ADVERTISING
UK public broadcaster Channel 4 and Lloyds Bank have unveiled Black in Business, an initiative designed to help empower up to five black-owned businesses with £100,000 ($123,400) worth of TV advertising time each. Business owners will also receive a bespoke TV commercial and six months of bespoke marketing and business support from Channel 4, Lloyds Bank and social enterprise DOES.
The initiative aims to support small businesses new to TV advertising and comes after a study commissioned earlier this year by 4Sales, Channel 4’s advertising arm, found that black entrepreneurs are involved in starting and running their businesses face greater obstacles than their white counterparts. It is part of Channel 4’s Black to Front legacy, an ongoing commitment to improving the representation of black people on screen and in the television industry more broadly.
Another five shortlisted companies will receive the £3,000 Rising Star grant provided by Lloyds and Jamii: an online discovery platform for black creators and makers and a face-to-face advisory session to support their business goals.
VIEWER
According to the BBC, the Eurovision Song Contest, organized by the European Broadcasting Union, reached 162 million people in the three live broadcasts in 38 public media markets. Viewership for the grand finale on May 13 was 40.9%, more than double the broadcaster average (17.4%). Host country Great Britain delivered the largest Eurovision audience ever, with an average of 9.9 million viewers watching the grand finale on BBC One, a 12% increase on 2022 and a 63% viewer share.
Siegerland Sweden reached an average audience of 2.3 million viewers, which is 82.3% of all television viewers in the country. Last year’s winning country, Ukraine, achieved an audience share of 19.7%. In 13 out of 39 markets, Eurovision reached over 50% of the audience share, led by Iceland with 98.7%, closely followed by other Nordic markets (Norway 87.8%, Finland 85.6% and Sweden 82.3%).
Around 7.6 million people watched the grand final live on YouTube and over 3.2 million live views of the semifinals. On TikTok, Eurovision’s official entertainment partner, the three live shows have been viewed 4.8 million times.
Among 15-24 year olds, the audience share of the grand final was 53.5%, four times higher than the channel’s average (13.8%).
