TV’s old rivals are joining forces to take on Big Tech

The news that Channel 4 will become the advertising sales partner for Channel 5 from 2027 is being talked about as a historic partnership. And for good reason.

But I think the bigger question is what it says about the broadcast market’s direction of travel. Because when you look at this alongside Sky's acquisition of ITV, something bigger’s happening, and it’s because now more than ever before, scale matters.

In this week’s edition of The Specialist View, Georgia Holmes, our Senior AV Director, explains why TV’s old rivals are joining forces, what’s driving the race for scale, and where the opportunity lies for entrepreneurial brands.

It’s more than a sales partnership:

From 2027, you’ll be able to access Channel 4, 5 and a wider portfolio of Paramount channels in one place. The result being a proposition that combines premium content, broad reach and stronger scale across both linear TV and streaming. 

We’ll come on to why that’s good news for you. But understanding why they’ve done this is key.

For years, broadcasters have been fighting two battles at once: against each other, and against the global platforms soaking up an increasing share of viewing and advertising spend.

The market is consolidating around scale:

Sky's move for ITV was all about scale. Now Channel 4 and 5 are thinking along similar lines.

Broadcasters have woken up to the fact that in a world dominated by Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix and YouTube, scale is vital to compete.

This news has knock-on effects for Sky since Channel 5 has historically been the biggest channel within its sales portfolio. Its loss is significant, particularly when it strengthens a rival’s portfolio at the same time.

Viewed together, these deals show broadcasters no longer see each other as the competition, they've realised they need to take the fight to the global platforms.

Why Entrepreneurial Brands Should Pay Attention:

The highest-spending advertisers often have established long-term trading agreements, planning frameworks and comparatively slow ways of working so it’s tricky for them to pivot into this with great intent. But in contrast, Entrepreneurial brands like yours with an agency like The Specialist Works whose trading relationships are tuned exclusively to your brief, have the ability to move quickly to capitalise on this new opportunity first.

This combined Channel 4 + 5 proposition gives you another scaled route to market, with a more useful mix of audiences and premium content all in one place. 

Channel 4 has long given brands the ability to deploy budgets geographically where they matter most through regionalisation, alongside its strength among younger and more culturally engaged audiences. Channel 5 complements this with broad mainstream reach, premium programming including the most-watched single drama of 2026 so far (‘Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards’) and a growing streaming footprint, reaching 28.5 million people – that’s 96% of UK homes - every month. 

Not just bigger, but better too given how complementary the footprint and makeup is.

From my planning perspective, the real opportunity is the ability to balance precision and scale more effectively than before. Entrepreneurial brands don’t have the luxury of wasting budget, you need to know where growth is coming from and invest accordingly.

Combining Channel 4's regionality with 5's scale will create new opportunities for brands who want to mitigate risk by testing regionally, or to maximise effectiveness by upweighting and down weighting to reach inconsistently distributed target audiences at the corresponding weights. When marketing budgets remain under pressure and accountability is higher than ever, this is properly welcome news.

This is how you Challenger and Entrepreneurial brands win: you can’t outshout the category to claim share of market, but you can invest in a more intelligent strategy to get disproportionate impact for your money.

Our Specialist View?

For years, the industry narrative has been that broadcasters are under pressure from changing viewing behaviour and global platforms. But the response we’re seeing isn’t retreat. It’s adaptation, it’s innovation.

First Sky and ITV. Now Channel 4 and 5.

As someone who spends every day helping ambitious brands use TV to punch above their weight, I think this is nothing but good news.

Larger propositions create new audience opportunities. A more competitive sales market means broadcasters fight harder to demonstrate their value more clearly. Consolidation makes it easier for growing brands to access your shape of premium television at scale because when scale is concentrated, it’s commercially viable for saleshouses to offer you the ability to be more selective across targeting, formats and geos. 

Disruption creates opportunity, particularly for those brands and their agencies willing to question legacy planning approaches, embrace the change and dive into the emerging possibilities.