Channel 5 and My5 today launch their biggest ever marketing campaign to celebrate their relaunch as 5, which also takes place today following record growth for the My5 streaming platform in 2024.
The campaign is designed to capture the nation’s attention as the PBS broadcaster’s linear and streaming platforms are united under the single new brand.
The major new national campaign “It’s all on 5” will achieve mass reach running across TV, out-of-home (OOH), digital, social and radio channels.
Building on 5’s relatability and deep connection with its audience, the creative aligns with the broadcaster’s mission to lift the lid on life-to-tell stories in surprising ways. It celebrates the story around all of life’s ‘its’ – recognisable moments, nuances and emotions, and connects them through 5’s vast content offering.
5 will also be brought to life up and down the country with an unmissable OOH campaign in cities including as Manchester (main picture), Liverpool, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle, while in London installations include a full wrap of Kings Cross Underground corridor, spanning over 70 metres.
The new campaign carries the clear and simple message to watch and stream 5’s wide variety of content, showcasing titles including All Creatures Great and Small, The Hardacres, Ellis, The Au Pair, The Feud, Ellis, Coma, The Goodwife, The Following, Nashville, The Flat Share, Peppa Pig, Paddington , Geordie Shore, Expedition: Search for the Nile, Michael Palin in Nigeria and James May’s Great Explorers and many more.
Tonight sees the debut of a 60-second TV ad, with 30-second versions running across BVOD, and streaming platforms.
The TV and OOH activations will be accompanied by national radio ads across Britain’s most popular radio stations, such as Magic, Heart and Capital, plus a significant social media campaign.
Refreshed branding and a consistent look and feel across 5’s on-air and streaming platforms will create a seamless viewing experience for the audience.
Commissioned by 5 Marketing with a brief to encourage viewers to re-appraise what Channel 5 stands for and boost perceptions of its content quality and range, the campaign has been developed and produced in collaboration with independent creative agency Pablo.
Laura Pye, SVP marketing, media and creative, Paramount UK, said: “We are enormously proud of this milestone campaign that makes our brand and content more visible than it has ever been, right across the country. The campaign celebrates the relatable moments in life which are reflected in the depth and breadth of our programming. We know this is what audiences love about 5 and we hope it will inspire even more viewers to consider us their go-to destination.”
Hannah Penn, joint managing director at creative agency Pablo, added: “It’s all on 5” is a platform designed to directly challenge perceptions of one of the best-known brands in the UK. Championing 5 has been a joy, and getting to do so alongside the wonderful marketing team such a privilege for us all at Pablo. This is just the beginning, we’re excited to continue to positively surprise people with the ‘it’s’ that’s all on 5.”
As well as being the destination for all of Channel 5’s acclaimed drama originals, premium factual and kids’ programming from Milkshake!, 5 will feature a significantly expanded content offering drawn from Paramount’s family of brands, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central and MTV Entertainment Studios, plus the opportunity to sample some of the biggest hits from Paramount+ and more – both live and on-demand and all free of charge. Viewers will also have access to a wide range of boxsets.
Meanwhile, under the 5 relaunch itself, viewers can look forward to Channel 5 and My5 combining, uniting the broadcaster’s linear and streaming platforms under a single brand. The move enables the broadcaster to build on the growing appetite for its streaming offering, while continuing to serve its loyal linear audience, while audiences will also receive an initial 15 new live channels, curated from some of Paramount’s most popular shows, introduced as part of 5’s expanded content line up. More live channels will follow.
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.”
Fans of Paramount’s free streamer Pluto TV need not fret about the new plans. The service, which had previously been mooted for a merger My5, will continue as a standalone service following the 5 launch. Over the next few months, 5 will roll out across all platforms and devices 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) and channel5.com.
