Channel 4 is stepping up efforts to work more directly with brands, launching a new business unit designed to make it easier for brands to collaborate on creative marketing campaigns across its platforms.

Partner Lab, the broadcaster’s new in-house creative partnerships team, brings together functions across partnerships, sponsorship, creative strategy and production. The aim is to streamline the process for brands developing campaigns across TV, streaming, sponsorship and branded entertainment on Channel 4.

The move is part of Channel 4’s wider Fast Forward strategy, which sets out a shift towards an “advertiser-first” approach and a more direct relationship with brands, rather than relying on agencies.

“The media landscape is definitely shifting and we’re finding that audiences are getting harder to reach, so that means being more culturally credible. It matters more than ever,” explains head of Partner Lab Emma Hopkins. “Brands are seeking more direct and deeper engagement.”

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Hopkins describes Partner Lab as central to Channel 4’s plan to make advertisers and marketers “the heart” of its commercial strategy.

“We are now advertiser-first and brand-led, which will see us move from transactional to strategic partnerships alongside our agency relationships,” Hopkins tells Marketing Week.

The broadcaster’s ambition is to grow its advertiser base from around 1,400 to more than 10,000 by opening up new opportunities for brands of all sizes and across all industries.

Although Channel 4 intends to work more directly with brands, Hopkins stresses it still wants to be “agency aligned”. However, she notes that direct collaboration can help reduce miscommunication, create clearer alignment on goals and speed up turnaround times.

This means that rather than “farming” opportunities, Channel 4 will instead be “cultivating” them across the full Channel 4 ecosystem to reflect the way advertisers and agencies want to engage with the company.

Meanwhile, the overarching goal is, of course, to increase ad revenue. According to its 2024 annual report, total revenues rose by 1% to £1.04bn. Advertising income across linear and digital platforms increased 2% year on year, while digital ad revenue, which now accounts for 30% of total revenue, reached a record £306m, up 9%.

A ‘one door’ model for brands

At the centre of this new approach is what Hopkins describes as a “one door” experience for brands – a single entry point for those looking to collaborate.

The process begins with an initial discovery or “investigation” phase, followed by briefing and then development, with the Partner Lab team helping bring campaign ideas to life.

“Some of the feedback that I was getting externally from partners was that they weren’t quite sure who to go to for which products,” she explains. “This creates one door for brands. So if they just want to be inspired about Channel 4 as a partner, they can come to this team, but if they want to be inspired and then create and then also produce, they can also do that.”

Under the new structure, areas that previously operated independently, such as branded entertainment, now sit within Partner Lab.

Channel 4 has been expanding its branded entertainment output in recent years. In August, the company discussed with Marketing Week how its branded entertainment strategy had evolved to meet changing viewer behaviour, particularly among younger audiences who consume more content on platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

Everybody, whether it be a partnership seller or a creative strategist, will have so many more strings to their bows, because they’ll be able to sell across a much wider ecosystem.

Emma Hopkins, Channel 4

Jodie Miles, Channel 4’s senior lead for content solutions, said the creation of a dedicated social branded entertainment team in 2020 enabled a more “audience-first” approach.

“How do we make sure we are creating content that is for younger generations, rather than just prioritising one channel? We’ve still got a producer-led branded entertainment offering, but now we’ve also got this ability to work on a lot more of these social campaigns,” she said.

Miles added that the desire for ad-funded programming is “evolving fast”, as advertisers want entertainment “bursts” or series that span multiple series rather than one-off campaigns.

“We’re seeing a lot of brands say to us: We don’t want this just to be a one-hit wonder or a campaign that happens and then goes. We actually want something that is editorially strong, platform native and insight-driven, so that we can feel a bit like a broadcaster ourselves, and each time come back with a new series with a new creative potential,” she said.

Upskilling and collaboration

Internally, the launch of Partner Lab represents a structural shift on the back of a restructure earlier this year. Two existing divisions, the creative solutions team and the content team, have merged to form a single, unified department. The new structure consists of four specialist teams focused on partnerships, sponsorship, creative strategy and production.

“Before, we had a team that only worked on social content, whereas now they are a broader partnerships team. So we have moved away from a silo format,” she adds.

Hopkins notes that the creation of Partner Lab has also prompted an internal shift in skills and mindset across the commercial teams.

“Before, the teams were very format-focused. For example, the creative team before weren’t creative strategists, they were just creatives, and they would only work on campaigns that were across TV and streaming, whereas now those creative strategists will work across TV, streaming and social branded entertainment,” she adds.

This broader remit, she says, gives staff a chance to expand their skillsets and helps Channel 4 operate more holistically across its ecosystem.

“We are upskilling across the different formats in our ecosystem. Everybody, whether it be a partnership seller or a creative strategist, will have so many more strings to their bows, because they’ll be able to sell across a much wider ecosystem.”

Sky, Channel 4 and ITV partner on premium video ad marketplace

Partner Lab marks the latest step in Channel 4 Sales’ offering as part of its Fast Forward strategy towards an advertiser-first approach.

The broadcaster has already rolled out several initiatives aimed at making its advertising inventory more accessible and effective.

In June, Channel 4 announced plans to create a self-serve TV advertising marketplace alongside Sky and ITV, in collaboration with Comcast Advertising. Launching in 2026, the platform will allow small- and medium-sized businesses to access premium broadcast and on-demand inventory across all three broadcasters through a single campaign for the first time.

The marketplace aims to simplify access to TV advertising for smaller brands and make premium broadcast inventory more competitive against social and digital platforms.

This follows another joint industry effort in September last year, when Channel 4, ITV and Sky unveiled Lantern, a joint advertising measurement tool designed to give advertisers and agencies “greater confidence” in investing in TV.

Such collaborations mark a wider trend of UK broadcasters working together to strengthen TV’s position in an increasingly digital and fragmented media market.