Purpose- Marketing

Marketing is when a channel aims on a specific theme in order to bring the audience back to the point of information-led and entertainment-led purposes. Due to the fact that an ident alone has small marketing powers but adding something to an ident, for instance, an advert for a coming soon program provides it marketing abilities to persuade the viewers that their channel is worth watching. This is usually applied amid Christmas or Halloween time, this would naturally appeal to a large audience who tune in for TV specials. 

The ident below is a story of an abandoned brussels sprout that soon finds a home. Several BBC characters like the doctor and other characters that play roles on the shows that air on that specific channel.  This ident not only carries a story but also fits perfectly with the Christmas theme.


Channel 4 sting, promoting one of its many comedy shows. This 20 second clip shows a highway maintenance putting up a sign that says, ‘WELCOME TO THE WEST COUNTRY Please don’t laugh at our accent’. This shows Channel 4’s diverse programs and that they are proud to air things that are a bit subversive which is really up their street and goes well with their marketing as well as their target audience they tend to lure in. They announce the times at the end of the clip, the non-diegetic sound of the cars on the road produce the sense of realism and equilibrium. This ident provides the audience the content Channel 4 provides; diversity and authenticity.

Another example in relation to Channel 4, they brought the broadcasting rights to the Paralympics in order to inform the audience Paralympics is airing soon. The ident flashes elements of Channel 4 on the screen in the form of their logo with the use of text that says, “The Paralympics, only on Channel 4”. Doing this informs the audience that the event could only be seen on this channel, both live and re-runs. This would naturally increase the channel’s rating as they are the only channel to have the broadcasting rights to the Paralympics, but if other channels also have purchased segments of the broadcasting rights to the Paralympics Channel 4’s rating for each of the channels who are broadcasting the Paralympics.