With Bake Off achieving Channel 4’s biggest audience in 5 years it seems that the move across from the BBC, even with a virtually new presenter team, has had no ill effect. So it struck me where does brand loyalty come in the pecking order in viewers’ minds when choosing channels?

I can perhaps make the analogy with a study of theatre/venue spaces I did a few years back in the context of exploring the Royal Albert Hall brand, examining whether there was opportunity to grow the brand without throwing the baby out with the bath water for the numerous stakeholders the venue has – for some it’s the Proms, for others it’s rock/pop concerts, for some it may be Cirque De Soleil and for others it may be Seniors Tennis.

While it was a good cerebral exercise for me and the RAH is a prestigious building, it brought no firm conclusions because largely such spaces are, even with the RAH’s grandiose visual appeal, at the mercy of the producers and concerts promoters who book the venue with the belief that they will fill it to capacity. The fact that few seem to make use of its roundness in the staging of an event is perhaps indicative that some regard it just like every other shell venue. Which is more than a shame! If the venue’s brand character fits the band, that seems to be a bonus.

So in the case of a TV channel a few questions are in my mind…

Are they also at the mercy of the quality of the output from production companies?

Can you determine, in such a fragmented media space, whether any viewer has any loyalty to any one particular broadcast brand?

Is there a role for creating greater affinity for one channel over another with regular big budget brand awareness campaigns or is it purely down to content?

So, are all the trails for future programming that budgets will allow, more likely to endear viewers to one channel over another?

Or, am I just longing for a TV channel where I can hang my own particular hat and call home, without searching for the remote control?!