The announcement of Discovery Kids is just another step in Discovery India’s 2012 game plan. Mark Hollinger, CEO, Discovery Networks International, talks to Noor Fathima Warsia about strategies for the India and Asia markets, new initiatives and the need to be well placed on platforms from a distribution viewpoint.
For some, the year 2011 belonged to the infotainment genre, by then dubbed as the factual entertainment genre. The advent of new players such as History TV18 shook up the genre and older players such as Discovery India and National Geographic Channel were not caught sleeping either. The two players did not leave any stone unturned to reiterate their domain experience. And just as audiences were getting used to benefits of the increased competition in the space, Discovery Networks took another significant step in 2012, and announced the launch of Discovery Kids. A bold step, some call it, because this space is arguably untouched in India, at least in the manner in which Discovery intends to approach it. And for Discovery, this is one of the biggest areas of focus in 2012.
For Mark Hollinger, CEO, Discovery Network International, Discovery Kids is very serious business. His role requires him to look at all markets Discovery is present in, except the United States, where Discovery is considered one of the oldest, most established players. But on Hollinger’s agenda of markets of focus, India is amongst the first growth markets.
Earlier this year, the entire Discovery senior management team, which Hollinger describes as “the biggest group of senior managers that we ever put together in one place” was in India for a series of meetings concerning the entire business and not just focussed on India. “As we looked to find the location for that meeting, we wanted to expose people to India and the great market that it has been for us and the complications of doing business here,” says Hollinger.
An aggressive 2012 game plan
Discovery Kids is one of the biggest steps that Discovery is taking in India to further boost its presence here. “We would not have launched it if we would have thought it would just be our version of the networks that are already here. As the Asia team and the India team looked at the entire kids market, they found a real gap for a channel that combined education and entertainment in the way that we have done in the space for kids slightly older than pre-schoolers,” explains Hollinger.
The year will see the company do what it takes to ensure that it retains the leadership position it has enjoyed in this market. “We are very happy with the way India and Asia have been contributing to our overall growth,” says Hollinger and adds, “What we would like to see in India, in essence, is a continuation of what we have seen, which is being very well placed on platforms from a distribution viewpoint. We have the top end in outperforming the market on ad sales. I would like to see Discovery Kids being a big success here and we continue to plan for the future.”
Will Discovery dabble with general entertainment?
The question has been posed to Discovery on too many occasions. The network has immense strength in non-scripted or non-fiction content, but what about a league as intense as general entertainment? “If we look at the longer sweep of the development of the business, media, like other industries is witnessing consolidation. Having more diversity is important when dealing with a consolidated distribution universe. Our thought process is broad and we take a long term view of what type of content we might use. There could be a point in time when scripted content becomes part of our business,” explains Hollinger. Discovery has had bits and pieces of scripted entertainment in certain markets. Hollinger divulged that while Investigation Discovery Network was completely a non-fiction channel in the US, Discovery officials have discussed that there could be an opportunity to add scripted crime programming to a channel of that nature. “We have not made any decisions on these things yet, but we are open-minded about what the portfolio will transform into, over time. We know we can populate the nonfiction space exceptionally well. We obviously have ambitions to grow and if it means that at some point we look at some other genre, then that certainly is not out of the question,” remarks Hollinger.
But the plan for a general entertainment channel is not on the radar in the near future. Discovery’s strategy is to work with a bouquet of channels so that it can leverage its global model of economic efficiencies. Hollinger believes that for now, Discovery has a “terrific” portfolio in India. “We would hope that over the years, there are opportunities to continue to grow on that. We have always found from a regulatory point of view that India is a very open market. Whenever we have wanted to do something new, we get that opportunity here,” he adds.
THE COMPETITION
HISTORY TV18
HISTORY TV18 is a leading factual entertainment channel, which launched on India’s television screens in October, 2011. It has jumped to lead from among top three positions in the six metros amidst market cluster of urban India. The channel recently announced that it contributes 70% viewership to the factual entertainment in the 1million+(including metros) market cluster in India. History, which has a strong global research back-up and highquality programming quality, is a strong competitor to Discovery.
FOX TRAVELLER
FOX Traveller, a channel owned by Fox International Channels and STAR TV, and previously known as Fox History & Entertainment is a key player in the English factual entertainment genre. The channel has a robust distribution network across South Asian countries and reaches out to audiences in Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. The channel has increased its focus on travel based content. Unlike many channels in the genre, Fox Traveller is aimed at local content programming. It undertakes locally produced content for the Indian market.
NAT GEO
The National Geographic Channel has consistently been a dominant player in the infotainment genre. The channel features a broad range of programmes that are based on local as well as global content including nonfiction, factual programming involving nature, science, culture, and history. The channel was launched in 1994 in partnership and distribution with STAR TV, a Hong Kong-based pan-Asian satellite network, replacing the NBC Asia channel in 1998. As of 2008, the Asian version of NGC is available in over 56 million homes. NGC Asia has six different channel feeds.
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