Research on my chosen channel: E4
When looking at Channel 4's schedule we can see that slots for UK or US entertainment programs are available between Tuesday - Thursday between 10pm - 11pm. Also, they show The Simpsons Monday-Friday at 6pm.As for audience E4 performs the best for ages 16-34 with comments saying that in comparison to other channels it is 40% provocative, 36% covering grounds that other channels have not, 31% trend setting and 33& taking a different approach.
In general E4 majority audience is 16-24 (31%) and 25-34 (24%). Furthermore, the majority of the viewers are female at 62% and the social class is C2DE (working class) at 53%.Viewers are also able to connect with the channel on an emotional level (61%) meaning they are able to relate to what they watch.
What does this mean for my sitcom?
2. The working class majority viewers benefits me as well because they will be able to connect with the family and the characters as they are working class, living in their house in North London but also they will be shown running their fish and chips shop.
E4 is the best channel for my sitcom as it will allow the audience to connect with the characters, but also the viewers are very important. Likewise, E4 and Channel 4 as a whole is known for its diversity but also its willingness to show content that other channels would not.
British sitcoms on E4:
Drifters
Phone Shop
The Inbetweeners
Friday Night Dinner
Chewing Gum
Wasted
Gameface
The sitcoms above are mainly focused on the lives of 20 something year olds and how they tackle obstacles in their lives. My sitcom is similar like Friday Night Dinner where two 20 something year old brothers spend their Friday night dinners at their parents where something always goes wrong. It shows a dysfunctional family (like my sitcom) where two parents are constantly wanting to get involved in their children's lives - such as an episode where the father wants his youngest to go on a dating site and the mother encourages it. Also, the don't have boundaries as they frequently barge in on each other on the toilet and stay their. So what makes my sitcom so different and why would E4 want it? Even though it is similar to the sitcom mentioned above the major difference is the fact that my sitcom is a diverse show about an English Cypriot family trying to adjust in London. It is focused around a young university student trying to find herself and become independent but i held back by her over protective mother and her old fashioned grandmother who believes a woman should only leave the house when she has a ring around her finger.
The biggest thing that drew me towards E4 is its target audience and the gender which it is mainly towards and the big effort in wanting more diversity. Even though BBC2 was an option with their diversity and their young audience its main target audience was towards males with a 'laddish' attitude. It has been suggested by both my course lease Simon and screenwriter Steve Coombes that you should write what you know and what you have experienced - they always make the best stories. I know what it is like to grow up in a small greek village in Cyprus with my lovely bubble protecting me from the outside world, until I moved to England for university and I faced challenges that I did not expect. I want to share my story (in a bit of an over exaggerated version) to England as their is definitely a gap in the market, and is there is there enough people who would watch this? YES definitely. In 2011 there was an estimated of 270,000 Cypriot passport holders living in the UK alone, furthermore there is an estimate of 1.3 million Cypriots living in Africa, Australia and US. So even though my sitcom is focused on the lives of English Cypriots , Cypriot immigrants living in other countries still face the same issues of language and culture. We are people (English-Cypriots) who like to mock the older generation and their way of living, so why not watch a sitcom about it? Something that 2nd and 3rd generation English Cypriots, Australian Cypriot and US Cypriots can relate to?
The biggest thing that drew me towards E4 is its target audience and the gender which it is mainly towards and the big effort in wanting more diversity. Even though BBC2 was an option with their diversity and their young audience its main target audience was towards males with a 'laddish' attitude. It has been suggested by both my course lease Simon and screenwriter Steve Coombes that you should write what you know and what you have experienced - they always make the best stories. I know what it is like to grow up in a small greek village in Cyprus with my lovely bubble protecting me from the outside world, until I moved to England for university and I faced challenges that I did not expect. I want to share my story (in a bit of an over exaggerated version) to England as their is definitely a gap in the market, and is there is there enough people who would watch this? YES definitely. In 2011 there was an estimated of 270,000 Cypriot passport holders living in the UK alone, furthermore there is an estimate of 1.3 million Cypriots living in Africa, Australia and US. So even though my sitcom is focused on the lives of English Cypriots , Cypriot immigrants living in other countries still face the same issues of language and culture. We are people (English-Cypriots) who like to mock the older generation and their way of living, so why not watch a sitcom about it? Something that 2nd and 3rd generation English Cypriots, Australian Cypriot and US Cypriots can relate to?
http://www.channel4.com/info/commissioning/production-information/research
http://www.ukgeographics.co.uk/blog/social-grade-a-b-c1-c2-d-e
http://www.parikiaki.com/2014/08/almost-half-of-cypriots-live-abroad/
whilst there is some research here - to say "E4 is the best channel for my sitcom as it will allow the audience to connect with the characters, but also the viewers are very important. Likewise, E4 and Channel 4 as a whole is known for its diversity but also its willingness to show content that other channels would not." is a bit sweeping and slightly vague. You need to have more detail and alternative viewpoints to make your case with clarity. BBC2 shows lots of diverse shows. Does e4 show british sitcoms?
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