Discovery reclaims a natural spot
Cable channel aims beyond stunts, sharks
“In many ways, over the last couple of years we became too narrow.” Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav
Discovery Channel, a haven for manly profiles of Bering Sea fishing- boat captains and gold miners in Alaska, aims to broaden its reach beyond male- driven reality shows while vowing to cut out fakery in its programs.
New series being unveiled to advertisers this month reflect a move into warmer climes, a warmer environment for female and family viewers and more diversity. It’s an effort to expand its audience, which is largely made up of older, white, less urban and overwhelmingly male viewers who are “not the most robust socioeconomic group,” says channel chief Rich Ross, who joined the network in January.
The channel “had become unscripted television for men, and that ultimately narrowed the focus, even the type of men we wanted,” he says. “The goal is to super- serve that audience; we’re not being dismissive or judgmental.” But “there’s no reason to say we’re running the Honey comb Hideout.” The new crop includes:
Treasure Quest, an adventure series about a team hunting for a missing Incan gold off the coast of Brazil.
Lunar X-Prize, a competition series in which 30 teams of engineers race to land a robot on the moon. The finale is expected to air live.
Pacific Warriors, which profiles Hawaiian commercial fishermen in the 50th state.
Racing Extinction, a special in which activists mount an undercover operation to expose the role of carbon emissions in threatening the extinction of endangered species.
Cuban Chrome, a car series filmed in Havana.
And Discovery plans more scripted series: Next year brings Harley- Davidson, the story of the two men who built the American motorcycle brand. But first Ross has some image repair to do.
The top- 5 cable network has faced intense criticism over its straight- faced depiction of Megalodon, Rooken and other mythological creatures during its toprated Shark Week— projects that proved more Sharknado than science — and in December, it overpromised with Eaten
Alive, a sensationalized documentary about aman- eating anaconda that merely clenched an arm.
But Ross says he’s swearing off such stunts ( and live daredevil acts such as Nik Wallenda’s tightrope walk in Chicago) as part of amission to reclaim the network’s authenticity and return to its natural- history roots.
“We live in a world that is both curious and judgmental when it comes to anything that smells of chicanery or lack of transparency,” he says. Despite high ratings for made- up creatures, Discovery risks eroding its viewers trust: “When they found out it wasn’t true, the backlash against the channel was fierce. A big ( ratings) number doing the the wrong thing can become a self- inflicted wound, which is hardly good for your brand. Our job is to engender interest in the programming we have ( without) having to essentially fool the audience.”
Shark Week, the year’s top- rated week, is moving earlier this summer, kicking off July 5 as a summer welcome mat, and will be joined by another event, Elevation Weekend on April 25- 26, showcasing expedition series and
capped by the premiere of documentary
Valley Uprising from Yosemite Valley, Calif.
Ross, who built Disney Channel into a success before moving on to shorter stints at Walt Disney Studios and producer Shine America ( MasterChef, The
Bridge), also is exploring a weekend nature programming block aimed at families.
He was the right exec to “re- energize” the channel, says Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav. “The No. 1 thing we wanted Rich to do was bring back the core element of Discovery ( Channel), which satisfies curiosity about adventure, exploration, science, space. In many ways, over the last couple of years we became too narrow.”
Ross also made tweaks to welcome more women to the channel: The new season of
Deadliest Catch will feature the show’s first female fishingboat captain. And, interpreting Alaskan
Bush People as “a modern- day Waltons,” he asked producers to re- edit episodes with more footage of moms and kids, then used it to promote the series on female- driven sibling networks TLC and Investigation Discovery.
The result: Discovery dramatically improved its ranking among women last month. For the year to date, prime- time ratings are up 12%, to an average of 1.7 million viewers.
Analyst Derek Baine of research firm SNL Kagan says veering to attentiongetting programming was understandable: “Almost every single cable network out there has strayed from their brand,” he says. “Their names imply a very narrow niche, ( but) in fact they’re chasing reality programming and stunts that drive ratings.” The question, he says, is “does that hurt the brand when you put kids in front of the TV?”