Discovery Communications

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Sebastian Dawson

By Sebastian Dawson

Discovery Communications – MediaWiki

courtesy FanPop.com

1 Discovery Place

Silver Spring, MD 20910

240.662.2000

Corporate.discovery.com

Fact Sheet

courtesy Corporate.Discovery.com

Highlights:

Cumulative Global Subscribers: 2.2 billion
Countries and Territories: 224
Languages: 45
Network Entertainment Brands: 50

Key Executives

courtesy Corporate.Discovery.com

John S. Hendricks

Founder of Discovery Communication

The driving force behind dramatic growth at Discovery Communications, Hendricks expanded the Discovery Channel from its core property to its current status as a global content provider. (2)

Courtesy Corporate.Discovery.com

David Zaslav

President and CEO

Prior to Discovery, Zaslav enjoyed a distinguished career at NBC Universal. He now sets strategy and oversees operation of Discovery Communications around the world. (3)

Courtesy Corporate.Discovery.com

Mark Hollinger

President and CEO

As President of Discovery Networks International, it is Hollinger’s job to deploy strategic development and daily operations in over 200 countries. Hollinger joined Discovery in 1991 as Vice President and Deputy General Council. (4)

Courtesy Commons.Wikimedia.org

Brief History

Discovery Communications, Inc. is the world’s premier nonfiction media company. It began as a single channel in 1985, but that single channel has evolved into a global media headquarters. Today, the company offers more than 100 programs in over 200 countries (6). DCI’s 28 network entertainment brands include:

Networks

Discovery Channel

Dedicated to nonfiction, informative content. Deadliest Catch, Mythbusters, and Planet Earth all appear on this channel (7).

Courtesy IMDB.com

Animal Planet

The only multi-platform entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of the animal kingdom. AP has programming like Whale Wars, River Monsters, and Pit Bulls and Parolees (9).

Courtesy Animal Planet

The Military Channel

The Military tells real-world stories of heroism and history. Popular programming includes Future Weapons, and Science of the Elite Soldier (10).

Courtesy DesiRulez.net

The Learning Channel

TLC is a global brand that celebrates life’s special moments. TLC is a top 10 cable network in the United States female demographic, and features programming like Cake Boss, Sister Wives, and Extreme Couponing (8).

Courtesy TLC.com

Velocity

Velocity is a newer, high-octane cable network aimed at men. With more than 400 hours of premiere viewing time, shows like Inside West Coast Customs, Chasing Classic Cars, and How It’s Made: Dream Cars made their debut on Velocity (11).

Courtesy Discovery Programs

Financials

Discovery owes it to its investors to make smart and economically sound decisions throughout the year. Discovery has been successful in doing this, especially this quarter. Zaslav attributed the success to the “breadth and depth of our brands and the myriad of opportunities across our global distribution platform,” (12).

Courtesy Corporate.Discovery.com

Third Quarter 2013 Highlights:

Revenues increased 28% to $1.375 million, as compared to third quarter last year (12).
Net Income increased 24% to $255 million, as compared to $205 million for the third quarter of last year (12).

Exclusive

Shark Week!

Shark Week is an enormously popular special on the Discovery Channel every summer. This weeklong of programming dedicated to the killer of the seas is the longest running cable television event in history. Its popularity can be partially attributed to its ability to harness the power of social media (14). More than one and a quarter million* people follow Shark Week on Facebook and Twitter.

Courtesy Discovery Programs

Bear Grylls

Edward “Bear” Grylls is a UK survival expert who spent time in the special forces. His series Man vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel has been nominated for multiple awards, including an Emmy. This season, Bear returns to the DC in “Bear Grylls: Escape from Hell.” Each episode, Bear will put himself in dire situations, based on real acts of survival in history. Of the show, he said “I am super excited to be working with Discovery again – the channel where the… journey began,” (15).

Courtesy Discovery Programs

In the News

Interbrand’s “Best Global Brands” Report

Interbrand is the world’s leading brand consultancy. They have awarded the Discovery Channel their #70 spot (of 100). Their reasoning includes a record-breaking 2012 season, strong first-quarter results, and high levels of viewer engagement (17).

“Discovery Launches Fierce New Digital Network”

The Animalist is a compilation of fifteen original digital series exploring the connection between humans and their furry (some not so furry) friends. The show debuted online with nearly seven million monthly streams. In conjunction with additional distribution partners, the content can be accessed from mobile, YouTube, and even the Xbox gaming console (13).

Courtesy Animal.Discovery.com

Discovery Channel Rocks the Vote

For the twentieth year in a row, the Discovery Channel ranked #1 among total adults in its importance to the enjoyment of cable, as well as winning in both perceived value, and favorite basic cable channel. In a new study, the DC ranked #1 as a favorite channel and #1 in importance, among adults who would switch providers were their provider to stop supplying the Discovery Channel (13) (22).

Courtesy Images.BusinessWeek.com

Upcoming

The Challenger Disaster

Discovery Channel makes a foray into the unknown with this series chronicling the story of Dr. Feynman, a physicist who investigated the Challenger Disaster. The show debuted Saturday, November 16th to a large audience. Critics applaud for its fact-based approach, as well as for actor William Hurt who plays Dr. Feynman (16).

Courtesy Discovery Programs

Christmas

Discovery Unwrapped is one week of specialized holiday programming running from Dec. 8-15. The Channel plans to use its own programming to teach viewers the meaning of Christmas from two very different groups. Redneck Moonshiners will offer their opinion on Moonshiner’s Christmas Special, while the more reserved Amish lifestyle will present A Very Amish Christmas. The shows Naked and Afraid, Call of the Wildman, and Gold Rush will also have Christmas specials on Discovery Unwrapped (13).

Halloween

Discovery Channel aims to capitalize on every public event that it can, and this spooky season is no exception. On October 26, Hub Network held its first “Halloween Bash.” Hosted by Kenan Thompson, this two-hour, nationwide costume competition was judged by a panel of celebrity presenters, including Martha Stewart. All-new series Spooksville aired immediately following the “Bash,” (13).

Courtesy OurWeekly.com

Discovery Education

Discovery Education is a division of Discovery Communications aimed at delivering high-quality content that engages students beyond the classroom. Their services include Discovery Education Streaming Plus, where students can have lectures, speeches, information, etc. streamed directly to their computer. In addition to providing streaming services, Discovery Digital Textbook Replacement is working to give students an alternative to high-impact, expensive textbooks. Discovery also contributes to higher education programs (18).

Courtesy Discovery Education

Impact

Discovery has always been interested in a clean, pristine Earth. This is what they showcase in their programming. So it’s only natural that they use their popular programming to inspire change in communities (19).

The Planet Earth series captured rare and endangered species in their natural habitat. The DC partnered with the Nature Conservancy during its production, and aired PSAs during commercial breaks, to help preserve the stunning habitats featured in the program (19).

Shark Week often features PSAs regarding shark conservation and endangerment. Last year, during Shark Week, the DC partnered with organizations Oceana, and the Pew Charitable Trust to help spread those messages (19).

Courtesy Discovery Impact

Further

http://www.youtube.com/user/DiscoveryComms

Works Cited

Viacom

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Samuel Cohen

By Sam Cohen

Courtesy of Wikimedia [17]

Key Executives

Courtesy of Forbes.com [18]

Sumner M Redstone – Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors and Founder

Courtesy of allthingsd.com [19]

Philippe Dauman – President and CEO

Courtesy of Viacom.com [20]

Thomas Dooley – COO

The current incarnation of Viacom was founded in 2005 after the company split from CBS Corporation and took certain media properties with it. Viacom — short for Video & Audio Communications — is owned by National Amusements Inc., which also owns CBS Corporation. [1]

Viacom owns a number of media outlets, including Paramount Pictures, MTV Networks, Comedy Central, BET Networks, Nickelodeon Networks, Spike TV, CMT and VH1, as well as music production and online divisions. However, this profile focuses on the television holdings of the company.

Viacom’s headquarters in New York are at 1515 Broadway.
Courtesy of worldpropertychannel.com [21]

In 2013 Viacom has had a very successful third quarter, reporting $3.65 billion in revenue, up 9% from the third quarter last year. Net earnings for the third quarter were $806 million up 25% over the same period last year. Viacom’s total adjusted net earnings for 2013 were $2.32 billion, up 2% from the previous year. Viacom Media Networks, which accounted for $2.46 billion of that revenue, up 7% from the previous year’s third quarter, also accounted for revenue of $9.66 million in all of 2013, up 5% from last year [2]. For full 3rd quarter financials click here

This semester Viacom has been maintaining strong ratings for its established shows with returning seasons and relying on healthy ratings for event specials and award shows that have been held throughout the past few months and those that are scheduled in the coming months. These specials span the networks owned by Viacom and have battled both cable and broadcast shows for the top spot in the 18-to-49 demographic during their time slots. Viacom has also managed to effectively use social media to get more press for their specials and shows.

Miley Cyrus' controversial performance at the VMAs Courtesy of http://ibnlive.in.com

Miley Cyrus’ controversial performance at the VMAs.
Courtesy of ibnlive.in.com [22]

The first of these major events was the MTV Music Awards, which became national news because of the controversial performance by Miley Cyrus. The show was watched by nearly 10.1 million people and had the second highest viewership of any show on cable that week, losing only to A&E’s Duck Dynasty by 40,000 views [3]. The award show also topped most shows that week in the broadcast world for number of people who watched live or same day. The only show that beat out the Music Awards was Under the Dome, which aired that week on CBS [4]. The event was also a social media sensation, creating 120 national and worldwide trending topics on Twitter and 1.2 million like on Instagram [5]. The MTV Music Awards also broke a Twitter record: During Miley’s controversial performance 306 thousand tweets were tweeted per minute [5]. The show also garnered the ire of the Parents Television Council and was talked about across the news sphere for several days. in case you didn’t catch the performance you can see it here

Comedy Central has also done quite well this fall with strong showings from a number of returning shows as well as one new show, @midnight. Network ratings were up 10% across the board with Tosh.0 leading the way as the #1 cable program with males 18-to-24 [6]. That show was also the third most watched cable program on the night of its fall premier with two million viewers. [7]

The return of John Stewart to The Daily Show saw the show continue its dominance over late night in the cable world with The Colbert Report also coming in strong [8]. Key & Peele also have had a strong year, making number 1 in its time slot among men 18-to-24 and having 49% growth in audience from last season. [6]

@Midnight has been a successful addition to Comedy Central's late night line up Courtesy of laughingsquid.com

@Midnight with host Chris Hardwick has been a successful addition to Comedy Central’s late night line up.
Courtesy of laughingsquid.com [23]

South Park began its 17th season with stellar ratings. The season premier was the top show on cable among adults 18-to-49 and was the top show on TV among men 18-to-34 and men 18-to-24 [9]. Finally the network debut a new show @midnight to follow The Colbert Report. The show, which, Comedy Central had hoped would piggyback off of The Colbert Report, did more than that even beating Colbert in certain demographics. [10]

SpongeBob SquarePants has been the most watched kids show this quarter Courtesy of tvbythenumbers.com [14]

SpongeBob SquarePants has been the most watched kids show this fall.
Courtesy of tvbythenumbers.com [14]

Another Viacom media property that has had a good fall is Nickelodeon. The station consistently led the total day viewership among cable networks including, for example the three consecutive weeks ending November 3 [11], November 10 [12] and November 17 [13]. Nickelodeon has also dominated cable networks among the 2-to-11 demographic. The network has been top in the kids demographic for six straight weeks [14]. SpongeBob SquarePants has helped propel Nickelodeon to such heights as the number one program with kids 2-to-11 [14]. Nickelodeon has also had nine straight months of year-over-year ratings gains.

Nick Cannon Hosted the 2013 HALO Awards.
Courtesy of theholleywoodreporter.com [24]

Nickelodeon also had a special this weekend on Nick at Night: the TeenNick HALO Awards, which honored four teens for their community service and featured a number of celebrity guests. The show used social media to engage and connect with viewers by encouraging live tweeting and posts to Instagram with the hashtag #HALOawards [15]. Nickelodeon hoped that this interactive experience would change the way that award shows would take place in the future.

Another big upcoming event takes place on Viacom’s Country Music Television. CMT has done well this fall with music video ratings up from last year [6], but they’re hoping for a big boost from the upcoming CMT Artists of the Year special scheduled for primetime December 3. For more information on the event click here. CMT hopes to garner some solid ratings among certain psychographic groups especially the believer and maker psychographics.

Michelle Obama was a guest on a special 90 minute 106 and Park Courtesy of Newsone.com

Michelle Obama was a special guest on a 60 minute episode of 106 and Park
Courtesy of Newsone.com

The final Viacom network that just received a big boost is BET, which had two major events: one on Tuesday, November 19 and the other on December 1. On then 19th The First Lady of the United States appeared on 106 & Park, which has been the top music variety show on cable for the past 15 quarters [16]. Ratings for the special were not yet available as of noon on November 20th. On the 1st The Soul Train Awards hopes to duplicate the success seen by The BET Awards earlier this year.

Viacom has used its many networks to ensure that profits will continue to increase through the 4th quarter of 2013 and into 2014. The company’s strategy of getting strong showings from returning programs and excellent ratings on its large specials is working. The channels of the Viacom Media Networks clearly reach the demographics they are targeting and make Viacom one of the leaders in cable television programming.

Sources

[1] Viacom Wikipedia RET: 11/20/13

[2] Viacom 3rd Quarter Financial Report RET: 11/20/13

[3] Cable Ratings for the Week Ending August 25th RET: 11/20/13

[4] Broadcast Ratings for the Week Ending August 25th RET: 11/20/13

[5] Huffington Post – MTV VMA Ratings Rise For 2013 Thanks To *NSYNC Reunion, Robin Thicke And Miley Cyrus Performance RET: 11/20/13

[6] Viacom 4th Quarter ’13 Pulse Newsletter RET: 11/20/13

[7] Daily Cable Ratings Tuesday September 24th RET: 11/20/13

[8] Late Night Ratings RET: 11/20/13

[9] TV by the Numbers – South Park Season 17 Premier RET:11/20/13

[10] Deadline Hollywood – @Midnight’ Opens Well With Comedy Central’s Target Young Guy Crowd RET: 11/20/13

[11] Cable TV Network Weekly Ratings for Week Ending November 3rd RET: 11/20/13

[12] Cable TV Network Weekly Ratings for Week Ending November 10th RET: 11/20/13

[13] Cable TV Network Weekly Ratings for Week Ending November 17th RET: 11/20/13

[14] TV by the Numbers – Nickelodeon Tops Cable RET: 11/20/13

[15] TV by the Numbers – HALO awards RET: 11/20/13

[16] BET Press Releases – First Lady Visits 106 & Park RET: 11/20/13