Channel 4 is contacted by viewers 16,400 times in the average month – around 9% of these are critical and 3% complimentary. Almost always people make comments or ask questions about programmes they have watched, but last week stood out for the unusual number of viewers – almost 100 – taking issue with trails and the time of day they were shown. These trails advertised two upcoming programmes Dispatches: Immigration the Inconvenient Truth and I Am The Elephant Man: A Bodyshock Special.
While this was only a small proportion compared to the Channel 4’s weekly mail bag, it was enough to raise my curiosity and find Channel 4’s head of marketing to explain the science behind making and scheduling trails.
He made the point that the whole idea of a trail is to catch the attention of the audience and provide enough of a teaser about the programme to persuade the viewer to watch. This means having to stand out in a crowded environment – there is a lot of information that is broadcast in the breaks between and during programmes and having to get across in a minute or less the essence of a programme that may itself be an hour long. Channel 4 produces a wide range of programmes, and the marketing department tries to match the tone and values of the individual programme being promoted.
A quick call to the legal and compliance department shed further light on the subject. All trails broadcast on Channel 4 are regulated by Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code in the same way as our programmes. The last of our trails that Ofcom made a ruling against was back in 2005 which was a trail broadcast on E4 advertising the launch of the then upcoming More4 service. Although Ofcom found that the trail was in breach of the offence rules in the Code, the lawyer I spoke to pointed out the complex issues that this decision threw up resulted in Ofcom issuing new guidance to clarify rules in relation to trails.
I was told that the rules on the production and scheduling of promotions are quite strict, and were reviewed by Channel 4 last year in the wake of the Queengate incident on BBC1, where a trail made to promote a BBC programme at a launch event to the press was found to have misrepresented the events that actually took place during a photoshoot at Buckingham palace. At Channel 4, there is a comprehensive sign off procedure in place that aims to prevent such a situation. And the scheduling of trails is also carefully considered so as to reach the audience most likely to want to watch the programme itself while at the same time keeping on the right side of the Ofcom Code.
The trail that recently caused the most response was the “Bulldog” trail for the Dispatches series of programmes on immigration. This is an example of a ‘concept’ trail which does not actually use footage from the programme, but is instead a creative treatment to intrigue viewers and generate awareness of the programme. More commonly, a trail will feature clips from the programme itself, as was the case with I Am The Elephant Man. Since speaking to C4’s head of marketing, both programmes have been aired (on Monday 7 April), so it would be interesting to hear from people who watched either programme; and saw the trails, whether they thought the trails did their job!
