Channel 4 has urged the competition watchdog to broaden its crackdown on Google and Facebook to prevent broadcasters ceding millions of pounds in advertising income.
The Gogglebox broadcaster has called on the Competition & Markets Authority to rein in distribution deals offered by the tech platforms that demand a 45pc slice of the advertising revenue. It comes after the CMA branded the Silicon Valley giants “unavoidable trading partners” in a review of the digital advertising market and recommended a code of conduct for fair trade.
Channel 4 wants such a regime to cover traditional broadcasters, which it claims are now forced to partner with Facebook and Google to reach younger audiences.
The call for support is part of Channel 4’s response to a review of public service broadcasters (PSBs) by the communications regulator Ofcom. Channel 4 is among the UK’s PSBs, which make news and shows that attract smaller audiences in exchange for prime positions on the TV menus.
In its submission, Channel 4 said: “Where younger audiences are increasingly watching content on YouTube and Facebook there is a strong impetus for organisations like Channel 4, who have a statutory remit to reach young audiences with our content, to make that content available on the services these audiences use the most.
“It cannot be right that having taken all of the risk to invest in the creation and production of high-quality content that platforms, who take none of the risk but gain significant benefit from having high-quality public service media content on their platform, can take a 45pc share of the revenue,” the broadcaster added.
Channel 4 has already struck-up partnerships with social media platforms Snap and TikTok to distribute short-form shows to millions of their users.
But The Great British Bake Off broadcaster said the scale of Facebook and Google-owned YouTube, coupled with a lack of competition, gave those platforms little incentive to offer a fair deal.
It fears it may have to accept such terms to fulfil its remit of reaching as many viewers as possible, a move that could take money away from its programming budget.
The BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 have nearly 51m active subscribers on YouTube, according to the platform.
Ben McOwen Wilson, managing director of YouTube UK, said it was proud to support the UK’s PSBs by “extending their reach to new UK audiences, driving revenues and providing a global promotional platform for them to scale their fantastic content”.
Facebook declined to comment.
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