Kasia Kieli

In an exclusive interview with Kasia Kieli, President and Managing Director for Discovery Networks Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa (CEEMEA), a division of Discovery Communications, we find out more about the network’s strategy to keep up with the ever evolving media landscape and how it plans to carve out a leadership position across the MENA region

Can you take us through the journey of Discovery so far in the Middle East?

Discovery Networks has been broadcasting in the Middle East since 1998 and has a strong presence in the region with 11 pay-TV channels, distributed across OSN, beIN and My-HD. Quest Arabiya is our free-to-air channel in partnership with Image Nation. We have invested a lot in the region, which also includes investment in a local team. We have upgraded websites and added a host of channels to both the free-to-air and pay platforms. The Middle East is one of the top regions for us in terms of both revenue and investment. It’s a strong growth market for us. Five years ago, we were operating an export business out of the UK. Our office in London handled the distribution of channels in the Middle East with no local presence. Today, we have a team based in Dubai that handles various disciplines including scheduling, marketing, commercial and digital. I really believe in the region, and there will be a continuous stream of new announcements from there. Our investment in building a team in the Middle East shows our commitment to the region. I took over CEEMEA six years ago, and for me personally, the Middle East has been a real area of focus. We have made a move forward in the region with the acquisition of Fatafeat, which was the first acquisition of CEEMEA for me.

Discovery works closely with beIN and OSN. What’s new on that front? Any other regional deals in the pipeline?

We have packaged our channels for beIN under the ‘D’ brand with Fatafeat as the flagship channel. Three new channels, DLife, DMAX and DKids, are set to launch on beIN on August 1 this year. Dkids, which will be launching with beIN, is the first kids channel launch for us in CEEMEA. Transferring Fatafeat to the pay environment has been another big move for the region. We are continuing to invest more in the channel to make it bigger. There has been significant movement on the Fatafeat online service as well, and we launched the Fatafeat cooking academy last year to give the brand a further push. The idea is to make the Fatafeat brand more robust, offering a whole lot of services to its subscribers. We recently announced a partnership with Dogus Media in Turkey, which has been an important market for Discovery. Our expanded relationship with Dogus, including ad sales representation, and new investments such as the acquisition of the CNBC-e channel, has led to an even stronger position for us in Turkey. CNBC-e, a hybrid business/financial and entertainment channel, is now TLC Turkey.

How much of the content targeted at the Middle East market is produced locally? Is local production a focus area for you?

We have quite a lot of shows from the region that are produced locally. 50% of Fatafeat’s programming is produced locally. An Arabic talk show hosted by Iraqi-born humanitarian Zainab Salbi, Nida’a was the first local commission for TLC, launched in 2015. We have just re-commissioned a second series of Nida’a and the show will be returning to TLC later this year. Quest Arabiya features a mixture of local programming as well as international content from our vast pipeline. The number of local hours CEEMEA is commissioning is going up by 40% in 2016 to around 400 hours, due to the growth of our region, our new partnerships and our strategy of reinforcing local relevance for our key brands.

Are you looking into any sports deals in the MENA?

Sports is big in the Middle East market, but we are not looking into it yet. Having said that, if an opportunity comes up in the future, we will consider it. With the acquisition of Olympic rights for most of CEEMEA’s 40+ countries, sports presence in CEEMEA is big for Eurosport.

What is Discovery’s strategy for growth?

From a strategic perspective, we leverage the global scale but talk in a local language. We start with building a local team and localise the portfolio to offer relevant content to our viewers. Quest Arabiya, for instance, has gained a lot of traction in the region and is an example of a locally relevant show. In the UAE, the channel already has an average daily reach of 4.5% of men 16-44 and is 18th in the channel rankings. With the addition of a free-to-air channel to our portfolio of documentary, factual entertainment and sports channels, we have a stronger offering for our viewers and commercial partners.

What are some of the challenges for a network such as yours in today’s fast-evolving media landscape?

The change in media is fascinating. I won’t say these are challenges but I see them as opportunities. We have been talking about the change for many years, and now we are living that change. We are in an era of video. Never before has video been consumed so much. We are super serving those video communities like never before. There is more focus on offering the most relevant content. It’s all about content today. Discovery has had a strong legacy of being a disruptor. We are not afraid of new technology, and we are not afraid to disrupt. It’s about the survival of the fittest, and evolving and adapting to change is the only way to move forward.

How do you position yourself in the Middle East?

We are very well positioned in the Middle East market, especially with our partnerships with OSN, and beIN. On the FTA side also, Quest Arabiya is a very strong offering. We are happy with the developments in the region and there will be more to come.

What kind of content works in the region?

We offer a mix of local and international content to the MENA audience. Our key focus area, however, is factual entertainment. Through our partnerships with OSN and beIN, we will continue to offer more content to the MENA audience.