BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE TV-PROGRAMMING STRATEGY
BEHIND THE OTHER SIDE
OF BLUE SCREENS:
THE REAL LIFE OF THE
TV “MAGICIAN BOX”
Programming schedule is a vital part of the channel efficiency and can be considered as a result
of broadcasting coordination and transformation of audience demand in accordance to mission of the
channel.
We chose 10 leading TV channels, independent media groups and independent distributors and
asked them about the specific of their channel schedule elaboration and designing: how do they select
the content and what are the factors which have an impact to their choice; which content is more
highly rated and which is less among the audience and what expectation does it have today; what are
the main tips helped them to develop their channel schedule for prime time and finally what are the
challenges they meet today.
Thus we summarized an experience of the following media companies: International Producers
Group (USA), Fox TV (Spain), HTV Fun (Malaysia), TV Globo (Brazil), Latina TV (Peru), Armenia TV
(Armenia), 1+1 (Ukraine), TRACE Urban (France / Africa Region), DaVinci Media GmbH (Germany),
NBC Universal (Asia) and Safe Media (Lebanon).
We couldn’t deny the fact that the television became
today some kind of substitution of the reality. It is obviously an inescapable part of modern culture. We depend
on TV for entertainment, news, education, culture, weather, sports — and even music. Television turned into some
kind of social drugs and there are still no medicines to
heal the society from the TV addiction.
Moreover, an old saying Meal’n’Real would be more
actual in rephrasing Real’n’Meal — peoples devour media
product with more and more hunger which growing daily in a progressive way.
At the same time modern media consumer became
more selective demanding from TV channels to feed
them with a new dainty. What is the “dainty” fed to modern audiences; — we were trying to discover by gathering
some figures and summarizing different points of wives
aiming to animalize general tendencies.
Obviously that since the discovering of television the
main task of TV management was to find a proper feed to
fill their channels and attract more and more audience,
but what was the reason of their success and what instruments do they use to reach it — let’s take a look.
Analyzing all answers we can say that all channels
are oriented at the same, but use different approaches
and strategies: for example Fox TV pays a lot of attention
to precise content selection combining strong and pop16 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016
ular franchises with wise brand policy; Latina TV and
HTV Fun make their main stresses at careful analysis of
their audience, world trends, as well as innovative and
fun production; Da Vinci Media and TRACE Urban choose
one precise and limited segment of their audience; Safe
Media tries to find a new approach to reach the audience
challenging the new digital reality.
Let`s look at the whole picture step by step, carefully unveiling all important aspects: instruments of the
channels schedule development; its strategies, approaches, tips and targeting of the audience.
Season Screen TV Review
SPEAKERS
ANALYTICAL
David Babakhanyan
General Director
of Armenia TV,
Film director,
producer and
screenwriter
Armenia
Andrey Koval
Program director
TV channel 1+1
Ukraine
Yin Wah Kok
Owner,
HTV Entertainment
Limited
Malaysia
Donovan Castillo
Mohlman
Programming &
Acquisitions Director
NBC Universal
Singapore
Olivier Laouchez
Owner
Trace TV
France
Raphael Correa
Netto
Executive Director —
International Business
Division
TV Globo, Brazil
Daniel Perez
Director of content
and programming
at Fox International
Channels (FIC)
Spain
Una Suput
Manager Programme
Acquisitions &
Scheduling
Da Vinci Media
GmbH, Germany
Richard Ellman
President and CEO
of International
Producers Group
USA
Milagros Tuccio
Head of fiction
Latina Television
Peru
Adham Nasrallah
Content Manager
SAFE MEDIA SARL
Lebanon
NBC Universal We’re very fortunate at NBC
Universal to have a bouquet of complimentary channels
whose brands have been meticulously cultivated and
defined across not only our territory in Southeast Asia,
but also across the globe. We have DIVA, which draws
a very attractive female viewership for both our affiliate
and advertising partners, and Universal Channel our
flagship general entertainment channel. Pairing these
two channels with our US channel brands, Syfy and
E!, we’re able to offer a robust channel portfolio that
reaches all audience segments, which afford us the
opportunity to benefit from a distribution, scheduling, development, marketing / cross-promotion, and
acquisitions perspective.
1+1 Media The first instrument we use for content
selection is targeting of new products. It is used for finding
precise matching with needs of our target audience.
The second is the audit combining with optimization
of existing products; there is a tendency to reduce the
number of products in daily playlist, choosing 3-4 as the
most successful. It seems to be most optimal strategy —
to increase the number of outlets and the timing of one or
two of the most successful products.
HTV Entertainment Limited Why viewers have
to choose your channel? We must have content that is
uniquely valuable by providing content that’s unavailable
sstrnews.com
or hard to get elsewhere plus great user experience. This
means it’s easy and pleasurable to watch anywhere on
any device. The issues that we need to consider are a
massive upgrade versus what’s already available on the
web in aggregation, accessibility, and/or design. We need
to create the “wow” factor to everyone who views the
content in our channel. The overall look-and-feel must be
of highest quality too.
TRACE Urban We are remaining true to our brand
and relevant at the same time. TRACE evolves with its
audience; you witness this in both our platforms and
content. Our channels were born out of a need to provide
an under represented community with entertainment
that celebrates urban culture in its greatest form —
music. Each feed is closely monitored and adapted to the
markets it serves, providing the right balance of TRACE
values and cultural relevance.
TV Globo Our intention is to diversify, both in
production/proposal of content as in the way how it gets
for each viewer.
Da Vinci Media GmbH
Over the years we’ve
established Da Vinci Learning as the go-to place for
educational content for families. We are very selective
in both our acquisitions and productions, because we
don’t just want to make sure kids learn great new things
from all possible areas of life, but also that they do so in
Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 17