How does Channel 4 tempt a generation raised on Netflix and porn?

CEO Alex Mahon was joking when she said the broadcaster was battling for attention, but many a true word is spoken in jest, writes James Moore

‘The Tribe Next Door’, one of Channel 4’s new offerings (PA)

Channel 4 is fighting with Netflix and porn for the attention of younger viewers. So said its chief executive Alex Mahon at the Edinburgh Television Festival.

She was speaking in jest at a dinner, but mention the latter and you’re guaranteed a splashy headline. Mahon must have known that.

Time was when the nation’s stuffier shirts regarded Channel 4 as a porn channel. Comedians used to joke about it as it gleefully sought to shock in an attempt to manufacture outrage and tempt viewers. Channel 4 has both scaled heights, and plumbed depths, in the process through its history.