Channel 4 recruits ‘Tribes’ for online community

Invitations to join Tribes Live have been sent to six million viewers who are registered with Channel 4’s online database. Upon joining, members complete a questionnaire to determine which one of 25 ‘tribes’ or sub-cultures they fall into (e.g. Emos, Hipsters, Scene Kids).

Channel 4 will regularly pose questions and assign tasks to the community, addressing a range of topics including media, lifestyle, brands, aspirations and current affairs. Advertisers and agencies will also have the opportunity to conduct bespoke projects with the community.

In addition, Tribes Live members will be encouraged to produce video contributions and ‘citizen journalism’ reports to feedback to Channel 4 on trends and attitudes among their friends.

Sue Gray, Channel 4’s head of advertising research and development, said: “Our Tribes Live initiative builds on the unique relationship Channel 4 has with young adults. Over a third of all 16- to 24-year-olds in the UK have now registered with Channel 4 and our Tribes Live community enables us to engage a sample of these viewers and explore a broad range of issues with them in real time.” 

The UK Tribes project is managed by research and strategy agency Crowd DNA.

• Research profiled UK Tribes last year, looking at how the work was helping advertisers reach youth audiences. Click here for the full article.