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Channel 4 beats BBC, ITV, Channel 5 and more as record growth revealed

The channel is "successfully growing" its overall audience.

A dark figure looking closely at the Channel 4 logo, with it reflecting in their glasses.

Leon Neal/Getty Images

Published: Monday, 24 June 2024 at 12:54 pm

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New data has revealed that Channel 4 is the only major UK broadcaster – out of BBC, ITV, Channel 5, Sky and UKTV – to grow its overall viewing across streaming and linear in 2024.

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In data acquired by BARB for January to June, it has shown that the channel is "successfully growing" its overall audience while migrating viewers to streaming.

The new data also showed that across 2024, Channel 4's streaming audience has grown faster than Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus.

To break it down, the figures show that Channel 4 streaming has grown by 7.3 billion viewer minutes so far in 2024, contributing to a four billion increase in overall viewing minutes across linear and streaming and a record high of 164 billion viewer minutes.

In addition, the proportion of total Channel 4 viewing through streaming has continued to rise, up by 29 per cent year on year so far across 2024.

Pete and Sophie on Gogglebox

Channel 4. Channel 4

A number of series have helped drive the streaming growth, including Gogglebox, 24 Hours In Police Custody, The Push: Murder On The Cliff and To Catch a Copper.

Further contributing series include The Gathering and Dance Moms, with the latter becoming the third most streamed programme on Channel 4, with 31 per cent of viewers aged 16-34.

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Ian Katz, chief content officer, Channel 4, said: "It's great to see Channel 4’s long-term strategy of prioritising digital viewing and investing in distinctive, British streaming-first content bearing fruit.

"This data shows that, even in a challenging market, we can successfully grow our overall audience by attracting new digital natives and migrating existing viewers to digital platforms.

"At the heart of this is our streaming-first content strategy – a unique blend of distinctive drama such as The Gathering, must watch documentaries like The Push and The Fall plus compulsive reality such as Married At First Sight.

"Channel 4 pioneered the transition to streaming among commercial broadcasters and these figures show we are accelerating our transition to becoming Britain’s first public service streamer."

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Authors

Black and white cut-out portrait headshot of Katelyn Mensah, smiling against a lime green background.

Katelyn MensahSenior Entertainment Writer

Katelyn Mensah is the Senior Entertainment Writer for Radio Times, covering all major entertainment programmes, reality TV shows and the latest hard-hitting documentaries. She previously worked at The Tab, with a focus on reality TV and showbiz news and has obtained a BA (Hons) in Journalism.

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