[tellyblues]

Channel 5 has the advantage of privately owned but also they know what their audience wants and they give it to them.

But Channel 5 can go after any audience they want, and do - an older demographic who watch linear.

Channel 4's remit is young, diverse and underserved audiences, which are difficult to attract for several reasons, the first being that young people tend not to watch linear TV and are far more likely to go to Netflix etc where there are shows for them, unlike linear where there are hardly any. Diverse is also tricky because do you have, for example, a competition format (accessible but an overcrowded genre) where all corners of society are represented or something specific to do with race, sex, class, disability that will appeal to a small audience such is the situation regarding inclusion and diversity in the UK?

The underserved audiences - do property shows count on the basis that the other channels aren't showing them in primetime? The shows for younger viewers - big budget reality that has flopped because, what do you know, younger viewers aren't just interested in reality shows and no demographic is bothered about them anyway because the shows are crap. There have been hits like Derry Girls but that appealed to a wide audience partly because of subject matter that everybody including older viewers were familiar with.

It's terrible what's happening but there isn't an easy solution. Or is it simple as having a double bill of sitcoms at 6pm, something different for the slot and using it to its fullest advantage by promoting new shows during the ads?