Global Hollywood-style mega-event series will define Nat Geo in Asia this year, part of a strategic programming shift that has the region’s factual networks spread across genres more broadly than ever and following increasingly divergent paths.

While National Geographic Channel (NGC) lists Mars, The Story of God with Morgan Freeman and He Named Me Malala as three of its brand-defining global premieres this year, Discovery is going big on digital and doubling down on localisation on multiple levels, including a Bear Grylls co-production for China. The 12x75 minute celebrity survival series, which aired in prime time on Dragon TV and is going into a second season, catapulted Discovery Asia into the multi-million dollar local production sphere for the first time. A+E Networks Asia’s History, meanwhile, is counting down to the global premiere of drama Roots, and is fresh off its highest premiere ratings since January lastyear for season four of Vikings, which aired in Asia on the same day as the U.S. BBC Earth, meanwhile, has been flying the flag for natural history since it replaced BBC Knowledge in Asia in October last year.

National Geographic’s bet on big, bold and global has been running for a while, and moved forward this year with international production centralised in the U.S. under new global head, Courteney Monroe.

Monroe, who became CEO of National Geographic Global Networks in November 2015, oversees programming, marketing and operations for all Nat Geo-branded channels around the world. She also heads up production unit, National Geographic Studios.

Among other things, this means the exit of Mark Francis, who shifted from Hong Kong to London at the end of 2014 to take up the position of vice president, commissioning and regional programming at National Geographic Channels International’s global content hub in the U.K.

It’s too soon for an objective assessment of the impact on Nat Geo in Asia, but Fox Networks Group (FNG) says the channel will benefit from big, bold, top-flight programming, driven centrally, and backed by Hollywood talent in front and behind the camera.

NGC will continue to back regional and/or local programming across Asia where it makes sense, “in particular productions produced together with brands and other partners,” says Keertan Adyanthaya, FNG’s executive vice president, content and communications, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

Nat Geo’s global titles are being supported across all branded assets, including the magazine, digital assets and live events. Company execs describe the result as “truly global, cross-platform ‘event-ised’ campaigns”.

Flagship titles on the schedule in February were the return of Brain Games and new show Supercar Megabuild with entrepreneur Afzal Kahn and a couple of expert mechanics on high-end modification quests. This followed January’s eight-part Primal Survivor, which followed adventurer Hazen Audel on some of mankind’s most rigorous journeys.

A March tentpole is He Named Me Malala, which looks at the events leading up to the Talibon’s attack on young Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai for speaking out on girls education and the aftermath.

Other March titles include season three of Cesar to the Rescue, which deals with communities struggling with problem dogs; and Mine Kings, which tracks gem hunter Guy Clutterbuck and a team he has assembled in Sri Lanka to make a killing in the gem trade.

National Geographic’s core slate, created with an international audience in mind, is supplemented on the ground in Asia with shows such as Route Awakening (premiered 8 Oct 2015), which follows American adventure and traveller Harry Yuan on a 10,000km off-road journey in search of China’s cultural and natural heritage; and BSF: India’s First Line of Defense (January 2016), which sheds light on India’s Border Security Force and “highlights its distinct identity as saviors of peace”.

Excerpt from ContentAsia’s print issue for Mip TV 2016, published on Tuesday, 29 March, and distributed at Mipdoc (2-3 April), ,Mip TV (4-7 April) and Asia-Pacific Video Operators Summit (APOS, 26-28 April 2016)

What’s on the prime-time grid

Prime time on National Geographic Channel is defined as 6pm to 1am, differing slightly from country to country across Hong Kong/Southeast Asia.

The typical NGC Asia grid continues to offer a wide mix of more than 13 factual genres ranging from buildings/engineering and survival to people/biography and action/adventure.

The week of 1-7 February is made up of 16.7% (7 hours) buildings/engineering; 11.9% (5 hours) survival; 11.9% (5 hours) animal; 11.9% (5 hours) science; 9.5% (4 hours) business/jobs; 7.1% (3 hours) activities/sports; 7.1% (3 hours) investigative; 4.7% (2 hours) mythological/supernatural; 4.7% (2 hours) travel; 4.7% (2 hours) automobile; 2.4% (1 hour) action/adventure; 2.4% (1 hour) nature; 2.4% (1 hour) history; and 2.4% (1 hour) people programming.

For the week of 7-13 March, the schedule is 15.5% (6.5 hours) people/biography series; 13% (5.5 hours) action/adventure; 13% (5.5 hours) investigative; 8.3% (3.5 hours) travel; 14.3% (6 hours) animal/pets; 7% (3 hours) automobiles; 4.8% (2 hours) culture/tradition; 4.8% (2 hours) nature; 4.8% (2 hours) science; 4.8% (2 hours) business/jobs; 2.4% (1 hour) buildings/engineering; 2.4% (1 hour) history; 2.4% (1 hour) activities/sports; and 2.4% (1 hour) mythological/supernatural series.

2016 vs 2015

Based on this year’s February-March weekly 6pm-midnight schedules and last year’s March-April (source: ContentAsia Factual 2015, page 13), the profile of food and business/jobs programming during prime time changed the most.

Food shows dropped from 6.5 hours (15.5% of the 6pm-midnight weekly February-March broadcast schedule) to nil hour this year.

People/biography series jumped to three hours (7% of the 6pm-12am weekly Feb-Mar 2016 broadcast schedule) from zero in last year’s 6pm-midnight weekly March-April 2015 broadcast schedule.

This year’s prime-time picks are a mix of new and returned series.

Returned series include Brain Games season five (premiered in February), Cesar to the Rescue season three (premiered in March), Wicked Tuna season five (premieres April), Nazi Megastructures season three (premieres April), and Science of Stupid season three (premieres June).

New series include He Named Me Malala (premiered in March), Mine Kings (premiered in March), The Story of God with Morgan Freeman (premieres in April), World War Weird (premieres in August), Mars (premieres in November) and Deep Freeze (premieres in December).

Last year’s March/April prime-time line up was led by adventure fishing reality show Wicked Tuna, extreme expedition series Die Trying and docu-drama Killing Jesus.

Published on 7 March 2016