Channels: Five Life and Five US
4 out of 5
In most walks of life, the Highlander theme of "There can be only one", holds true. Unfortunately, for too long Five has subscribed to this principle.
There is no room in an ever- fragmenting TV world for a linear channel, a linear terrestrial channel at that. Another year of doing nothing would have seen a downward revenue and audience spiral similar to ITV.
So the announcement of the launch of two digital channels in Q4 is way overdue. Ownership, landlords, politics, compression technology and content/product, have all delayed Five's arrival in this space. It is truly late to the party, but at least it is coming to the party. And at least it is doing it with a brace of channels. The question, as with all launches, is, has Five identified a gap in the market or crucially a market for the gap?
Five US potentially argues with the main channel's own offering, but clever scheduling could migrate viewers or give them a chance to experience from scratch. Ironically, it's something Five has done pretty successfully to date, usually with shows that originally aired on Living TV, like Grey's Anatomy.
Five US basically covers a total entertainment genre, so should do well. Successful TV launches need a successful mothership, brand salience, promotion, etc. There is no reason, so long as Five ensures its main channel remains the hero brand, to assume it will not grow its overall audience reach.
Five Life is an obvious choice for a launch on Freeview and I think the real opportunity. Living has shown the opportunity on multi-channel for this "for-me" woman's TV channel. Celebrity, gossip, makeovers, lifestyle - basically Heat TV - should work really well.
The kids' extension of Milkshake is ideal for put-upon parents. The key is, Five is comfortable in the US land-scape. If it can access all platforms prior to the 2007 trading season, and show the market robust numbers and minimal cannibalisation, then I think it will have a point of difference and an argument for investment.
- Review by Chris Locke, UK group trading director, Starcom.
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