Channel 5 and My5 have announced their relaunch as 5.
Following record growth of My5’s viewing figures throughout 2024, the unification aims to allow the broadcaster to build on demand for its streaming services while continuing to serve viewers of its linear channel.
As reported in TVBEurope last August, the unified brand will feature an expanded range of content from the Paramount family including BET, CBS, Comedy Central and MTV Entertainment Studios, as well as drama originals, factual and children’s programming. 15 new FAST channels are now available on 5’s streaming service, said the company, with viewers also able to access a range of boxsets.
The launch is being supported by regreshed branding and the broadcaster’s largest ever national marketing campaign, under the tagline “It’s all on 5,” running across out-of-home (OOH), TV, radio, online and social media platforms.
More channels will follow later in the year, with the combined offering aiming to provide commercial opportunities through enhanced, data-led advertising solutions.
Sarah Rose, president of 5 and UK regional lead at Paramount, said, “This is the start of a new and exciting era for 5 as we bring together our linear and streaming services under one clear brand. Everything our audience and our advertisers already love about Channel 5 will be central to this relaunch – but there will be much more besides, with a huge array of content from the Paramount family and beyond, new live channels and a brand-new user experience for our streaming product.”
Ben Frow, chief content officer at 5, added, “We have always been led by our audience and bringing Channel 5 and My5 together as 5 reflects our ambition that they can watch or stream whichever way suits them best.There is huge breadth of new content on streaming for viewers to discover, but the heart of 5 will always be our commitment to originated, UK produced public service content – including our award winning factual and more hours of original drama than we have ever commissioned. With an unmissable nationwide marketing campaign that is bigger than anything we’ve done before, I hope we can open the eyes of those who haven’t previously watched with us to some of the fantastic shows we have to entertain them.”
Throughout the coming months, 5 will roll out across all platforms where My5 is currently available, including pay TV (via Sky, Virgin Media, EE TV & TalkTalk), connected TVs (Freely, Freeview Play, Samsung, LG, Fire TV, Roku, Google TV, tvOS), mobile devices (iOS & Android), as well as Channel5.com.
