What's new on NOVE?
Just over a year ago, Discovery Italy acquired the digital terrestrial channel Deejay TV from All Music/Espresso Group. This spring the channel was relaunched with a new schedule and name - Nove (Nine).
Laura Carafoli, SVP Programming & Content Discovery Italy, tells Maria Chiara Duranti about the channel's future ambitions in the ever more competitive Italian DTT market.
How is the digital market in Italy developing and what's your position in it?
Last year, Discovery Italy ranked on the third position among the Italian broadcasters with a 6.4% audience share, with a great +9% growth vs 2014. It was the highest share growth among all broadcasters. We are very competitive with our portfolio: Real Time, Dmax, Nove, Giallo, Focus, and the 2 kids oriented channels (K2 and Frisbee) on DTT plus Discovery Channel, Discovery Science, Discovery Travel&Living, Animal Planet on Sky Italia and Eurosport 1, Eurosport 2 on Sky Italia and Mediaset Premium. We are covering all the main platforms from DTT to satellite (Sky Italia, Tivùsat) and last July, we launched Dplay, our OTT service.
Our portfolio of channels and our programming offers are very wide: Real Time (female oriented) has been growing very fast confirming its position as the 8th national channel and as the first local digital net with a consolidated target group women 20-49 (3.2% share). Dmax (male oriented) is the leader in the target group 20-49 (3.1% share) among the digital channels. While Nove is now stable with a very good 1% share among adults 4+. Giallo and Focus are stabile with 0.9% share and 0.8% share while kids channels K2 and Frisbee reached 8.2% in the kids demo 4-14 with a +15% growth compared to 2014.
What is Nove's new soul?
We are curious, we tell stories, we like to experiment. We want to broadcast new shows close to our DNA but in a generalist way. Nove will benefit from Discovery Italia's experience and know-how of course, we have such a big library with international big titles.
What is your strategy in terms of editorial choice?
Ours is an articulated strategy that is moving on several fronts. We would like to strengthen our "traditional" channels such as Real Time, Dmax, Giallo and Focus with a mix of acquisitions and local productions. Mix of genres that can satisfy the different audiences and reach new viewers. For example, Fremantle's dating show Take Me Out has consolidated the access primetime slot on Real Time.
With Nove we want to bring Discovery's DNA into the Italian generalist TV. Many local productions such as the successful format Undressed, have been acquired by the other Discovery Networks around the world.
We are also aiming at the consolidation of our pay-TV portfolio. We want to keep a close relationship with our affiliates, in particular with Sky (we have 4 channels exclusively on their platform) and on Sky and Mediaset Premium we also have the two Eurosport channels.
Last June, we launched our OTT service Dplay, that offers free TV content on demand and can be watched at any time. In just few months we got more than 8 million users and about 22 million videos viewed.
You mentioned the controversial dating show Undressed. What has been the reaction of the viewers?
The format is a social experiment which sees two complete strangers meeting for the first time undressing in a darkened bedroom with just 30 minutes to get to know each other. Undressed was originally produced for us by Magnolia (a Zodiak Media company) for Nove and after airing just four episodes, we decided to recommission it for a second season with 40 more episodes. Undressed doubled the slot average in the commercial target (15-44) and reached (on all the devices) more than 15 million viewers. We had an incredible success especially with our Dplay service. This format is in production in UK, Poland and the Netherlands, an example of Italian creativity with big potential to be a big show in different territories.
Another example of our creativity is scripted reality series High Infidelity produced by Stand by Me and broadcast the first time by Real Time and now aired in Hungary, Poland and in the Balkans. We also produced a pilot in English as we got an interest from the US.
What shows are we going to see on Nove?
In March we launched in primetime on Nove Hell's Kitchen with Italian chef Antonino Cannavacciuolo. The fourth local adaptation of the celeb format just moved from Fox Life to Nove. For us this is a big challenge as we are broadcasting a cooking talent show. We are investing a lot in this show with a big advertising campaign. In September we are launching a very big International hit, the NBC format Top Chef and this is a great opportunity for us. The other big title that we are producing is Ninja Warrior, the TBS format is locally adapted in a Milanese Hub. We like a lot the UK version which is more ironic compared to the American one, which is more dramatic. The show will be launched in September as well.
You also just premiered Adam looking for Eve...
Yes, we produce the local version of the naked dating show but I am not sure that we will recommission it as we already have 8 international versions inside our big library.
Are you exploring new slots and shows like you did with Tadà ?
Yes, we launched a new original show titled Tadà like an experiment created with Italian actor Filippo Timi and Ballandi as producer. The program lasts just 7 minutes and we broadcast only 5 episodes, a kind of filler in our schedule. Each episode features a series of musical numbers including the performance of a famous Italian song by a guest star. The show is totally set in the style of the 60s and filmed in black and white.
We are thinking about a new edition probably enriched with more content. The show performed very well in free TV and especially online with our Dplay app. We will definitely explore other slots especially in the late fringe.
Last year, Discovery Italy ranked on the third position among the Italian broadcasters with a 6.4% audience share, with a great +9% growth vs 2014. It was the highest share growth among all broadcasters. We are very competitive with our portfolio: Real Time, Dmax, Nove, Giallo, Focus, and the 2 kids oriented channels (K2 and Frisbee) on DTT plus Discovery Channel, Discovery Science, Discovery Travel&Living, Animal Planet on Sky Italia and Eurosport 1, Eurosport 2 on Sky Italia and Mediaset Premium. We are covering all the main platforms from DTT to satellite (Sky Italia, Tivùsat) and last July, we launched Dplay, our OTT service.
Our portfolio of channels and our programming offers are very wide: Real Time (female oriented) has been growing very fast confirming its position as the 8th national channel and as the first local digital net with a consolidated target group women 20-49 (3.2% share). Dmax (male oriented) is the leader in the target group 20-49 (3.1% share) among the digital channels. While Nove is now stable with a very good 1% share among adults 4+. Giallo and Focus are stabile with 0.9% share and 0.8% share while kids channels K2 and Frisbee reached 8.2% in the kids demo 4-14 with a +15% growth compared to 2014.
What is Nove's new soul?
We are curious, we tell stories, we like to experiment. We want to broadcast new shows close to our DNA but in a generalist way. Nove will benefit from Discovery Italia's experience and know-how of course, we have such a big library with international big titles.
Undressed
What is your strategy in terms of editorial choice?
Ours is an articulated strategy that is moving on several fronts. We would like to strengthen our "traditional" channels such as Real Time, Dmax, Giallo and Focus with a mix of acquisitions and local productions. Mix of genres that can satisfy the different audiences and reach new viewers. For example, Fremantle's dating show Take Me Out has consolidated the access primetime slot on Real Time.
With Nove we want to bring Discovery's DNA into the Italian generalist TV. Many local productions such as the successful format Undressed, have been acquired by the other Discovery Networks around the world.
We are also aiming at the consolidation of our pay-TV portfolio. We want to keep a close relationship with our affiliates, in particular with Sky (we have 4 channels exclusively on their platform) and on Sky and Mediaset Premium we also have the two Eurosport channels.
Last June, we launched our OTT service Dplay, that offers free TV content on demand and can be watched at any time. In just few months we got more than 8 million users and about 22 million videos viewed.
You mentioned the controversial dating show Undressed. What has been the reaction of the viewers?
The format is a social experiment which sees two complete strangers meeting for the first time undressing in a darkened bedroom with just 30 minutes to get to know each other. Undressed was originally produced for us by Magnolia (a Zodiak Media company) for Nove and after airing just four episodes, we decided to recommission it for a second season with 40 more episodes. Undressed doubled the slot average in the commercial target (15-44) and reached (on all the devices) more than 15 million viewers. We had an incredible success especially with our Dplay service. This format is in production in UK, Poland and the Netherlands, an example of Italian creativity with big potential to be a big show in different territories.
Another example of our creativity is scripted reality series High Infidelity produced by Stand by Me and broadcast the first time by Real Time and now aired in Hungary, Poland and in the Balkans. We also produced a pilot in English as we got an interest from the US.
What shows are we going to see on Nove?
In March we launched in primetime on Nove Hell's Kitchen with Italian chef Antonino Cannavacciuolo. The fourth local adaptation of the celeb format just moved from Fox Life to Nove. For us this is a big challenge as we are broadcasting a cooking talent show. We are investing a lot in this show with a big advertising campaign. In September we are launching a very big International hit, the NBC format Top Chef and this is a great opportunity for us. The other big title that we are producing is Ninja Warrior, the TBS format is locally adapted in a Milanese Hub. We like a lot the UK version which is more ironic compared to the American one, which is more dramatic. The show will be launched in September as well.
Tadà
You also just premiered Adam looking for Eve...
Yes, we produce the local version of the naked dating show but I am not sure that we will recommission it as we already have 8 international versions inside our big library.
Are you exploring new slots and shows like you did with Tadà ?
Yes, we launched a new original show titled Tadà like an experiment created with Italian actor Filippo Timi and Ballandi as producer. The program lasts just 7 minutes and we broadcast only 5 episodes, a kind of filler in our schedule. Each episode features a series of musical numbers including the performance of a famous Italian song by a guest star. The show is totally set in the style of the 60s and filmed in black and white.
We are thinking about a new edition probably enriched with more content. The show performed very well in free TV and especially online with our Dplay app. We will definitely explore other slots especially in the late fringe.
