Discovery Is Nurturing Its Brands—and the Planet—Like a Tiger Mom

Discovery Communications Inc., thanks to hit series, networks and franchises such as Shark Week, reaches more than 3 billion cumulative viewers across pay-TV and free-to-air platforms in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide.

Born in the era of US cable networks, it’s reportedly leading the next generation of networks by partnering with Viacom Inc., AMC Networks, A+E Networks and its recently-acquired Scripps Networks Interactive to bundle TV brands in a non-sports streaming package—a so-called “skinny bundle” of channels designed for cord-cutters (or cord-nevers) viewing programming on mobile devices and laptops that may be called Philo.

In late July, DCI finalized a deal to acquire Scripps for  $11.9 billion. As CEO David Zaslav told CNBC, the merger makes sense as Discovery “will have the highest-quality brands when we close on this deal in the US. We’re also low-priced: we’ll have about 20% of the viewership but we’ll have about 8% of the money, so we’re a great buy for distributors” like Comcast, DirecTV and others.

In addition to creating about 8,000 hours of original programming annually and a library of 300,000 hours of content, the combined companies can pool resources and cut costs by $350 million, a strategy applauded by Wall Street.

“We believe that by coming together with Scripps, we will create a stronger, more flexible and more dynamic media company with a global content engine that can be fully optimized and monetized across our combined networks, products and services in every country around the world,” said Zaslav.

The deal led to Zaslav being named MIPCOM’s 2017 Personality of the Year. “David Zaslav is the visionary leader of one of our industry’s most dynamic and innovative companies. He continues to redefine great content and how viewers consume it in a fast-evolving marketplace. We are proud to honour him as MIPCOM 2017’s Personality of the Year,” said Reed MIDEM’s Chief Executive Paul Zilk.

Looking ahead, Discovery’s goal is to have its real-life entertainment networks available on “every platform” that makes sense, and to monetize each opportunity effectively. The company’s pre-Scripps portfolio includes powerhouse global media brands like its flagship Discovery Channel, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, Science and Turbo/Velocity, as well as OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network in the US, Discovery Kids in Latin America and Eurosport.

Discovery Communications reaches audiences with digital-first programming from digital content holding company Group Nine Media, Discovery VR, over-the-top offerings Eurosport Player and Dplay, as well as TV Everywhere products in the GO portfolio of TVE apps and Discovery K!ds Play.

Its VR production is central to its partnership with the United Nations, producing programming such as Nothing But Nets, the powerful virtual reality story of Amisa, a child living in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp in Tanzania with her mother and six siblings.

In partnership with WWF, Discovery Communications announced a new initiative, Project C.A.T., in July which aims to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022.

Discovery has a strong presence overseas, collecting 47% of 2016 revenue from outside of the U.S. due in large part to Eurosport.

International digital initiatives include BAMTech Europe JV, the new OTT JV with ProSieben in Germany and the launch of Discovery and Eurosport channels with Amazon in the UK and most recently announced Eurosport on Amazon Germany.

Discovery Education, the global leader in standards-based digital content for K-12, serves 4.5 million educators and over 50 million students, half of U.S. classrooms, 50 percent of all primary schools in the UK, and more than 50 countries.

Discovery is producing three new shows for Facebook’s Watch. Celebrity Animal Encounters from Animal Planet debuted first in a five-episode series, produced by Asylum Entertainment, and featuring Kristen Bell, Justin Hartley, Fabio and Danny Trejo sharing their experiences with “loveable, crazy, shocking and outright hilarious animals.”

Discovery Communications will shift processing of U.S. television programming to public cloud technology by year’s end, reducing dependence on costly satellite networks.

America’s Navy and Discovery Education have joined forces to expand access for high school students interested in cutting-edge, real-world applications of science, technology, engineering, and math in a virtual field trip, Navy’s Elite STEM Workforce: Aboard the USS Nimitz.

Discovery’s golden franchise – a tradition since 1988 – continues to be Shark Week, the longest running cable television event in history is now broadcast in more than 72 countries as fans on social media have pushed the annual event to heights with hosted viewing parties and games centered on the shows.

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