Channel 5 and My5 have today relaunched as 5, uniting the broadcaster’s linear and streaming platforms under a single brand.
The broadcaster wants to capitalise on recent growth for its streaming offer, while bringing along its established audience.
Viewing to My5 grew at a record level of growth in 2024 with Barb TV Viewing Minutes for the service up a record +53% versus 2023, higher than any other PSB streaming service over 2024.
However, My5 remains behind BBC iPlayer, ITVX and Channel 4, which has also united its linear and on demand services.
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.”
The revamped service will feature Channel 5’s acclaimed drama originals, premium factual and kids’ programming from Milkshake!
It will also carry content drawn from owner Paramount Global, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central and MTV Entertainment Studios, and selected content from Paramount+. Earlier plans to merge My5 into the UK version of Pluto TV were dropped.
15 new live channels, curated from some of Paramount’s most popular shows, are now available on 5’s streaming service. These free, ad-supported TV (FAST) channels include Police Interceptors, 5 Cops, Bargain Loving Brits, Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly, The Yorkshire Vet, Geordie Shore, Catfish, Teen Mom, MTV Reality and Milkshake!, with more channels to follow throughout the year.
The launch of 5 is supported by a national marketing campaign – the biggest ever for the broadcaster. Featuring the tagline, ‘It’s all on 5’, to showcase the breadth and depth of 5’s content offering, the campaign will run across out-of-home (OOH), TV, radio, online and on social media platforms.
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.
