBC3 documentaries focus mainly on Britain’s youth audience
such as Tulisa: My Mum and Me and My Forced Unwanted
Marriage
• BBC documentaries focus on these topics because they are
popular with the audiences and help them have a better
understanding and become less biased to serious topics.

18. BBC in comparison to other channels
• BBC doesn’t have advert breaks in between channels due to TV
Licence fees
• Like ITV and Channel 4 they focus on the older audiences in the
morning and in the afternoon they focus on the more younger
audiences.
• There are more comedy shows than the other channels and
they are shown during prime time.

19. BBC documentaries in comparison to
other channels
• Unlike Channel 4 and ITV, BBC use their many channels to target
different target audiences. BBC Four provide more cultural
documentaries whereas BBC3 show more documentaries
revolving youth etc
• BBC channels show more documentaries daily than ITV, Channel 5
and Channel 4
VS