Chris Hoelzl is SVP, Program Development, Smithsonian Networks (USA). He is responsible for the development of original productions, co-productions and the acquisition of completed programming. He shared his strategy and commissioning process at Sunny Side’s Science-themed Meet The Executive session, estimating that 5-10% of Smithsonianʼs annual 200 hours of production is Science-based. We are publishing …
Ricarda Schlosshan is a supervising editor and commissioner for Terra X, the popular primetime documentary slot of German public broadcaster ZDF. Ricarda described what Terra X is looking for at Sunny Side‘s Science-themed Meet The Executive session. She shared the details of Terra X’s pipeline: 45 new programs per year Each film is 44 minutes, …
The widely-used Nielsen Household and Persons Universe numbers provide an important context for the economic health of the channels that commission, coproduce and acquire documentary programs. My valued colleague, Byron Media‘s John Morse, shared the data and context. TOTAL U.S TV UNIVERSE: The total US Universe of TV homes increased from 119.9 Million a year …
The demand for Netflix documentaries in the UK reveals more similarities than differences compared with the U.S. That’s according to research firm Parrot Analytics which measures online audience demand for programs across all platforms. Parrot’s Demand Expressions® is a valuable workaround for Netflix’s notorious black hole for information about its audience. Measuring Audience Demand Today’s …
The distribution footprint and average primetime audience of Cab/Sat channels are key measures of scale and performance. These metrics are of intense interest as Realscreen West kicks off in LA and Sunny Side of the Doc approaches in La Rochelle, France. Today’s coverage and ratings snapshot is for 40+ U.S. networks, from Factual leaders like …
The American PBS system completed its annual general meeting last week in Nashville, Tennessee. The theme was “Our Country: Our Stories.” The state of the PBS viewing audience was a key focus. I’m particularly interested in two stories: Is the PBS audience holding up in the age of Netflix? And, particularly, how are the Science …
Discovery’s CEO David M Zazlav earned $128 million in 2018 That’s according to an executive compensation analysis published in today’s New York Times. Mr Zazlav’s 2018 payday was ranked #2 among all U.S. public companies. It was exceeded only by Elon Musk’s TESLA package ($2.8 billion). Context Discovery’s producers typically earn 10% of the …
The 2019 Sweet Spots Study is out now! The Study is an invaluable guide to cost benchmarks for network commissions. What do 31 U.S. channels pay for original programs? For documentaries and specials? And for reality series? Does my pitch fall in the budget “Sweet Spot” for my target network? My interviews with executives and …