Channel 4 bosses have said Jamie Oliver’s campaign for a ban on airing junk food adverts before 9pm is wrong, arguing that it is anachronistic because children rarely watch live television.
The celebrity chef, who is one of Channel 4’s biggest stars, recently launched a campaign backed by Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon for a ban on TV advertising for food high in salt, fat or sugar before the watershed, arguing that such products are a cause of childhood obesity.
However, Channel 4 said any such ban could have a substantial impact on its revenue and prevent it from funding programmes about healthy living.
Alex Mahon, the Channel 4 chief executive, said that if such ads were restricted on mainstream television, junk food advertisers would instead spend their money with the likes of Facebook and “target young people even more specifically”.
“None of us want childhood obesity in the UK,” she said, saying she had no objection to Oliver making his case. “We’re just saying on this particularly point we need a slightly more complex consultation.”
Jonathan Allan, the channel’s chief commercial officer, said a ban could take £200m out of the commercial television industry.
“It’s a serious financial risk for broadcasters,” he said. “We feel the 9pm watershed is probably not proportionate because it would stop advertising around shows that don’t appeal to kids at all. It is potentially anachronistic when children are watching on-demand at any time of the day.”
The news may disappoint Oliver, who made Jamie’s School Dinners for the channel in 2005, when he helped focus media attention on children’s diets by launching a war on Turkey twizzlers.
“Jamie is obviously free to have his agenda,” said Allan. “We fund and commission loads of great shows about health and if we’ve got less money we can afford to put less shows like that out.”
Channel 4 launched its annual report on Tuesday, the first under its new leadership team of Mahon and director of programmes Ian Katz, a former Newsnight boss and deputy editor of the Guardian. They have pledged to focus on attracting a younger audience with investments into E4 and online programming.
The commercial broadcaster, which is ultimately publicly owned, said revenues fell from £995m to £960m in 2017, amid a weak advertising market. It is looking to move a substantial part of its operation outside London as part of a deal with the government to spend more money on programmes produced away from the capital.
Channel 4 announced a deal with Vice to bring hundreds of hours of programming to its All 4 catchup service by the end of the year. Vice, which recently appointed a new chief executive, has struggled to gain a British audience for its Sky channel but hopes to reach younger viewers through the Channel 4 partnership.