TellyCast Digital Video Awards 2026 has named Find The Cheater from Channel 4 and After Party Studios as winner of the Low Budget Production category.
The award recognises outstanding creative execution achieved with limited resources, with judges rewarding ingenuity, smart production strategy and formats that deliver exceptional audience impact relative to budget.
Find The Cheater launched as part of Channel 4.0’s experimentation with lower-tariff commissioning and creator-led production models, and quickly became the standout success of 2025. The first episode delivered 77m views and 78.3m minutes watched across platforms, achieved on a budget of just £10k per episode.
The format pairs Ava Hirons and Nella Rose with a group of contributors in a social experiment exploring modern dating and trust, using Nella’s comedic voice and cultural commentary as the anchor for the format. Built around a simple but highly effective premise, the episode leans into playful interrogation of infidelity and dating behaviour, turning a minimal setup into a highly engaging social experiment.
Production was designed around extreme efficiency, piggybacking on a larger filming block for Hear Me Out season 2 to maximise talent access and minimise cost. Seven pilots were filmed in a single setup using shared contributors and crew, allowing Find The Cheater to be produced alongside other formats without additional overheads, while still maintaining a distinct identity and tone.
Judges praised the entry as “well made and tonally on point for the audience,” highlighting its smart use of talent piggybacking, impressive return on investment, and strong blueprint for scaling cost-effective digital content.
