Channel 4 News launches 4NewsWall using animated GIFs

Channel 4 News has launched a “4NewsWall” displaying stories using animated GIFs.

The standalone site is hosted on Tumblr and is targeted at an audience of 16- to 34-year-olds.

The GIFs are designed to display prominently on social media such as Twitter, and are accompanied by short text summaries of stories.

It was created by Channel 4’s in-house creative team 4Creative, working with ITN, which produces Channel 4 News.

The wall was soft-launched earlier this month, and already features several appearances from Channel 4 news presenter Jon Snow.

Channel 4 head of news and current affairs Dorothy Byrne said: “This is a brilliant collaboration between two different award-winning teams – 4Creative and Channel 4 News – who have created a truly innovative product which both informs and entertains.”

4Creative’s Jack Croft and Stacey Bird, who are leading the project, said: “Creating a GIF for a serious news story has been a very tricky learning curve – the tone of voice is crucial. Between the copy and the GIF itself we try to work in unison to create a news GIF that represents the feisty spirit of Channel 4 News and that will appeal to a younger, more distracted audience.

“As a team, along with Channel 4 News, we work to turn a GIF around as quickly as possible – it’s probably the most on-the-fly way we have ever had to work. And despite at times our eyes feeling like they are going to fall out of our heads we have found trying to beat our previous GIF quite addictive. In fact we barely leave our desks and we’ve started to dream in Photoshop and talk in GIFs.”

The 4NewsWall is the latest attempt by a traditional media organisation to reach more young people on social media. Last month Sky News launched Biffed and the Sun launched Sunnation, both of which are designed to offer a less serious take on news in the run-up to the election.