Entertainment TV has registered some major new hits recently. And the streamers, as well as the broadcasters, are very much in the market now too. Pippa Considine reports
Rewind a decade and appointment-to-view entertainment shows were largely seen as doomed, soon-to-be antiques belonging to the linear era. But in 2025, viewers are coming to many of the same shows on digital channels and the streamers are taking a leaf out of the old playbook.
“The good news for everybody is that entertainment is still such a vital component of any broadcaster strategy,” says Neale Simpson, md at Objective Entertainment, where the slate includes Alan Carr’s Picture Slam and Celebs Go Dating. “It’s the one genre that brings people together, and it’s joyful and happy, and offers escapism.”
Fresh ideas
New hits keep coming. In the last year, these include ITV’s The Assembly, Channel 4 relationship shows The Honesty Box and Virgin Island, Amazon Prime Video’s Last One Laughing UK and Beast Games scoring for Mr Beast and Netflix. Channel 4 has given the sketch show a reprieve, with a new order of Mitchell & Webb. While Sky is making a UK version of legendary US show Saturday Night Live, to air from 2026.
Entertainment brands are helping to power streamers. At ITV, entertainment is one of its hero genres and on ITVX it’s the second biggest genre after drama, up 18 per cent in the last year.
Despite risk aversion in the market as a whole, experimentation is still on the books.
At C4, “we’re making bold moves” says Steven Handley, the head of reality and entertainment at the channel, who can offer tariffs of around £450-700k per hour.
New reality format Virgin Island, from Double Act launched on C4 in May. Commissioned through specialist factual, episode one became the channel’s most watched show for 16-34s in 2025.
The recent launch of ITV format The Genius Game, anchored by David Tennant, didn’t hit the numbers needed for prime-time ITV, but there are no regrets. “I think it shows that we will try things, experiment, push the boundaries,” says Katie Rawcliffe, head of entertainment commissioning at ITV. Next up is Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters from Plimsoll.
Coming up on the BBC is a UK version of dating reality format Stranded on Honeymoon Island, through CPL. And it’s launching the long-awaited Destination X, produced through Two Four, plus Tern TV’s first reality show, Race Against the Tide.
Zinc Media indie Tern is also behind new BBC quiz The Inner Circle, with Amanda Holden, a joint order from BBC Daytime and Entertainment. Quiz is still in demand. Recent hits include BBC Studios’ The Answer Run with Jason Manford.
The BBC entertainment team, headed by Kalpna Patel-Knight, while always looking for blockbusters, is also open to tea-time ideas for Saturday night – fun, light-hearted formats. While Daytime, under Rob Unsworth, wants ideas with ambition that don’t feel too like traditional daytime.
Pippa Considine
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