British broadcasters relaunch, rebrand and revamp to vie for ad budgets
Illustration by Dave Cole / Getty / Shutterstock / The Current
Britain’s traditional broadcasters — including the BBC, Sky and Channel 4 — face growing competition from global streamers, which continue to gain market share thanks to their subscription video on demand offerings. Recent blowout results from streamers indicate this trend will likely continue.
In response, U.K. broadcasters are reevaluating long-standing funding models, shifting content priorities and embracing rebrands despite heavy investments in homegrown streaming services.
Just this week, Paramount-owned Channel 5 officially rebranded as “5,” bringing its linear and streaming properties under one name. The revamped service will feature free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels and expanded Paramount content.
“Broadcasters in the U.K. are facing a highly competitive media landscape in 2025,” says Rory Gooderick, senior analyst at Ampere Analysis. “They are competing against streaming services, FAST channels and social video for consumers’ attention and advertising revenues.”
“This, combined with rising costs for content, talent and production facilities, creates a challenging market landscape for broadcasters,” Gooderick adds.
Comcast-owned Sky News is reportedly planning to overhaul its operations, shifting from live news to “premium” products like podcasts and subscription-gated content. Channel 4 is also planning a relaunch for its streaming service, aiming to attract small and medium-sized advertisers with a simplified ad-buying platform.
However, the BBC may be the most significant example of industry-wide shifts. The broadcaster is undergoing deep changes, including a new AI-powered news department, a focus on growing international audiences and the introduction of ads on some U.K. podcasts. The BBC’s international expansion is notable, as it looks to increase ad revenue on its global content even though, as a public broadcaster, it cannot sell ads on U.K. programming.
These changes come amid financial strain. The U.K.’s TV license fee, which funds the BBC and is levied on all British households watching live TV, has decreased by more than 20% in real terms since 2010. Meanwhile, audiences are migrating: In late 2024, Netflix overtook BBC One, the nation’s flagship channel, becoming the U.K.’s most-watched TV service.
Yet, one broadcaster appears to have figured out a successful formula. ITV’s streaming platform, ITVX, saw 12% growth in streaming hours and 15% growth in digital ad revenue year on year, thanks to a mix of buzzy local programming and live sports.
“Just because British broadcasters don’t have the content budgets of the U.S. streamers doesn’t mean they can’t attract strong viewership,” Gooderick says, citing hit shows like the BBC’s The Traitors and ITVX’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here.
Still, a key challenge remains: Even if they match the streaming giants on content, can they compete on advanced advertising capabilities?
Netflix raised the stakes when it rolled out programmatic ad buying last month in the U.K. Channel 5’s relaunch seems to take a leaf out of that playbook. “We’re looking forward to offering advertisers greater personalization and enhanced data-led advertising opportunities,” Lee Sears, Paramount’s president of international markets advertising sales, told VideoWeek. He highlighted plans to unify Paramount+ and the new My5 into a global ad platform.
Legacy U.K. broadcasters may have to work together — even with rivals — to stay competitive. Paramount’s vision for a unified ad ecosystem aligns with industry initiatives like CFlight, backed by Sky, ITV and Channel 4, which similarly aim to streamline cross-platform measurement — an outcome marketers would like to see.
“I’m sure I wouldn’t be alone in saying the dream would be a single platform where we can plan, buy and measure audiences in the video space together as one,” says Jack Perlman, head of media planning at OMD UK.