Google’s UK Ad Revenue Higher Than Channel 4’s

Google’s UK ad revenue for this year will be around £900 million, overtaking Channel 4 for the first time, according to the broadcaster’s chief executive, Andy Duncan.

“If we want to protect the fantastic legacy of UK broadcasting, we need to wake up to this sooner rather than later,” Duncan told FT.com in reference to his suggestion that there was a deep structural change occuring, with media advertisers shifting their spend.

Comparing the shift of ad revenues from traditional to digital media to global warming, the Channel 4 boss said broadcasters could not afford to be “in denial” about the “fundamental change” to their industry.

Duncan said he had visited Google’s headquarters in California last month, and Channel 4 had held discussions about making its programming available through Google.

Duncan is lobbying Ofcom and the government for more financial support for Channel 4 to help the commercially funded PSB survive the transition from analogue to digital.

Channel 4: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com