Discovery: Programmers must start working on stories that continue to surprise audiences

Allan Navarrete has been executive VP of Distribution at Discovery Networks LatinAmerica/US Hispanic (DLA/USH) for six months. He is also general manager for Discovery U.S. Hispanic.

Navarrete participated in one of the talks in Tepal and highlighted that events like that are good to debate and exchange ideas.

He mentioned that video consumption right now is higher than ever and that programmers have to work on stories that continue to surprise audiences and work together with operators to retain subscribers and give them what they want to see and where they want to see it.

“We focus on big productions. We plan to launch a production called Mosquito in the next few weeks. It will be on all Discovery channels worldwide simultaneously. We must always be surprised with topics of interest that are relevant for audiences and that they can watch on as many platforms as possible,” said Navarrete.

He added that they have the advantage of being the owners of the rights of almost all the programming they air and that they invest millions of dollars a year on productions worldwide.

Regarding structural changes at Discovery, mainly in the Miami and Mexico offices, Navarrete held that they have decided to strengthen the regional offices. They currently have four hubs located in: Mexico City, Bogota, São Paulo and Buenos Aires, that have content, research, ad sales, subscribers, human resources and legal departments in order to offer a closer service.

“What I do is interact with each one of the offices,” he further explained.