Channel 4 chief executive Alex Mahon has said that the broadcaster's budget will 'go up massively' in 2021.

A plummet in advertising revenue caused by the coronavirus pandemic forced Channel 4 into cutting its spending on programming by £150 million - more than 20% - this year.

The exact budget for 2021 has yet to be determined, but speaking at the RTS Digital Convention, Mahon revealed: "We don't really know what the advertising market will do, but it definitely goes up massively in 2021 compared to 2020."

She added that necessity meant that C4 had produced a lot of programmes cheaply and quickly during lockdown but intends to return to quality series as the market improves, saying: "I don't think you can compete in a Netflix world or Amazon Prime or Disney+ world by making everything cheaper, that's not realistic, that's not the quality viewers demand."

In a normal year, Channel 4 spends around £660 million on its programming budget.