Blighty offers clear link for British brands

Blighty launched on 17 February, replacing UKTV People. It's the second of UKTV's factual channels to be rebranded, following Eden, which launched on 26 January.

Channel: Blighty
Owner: UKTV
What's happened? Relaunch from UKTV People

Both launches are part of the broadcaster's ambition to update the entire UKTV portfolio.

Blighty is aimed at couples in their 30s and 40s, and celebrates all things British, with documentaries from the usual suspects such as Louis Theroux and familiar BBC programmes, including Coast, Britain From Above and Who Do You Think You Are?

There are also new commissions, such as My Brilliant Britain, which took the 9pm slot on launch night and delivered an average of 24,000 commercial impacts.

The marketing around the launch of Blighty is quirky, fresh and innovative. Channel idents are lively and fun - for example, mocking British weather and laughing at typically British seaside antics.

However, do these promos actually reflect the channel's offering? Will people expect to tune into light-hearted, comedic programming and be disappointed to find River Walks with Charlie Dimmock or Matthew Pinsent tracing his family history? The proof I guess will be in the pudding.

However, what Blighty does do is bring together all of the best popular British factual programmes from the BBC and put them under one roof, giving the channel unique content - hence the strap line "one nation under one channel".

The rebranding could drive new viewers to the factual sections of electronic programme guides and is a far more attractive proposition for advertisers than UKTV People.

Blighty offers advertisers the opportunity to have a clear and relevant association for British brands and scope for sponsorship around some of the BBC's most popular factual programmes.

So, will this be another success for UKTV? Or will moving away from 12 years of UKTV heritage work against the factual channel?

What's good? Its uniqueness.

What could be better? The marketing and idents could be more reflective of Blighty's content.

Would I book my clients into this? I already have.

Leila Gould, head of TV, Total Media.

Source: BrandRepublic