Discovery Channel heads into the Year of the Monkey with a mandate to rethink and re-imagine everything – tone, content, reach....

Expanding beyond linear is a key goal, as is re-positioning the content offering for millennial audiences.

“There is a need for us to refresh the channel – from its tone of voice to content as we position ourselves to millennials,” says veteran Discovery programmer, Charmaine Kwan, who has been given the position of head of products for Southeast Asia in the January 2016 reorg.

Kwan, like everyone else, is on the hunt for max brand engagement across all touch points.

“Our content should not always have to premiere on the linear platform as there may be instances where it is better suited for an online audience,” she says.

Other than that, it’s not yet clear how the strong digital mandate ordered by Discovery Networks Asia Pacific’s new president/managing director, Arthur Bastings, will be translated for the flagship channel.

“There will be greater investment and focus on digital but we are not rushing into anything just yet,” Kwan says, adding that “consumer insight is key in shaping our product palette in the digital space”.

This is “well underway across all our key markets,” she says.

“We will be relying heavily on digital analytics to curate content and track the level of Discovery’s brand resonancewith millennials,” she adds.

Kwan is eager to dispel the “misconception” that Discovery’s local original production slate in Asia has been hijacked by sponsor-funded content.

“From Abalone Wars to Taiwan’s Military Elite to Sabah Earthquake Decoded, more than half of our original productions in 2015 were not advertiser led,” she says.

This year so far, the channel has greenlit a series on Borneo and has several other projects in development.

The new Discovery under Bastings is also promising to boost local acquisitions in Asia rather than drawing so heavily from the Discovery U.S. pipeline, Kwan says.

“With greater emphasis on the international markets and the expansion of Discovery’s production teams outside of U.S., the majority of our content whether commissioned or acquired now comes from producers and vendors from around the world,” she says.

Kwan says a priority is to ensure “a robust offering, with a mix of global, regional and local content to fulfill the network’s international promise”.

Discovery Channel has 10 news series and specials in February and March, including new survival series, Kings of The Wild; Discovery’s big return to forensics, Killing Fields; a special to commemorate the people’s revolution in the Philippines, Marcos: 30 Years On; and The Great Wall of China: The Hidden Story, which premieres this month.

The biggest programming challenge remains serving a wide pan-regional audience, Kwan says.

New titles on the channel for February-June 2016 are survival series Men, Women, Wild (March) and blue-chip historical documentary The Great Wall of China: The Hidden Story.

Returning titles for the first half of this year include a new season of extreme job series Gold Rush (March) and Bering Sea Gold (May); the final season of science series Mythbusters (April); and a new season of The Island with Bear Grylls (June).

What’s on the prime time grid: Prime time on Discovery Channel differs from market to market but in general, starts at 6pm and ends at midnight, with core prime of 9pm-11pm for the Southeast Asia feed. Prime time is also dominated by action/adventure, survival and science (weekly schedules, January and February) programming.

The week of 4-10 January is made up of 31% (13 hours) action/adventure, 23.8% (10 hours) survival reality, 9.5% (4 hours) science, 7% (3 hours) medical and 7% (3 hours) building/engineering, 2.4% (1 hour) people, 2.4% (1 hour) technology, 2.4% (1 hour) character-led, 2.4% (1 hour) travel, 2.4% (1 hour) military-based reality, 2.4% (1 hour) faith/spiritual, 2.4% (1 hour) nature, 2.4% (1 hour) investigative and 2.4% (1 hour) culture/tradition.

For the week of 1-7 February, the schedule is 38% (16 hours) survival reality, 16.7% (7 hours) action/adventure, 7% (3 hours) science, 7% (3 hours) building/engineering, 4.8% (2 hours) history, 4.8% (2 hours) medical, 4.8% (2 hours) military, 2.4% (1 hour) technology, 2.4% (1 hour) character-led, 2.4% (1 hour) animals/wildlife, 2.4% (1 hour) mythological/supernatural, 2.4% (1 hour) investigative and 1.2% (0.5 hour) nature/disasters.

Published on 8 February 2016