Chapter 1: S4C Today

Unique, independent, public service focused and, above all, in Welsh.

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Chapter 1: S4C Today

Unique, independent, public service focused and, above all, in Welsh. Today, S4C is a household name across Wales and beyond. We provide a Welsh language TV service on all major platforms in Wales, on satellite and cable throughout the UK, and online catch-up facilities available on-demand.

We deliver a wide variety of high-quality content – entertainment, information and inspiration – and look to reach as many people as possible on the most relevant, contemporary platforms. S4C’s service ensures choice and diversity of emphasis, and by commissioning content from a wide range of independent production companies, harnesses a breadth of perspectives and visions.

BBC Wales contributes a minimum of ten hours of programming per week to the service from its own budget, as a statutory obligation. This programming includes a comprehensive news service, a daily soap opera, sports programming and coverage of the National Eisteddfod. This is a key strand of the constructive and collaborative relationship which has been built up between the two broadcasters over recent years, which includes new creative collaboration, making S4C content available on the BBC iPlayer, and planning cost savings through sharing technical facilities.

y Gwyll
Clwb Rygbi
Pobol y Cwm
Sgorio
Cyw
629,000
Weekly Reach (at least 3 consecutive minutes) 2015/16
9.9M
Number of people who viewed S4C throughout the UK 2015/16

In 2015/16 S4C’s audiences, on both TV and online, reached new highs in the post digital switch-over era. TV reach hit a nine-year high, and online reach again broke previous records.¹

While our current remit focuses on TV, S4C has recognised the need to provide content to those who watch on other platforms. Last year we launched as a limited pilot scheme a standalone channel on YouTube called Pump (meaning Five), targeted at a younger/young adult audience. While only a limited amount of content has been provided to date, it has been very well received.

S4C’s very existence is an exercise in diversity and tangible evidence of the UK Government’s long-standing commitment to diversity in the media and broadcasting. We give a voice and platform upon which a minority language audience can express and portray itself, as well as be entertained and informed. But we are also fully committed to reflecting other aspects of the diversity of modern Wales on and behind the screen – including ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation and disability.
 
Since S4C’s launch, we have sought to ensure that as wide an audience as possible can share the experiences we provide. We offer a variety of access services, and are constantly working to improve these to meet evolving audience requirements.

Allocation of S4C’s Expenditure 2015/16

81.5%
Programmes commissioned and acquired (including repeats) by S4C ²
14.3%
Costs associated with the Programme Service ²
4.2%
Operational and administration costs ²

Our operation is lean, with organisational overheads maintained at around 4% and cost per hour of content reduced by over a third since 2009.² However, the economic impact of the public funds invested in the production sector and creative industries is significant – every £1 invested by S4C in the economy in Wales and the UK creates a total value of £2.09.³

Next year, S4C will relocate its headquarters to Carmarthen in west Wales. The move will provide the springboard for a substantial economic and linguistic impact on west Wales, consistent with government ambitions of ensuring that investments benefit every corner of the country. It will also result in further financial savings for S4C. While becoming one of the few national broadcasters not to be centred in its country’s capital, we will maintain a smaller office in Caernarfon, in the north of Wales and a strong presence in Cardiff where we plan to share broadcasting facilities with the BBC, capitalising on new technologies and procedures to benefit both organisations.

Despite our best efforts, even with our current remit it has proved challenging to allocate funding to allow us to serve audiences on digital platforms as well as to continue to deliver a linear service which meets viewers’ expectations. Our content must keep pace with that of other PSBs in this ultra-competitive media age, which means that funds for new content only go so far in filling broadcast hours. To deliver a full, year-round schedule, we need to turn to repeats of previously scheduled content. Providing more than one opportunity to view a good programme can be valuable, but the situation where 58% of our schedule consists of repeats is not what many viewers expect of a high quality national service.⁴

£52,752
Cost per hour— programmes commissioned by S4C 2009 ⁵
Down 35%
£34,168
Cost per hour— programmes commissioned by S4C 2015/16 ²
50
Numbers of production companies ²
£16,374
Cost per hour– all transmission hours 2009 ⁵
Down 34%
£10,802
Cost per hour– all transmission hours 2015/16 ²

S4C’S CURRENT POSITION IN A MULTI-CHANNEL, CROSS-PLATFORM WORLD

While the desire to watch content, and be informed and entertained in the Welsh language unites our audience, Welsh speakers do not consist of a single demographic. Our audience is a cross-section of the wider population that is naturally composed of many different age and interest groups. Even before digital switchover in Wales in 2010, S4C, along with all other PSBs, started to experience an erosion of its audience as viewers went channel surfing amongst the hundreds of new channels that became available in search of programming targeting their needs and interests more regularly – whether music, sport, lifestyle activities or drama.

Other Public Service Broadcasters met the challenge of holding on to audience share by launching TV channels for target audiences, e.g. E4 and ITV2, both skewed towards younger people. Growing a family of TV channels, and then supplementing this with targeted online offerings, has allowed the other UK PSBs to broadly retain their market share.⁶

S4C has not had the financial flexibility to explore similar options. Meeting carriage and EPG costs, as well as the cost of new content, would be a proportionately greater burden for a small PSB with a reducing budget, than for a larger broadcaster. As well as financial constraints, our current remit is old fashioned as it does not allow us to commission specifically for digital audiences. With the development of new technologies we must now look to evolve an S4C that is even more relevant to different audience segments, creating new types of content, introducing new services and harnessing the audience’s enthusiasm for new ways of consuming media content. We must deliver this cost-effectively and quickly, while keeping a strong, compelling linear channel at the core of S4C’s offering.

  • BBC one
  • BBC two
  • BBC three
  • BBC four
  • BBC news
  • BBC parliament
  • BBC sport
  • ITV one
  • ITV two
  • ITV three
  • ITV four
  • ITV Be
  • ITV Encore
  • CITV
  • Channel 4
  • More 4
  • E4
  • Four 7
  • Film 4
  • All 4

THE
WAY
FORWARD

Driving everything for S4C is a demanding audience, living in an increasingly connected world and wanting to view, consume and share media content in the vibrant Welsh language. Yet, there is currently insufficient Welsh language content across social media channels and digital outlets where many, especially younger people, are spending their time. The current and future needs of all Welsh speakers are not being met.

To be relevant, S4C needs an updated remit so that we can be everywhere the audience is, offering a range of content in the various forms it wants to consume, whenever and however it wishes to view. A one-size–fits-all approach no longer works for broadcasters; we need to provide a more segmented and personalised approach to delivering content and engaging with our audience.

If we are not able to make the necessary investment to implement such changes we run the risk of disenfranchising the Welsh speakers who brought S4C into existence, those who watch, enjoy and support the channel today and those who want the option of being educated, informed and entertained in the Welsh language in the connected world for years to come.