Some key points of E4 marketing

Some of the key points in your media analysis piece about 4Ventures (MW May 31) were incorrect.

For instance, you said that E4’s annual marketing spend is about &£10m and that this figure is more than C5’s entire marketing budget. MMS, a widely available industry standard measurement tool, reports that E4 has “spent” &£1.4m in 2001 (including launch spend), while in its last two full years (1999 and 2000) Channel 5 “spent” &£5.5m and &£3.7m respectively. Equally, if one includes the “value” of onair promotion Channel 5’s figure must be somewhere between &£30m and &£40m.

As for performance and future programming: in its first quarter E4 was the third most watched digital entertainment channel on its own turf (E4 hours, digital homes) and, with the introduction of Big Brother, it’s now at number two.

E4 has gone further and faster than any new entertainment channel in memory. It is lean and successful, and likely to remain so.

Dan Brooke

Deputy managing director

E4 and FilmFour

London SW1