Humans: Final Lesson

Marketing is the act of selling a product, whilst promotion is that of raising awareness.

Circulation - How many copies of a product are given out.

Many hermeneutic codes are offered to the viewer within in the first episode, who is the company producing the synths? Just how sentient and self-aware are these AI?

Diegetic - In the world of the narrative, this doesn't just refer to sound.

A conventional trailer often incorporates montage of clips from the show/ film they are advertising paired to non-diegetic music, the guerilla marketing trailer used to advertise Humans was deeply unconventional as per being diegetically situated.

Everything from the attention-grabbing and debatably controversial trailer, to the pop-up, augmented reality event on Regent Street, paired with the unconventional approaches to advertising, leads to a cult audience forming around the show. Being a small yet intensely motivated audience, this ties in neatly to Henry Jenkins' theories of Fandom.

Fans / = Audience

Fans are those that are far more likely to truly engage with a TV show, purchase merchandise, buy DVDs and other products based around the show, follow on social media/ make their own fan accounts, so forth. It's that divide of dedication.

Humans is specifically targeting a niche audience, a small but dedicated following, particularly fans of science fiction. Something in juxtaposition to this strategy-wise would be, for example, Eastenders, which uses mass appeal to a mass audience.

Initially, Humans was going to be simultaneously broadcast to Channel 4 as well as Xbox. The show financed between AMC (American Movie Channel) a basic cable channel in the US, as well as Channel 4. The show is therefore a transnational media product due to being co-produced between both British and American companies as a remake of 'Real Humans' a pre-existing Swedish TV series.

Humans was made as a mid-budget show (12 million USD to produce).

Channel 4:

Funding

During the station's formative years, funding came from the ITV companies in return for their right to sell advertisements in their region on the fourth channel.

But currently, the channel pays for itself through the sale of on-air advertising, programme sponsorship, and the sale of any programme content and merchandising rights it owns, such as overseas sales and video sales.

Associated channels

Channel 4, All 4, E4, More4, Film4, 4Seven, 4Music, HD+1 CHANNELS.

Scheduling

Channel 4 is a "publisher-broadcaster", meaning that it commissions or "buys" all of its programming from companies independent of itself. It was the first broadcaster in the United Kingdom to do so on any significant scale.

Notable releases

Channel 4's biggest releases include The IT crowd,  The Great British Bake Off,  Peepshow, The Inbetweeners, Friday Night Dinner, and the all-time classic, Gogglebox.

Ownership

Channel 4 is owned by Channel Four Television Corporation, of which in turn is owned by UK Government Investments. So in essence, the network is funded by the UK government itself.