Channel 4 is to change the metrics it uses to calculate bonuses for its executive team.

Chairman Lord Burns said the board would refocus on key demographics and on peak time, as they were the main drivers of revenue, rather than on all-hours share over 2013.

He said “I think the metrics we chose were on the harsh size… but they were what we had to stick by.”

Referring to the BBC’s decision to play mainstream popular programming in daytime, he added: “A number of things happened in the year that were not anticipated. It was a bit severe on the executive and on the whole organisation; they are not too down about it.”

Chief executive David Abraham added that execs will now be rewarded if they come up with an initiative that generates additional revenue, such as repeats channel 4 Seven.

Bonus payouts

C4 paid out bonuses at 45% of the maximum pay out in 2013, ”substantially” lower than the level of pay out in 2012, although there was a Paralympics bonus that year.

This was because C4 missed four bonus targets: main channel share, portfolio share, portfolio share of SOC1 16-34, and portfolio share of ABC1.

As a result, key staff’s variable pay was lower in 2013 than 2012. Rank and file staff received an average bonus of £2000.

Abraham’s bonus fell from £100k to £73k, chief creative officer Jay Hunt’s bonus was down from £116k to £54k, and Jonathan Allan’s fell from £138k to £55k.

 

 

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