ITV broadcast channel refresh on 3rd November

As exclusively revealed on Clean Feed and the Pres Café forum yesterday, ITV will be introducing new on-screen presentation across its portfolio of broadcast channels on 3rd November.

The changes were announced in a presentation to staff yesterday.

As part of the changes, ITV marketing chiefs have opted to reintroduce ITV 1 branding for the main TV channel.

ITV 1 branding was first used in August 2001 and was dropped in January 2013 because ITV chiefs decided they wanted to align the name of the company with its main TV channel.

In 2022, ITV feels that having the masterbrand (main ITV logo) also used as the logo of the main TV channel has kept ITV feeling like a linear-only offering.

Marketing heads believe that navigation is less clear when “ITV” is both a channel and a masterbrand. For example, when “ITV” appears on a programme trail endboard – is this the channel ITV telling me to watch this show or is it the brand ITV endorsing the drama.

Masterbrand initiatives such as ITV Britain Get Talking are mistakenly associated with ITV the channel. Is this ITV telling me there’s something to watch on the ITV channel or is this ITV telling me this is something it stands for?

It was also felt that some of the colour changes applied to the masterbrand since it was introduced in 2013 caused further confusion, in terms of the distinction between it and the logo of the main TV channel.

ITV 1 branding will more clearly distinguish the main broadcast channel from the ITV masterbrand.

Main points about the branding refresh

• The updated branding will see ITV positioned as Human, Optimistic and Welcoming. It is the home of popular entertainment.
• The masterbrand logo is not changing. It’s considered timeless and iconic. It will be displayed in either black or white. Iterations of the logo for channels/products/services will use other colours.
• New idents will be cross-channel. The same set of locations are used across all channels. Each channel has its own twist on the scene, which stems directly from the channel’s tone of voice. The channel logo swipes or manipulates the camera or scene with gestures. The majority of people are either far away or shown in motion passing the camera. CGI is used wherever possible. There are 25 idents in total – they’ve all been filmed and are currently in post-production.
• The ITV Reem font is being replaced.
• The new house typeface has lots of different weights and families – every channel will have its own version of this typeface.
• The numeral element of each of the broadcast channels will be displayed in the new font.
• Trail endboards will follow a similar design on each channel, albeit with different colour schemes/versions of the new typeface.
• Swipe/slide effects will be a common element of the on-screen presentation across the channels.
• The headline brand positioning of each channel:
  • ITV 1: Human, Optimistic, Welcoming, Massive, Collective.
  • ITV 2: Human, Optimistic, Welcoming, Irreverent, OTT.
  • ITV 3: Human, Optimistic, Welcoming, Classy, Intriguing.
  • ITV 4: Human, Optimistic, Welcoming, No Nonsense, Fanatical.
  • ITVBe: Human, Optimistic, Welcoming, Gregarious, Gossipy.
  • ITVX: Human, Optimistic, Welcoming, Dynamic, Alive.
• CITV will be looked at separately – possibly in early 2023.
• There are no plans to fundamentally change ITV News branding at present. But News may adopt the new house font in the coming months.

Acknowledgements