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“Their track record of creating programming that cuts through has been underwhelming. They have spent a lot of money and made a lot of shows that haven’t really entered the public consciousness,” says Tom Harrington, head of TV at the Enders Analysis consultancy. “And they have a big subscriber base, a lot of people who have access to it, but you can count on one hand the shows which have really cut through.”

“No one knows what Max is, no one really understands the HBO brand,” says Harrington. “They kind of like the shows when they’re on Sky, but they’re not enormous shows outside Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon.”

Tom Harrington, head of television at Enders Analysis, says there would be “obvious advantages” for consumers.

“If you add all the tech spend of the PSBs together, it’s still insignificant compared with Netflix or Amazon, who set the perception of what a streaming service should be,” he says.

“Divided up and doing their own thing it’s going to be even worse, so combined they could pull together something half-decent that would work.”

“I think print will outlast me and you,” she says. “If you look at your Enders Analysis or whatever they’ll tell you the same thing.”

Advertising revenue is expected to stabilise in 2024, which an Enders Analysis report said will provide a more stable planning base.

“Recent volatility has tested the broadcaster’s flexibility and proactiveness, above its competitors who are more insulated,” wrote analysts at Enders.

Enders pointed out other issues for Channel 4, including a “quantifiable drop” in the relative success of programming compared to pre-Covid-19 and a continued loss of broadcast viewing share among 16-34-year-olds.

“The worry for Character.ai is the things it is doing can easily be replicated by big tech firms with financial firepower and huge global reach,” said Jamie MacEwan, an analyst at Enders Analysis. “Those star founders were its biggest selling point in the industry, I’m not sure if without them it can pretend to hold on to a technological edge.”

“The DPC’s decision when announced could heap political pressure on TikTok,” said Jamie MacEwan, a senior research analyst at Enders Analysis, a London-based research firm.

Measures could include requiring further commitments from TikTok to open European data centers for storing its user data locally.

Still, “unless there are any truly explosive revelations, tensions will be resolved along technical lines rather than through calls for a ban,” he said.