Mark Hollinger President and CEO, Discovery Networks
International Region: Global
Owning the rights to a vast catalogue of bluechip programming gives the head of one of the world’s flagship content producers confidence in the future of pay
Deserve victory D
By Adrian Pennington iscovery
Communications made more than $4.2 bn last year, with growth spearheaded by
its international division which posted a 16% gain. Its president and CEO Mark Hollinger credits the move of content from the US to international markets and vice versa as one key to its success.
“It is this great two-way flow of content that is unmatched in the non-fiction world,” Hollinger says. “A second driver has been our ability to get into interna- tional markets early, and another key is that we run a global busi- ness locally.” Staff in Discovery’s 44 overseas offices are empowered to make deci- sions, he says, so that when viewers switch on “it feels like it is their channel.”
Led by the flagship Discovery Channel, the company distrib- utes 27 TV brands, among them Animal Planet and TLC. Its base remains pay TV and although distribution deals have been struck in recent months
with Netflix and Amazon in the US, Hollinger admits to applying a cautious approach internationally.
“The contribution to our busi- ness of new versus traditional platforms is very small, so from a near term perspective we will continue to supply pay TV as our number one priority,” he says. “We’ve been cautious about putting long form content out on broadband - either for free or for download. We do make short form content avail- able for free but with respect to long form we’ve come late to striking deals with online providers.”
He elaborates: “We want to make sure that there’s a model that provides value for content and we are mindful of the impact on our traditional payTV business. It’s a filter we apply to strategising all new distribution options and I realise it may be a bit more stringent than other companies.”
Reaching more than 1.3 billion subscribers across 210 territories, Discovery Networks International (DNI) has few peers as a content owner and producer which puts it in a strong position.
“Consumers and distributors want our kind of content and, because we own the rights to it,
I am a firm believer in the adage that you get what you pay for
we have the flexibility of business model to roll out new networks or to distribute on an on- demand basis,” Hollinger says. “The issue of content ownership doesn’t get a lot of play in discussions about the on- demand world, but the good news for us is that getting onto new distribution platforms doesn’t require a change in rights strategy.” In Hollinger’s twenty-one years at the company, his management of the launch into Asia in 1994 is among his proudest achievements. “The business had never existed before in Asia. It had no infra- structure but was a great chal- lenge and great fun,” he says. Naturally, Discovery founder John Hendricks is an inspiration “for me, for everyone at Discovery and anyone in the creative community,” but he also admires Steve Jobs “for his search for perfection in products and the consumer experience which is a great lesson for all media” and, as a history major, delights in Winston Churchill’s motto ‘deserve victory’. “I am a firm believer in the old adage that you get what you pay for, so while we remain open to any opportunity, we will judge each one against the value to our business.”