Interview: Keshet Media’s Avi Nir

October 1, 2012 World Screen
ADVERTISEMENT

NEW YORK: Avi Nir, the CEO of Keshet Media Group, tells World Screen about Israeli creativity and cracking the U.S. market with its scripted and unscripted formats.

WS: What have been the keys to Keshet’s continued ratings success?
NIR: We are a bunch of people who love making television. It sounds trivial, but we are coming from this motivation to do really great stuff that we’re proud of. In our internal meetings, there’s always the question of ratings, of course. But there’s always the question of, are we satisfied? Keshet’s creative management watch each and every show a few times—in the editing suite, in the final cut and on air. So the first answer is how driven and passionate we are. The second might be that we are quite unique in the way we work. We are all in one building—creative people, interactive people, marketing people—right in the middle of the high-tech, start-up section of Tel Aviv. This is the second part of the recipe. The third is that we are an organization that wants to take risks. We are seeking high ratings, but we won’t enjoy these ratings if they don’t come from a really creative endeavor. We characterize ourselves as edgy mainstream. We always look for something that will create an emotional response—negative or positive, but not passive, and not mundane.
 
WS: Why do you think Israel has become such a hotbed of creativity?
NIR: The start-up culture of Israel is part of the company DNA. This constant state of looking and not finding—I can speak for Keshet, and maybe this is right for Israel—is a part of that start-up culture. I think we share a strong urge to express ourselves and a constant state of neurotic dissatisfaction. It’s a good state [to be in] in order to create.
 
WS: How important was Prisoners of War in elevating the profile of Israeli content on the global stage?
NIR: Very important. On the one hand it was as Israeli a theme as you could think of. But on the other hand, the adaptation done by the American creators with our Gideon Raff was so compelling, so strong, so American. [It showed that] local creativity, local themes and pains, can be transformed to various nations and cultures.
 
WS: So many of your properties have been formatted in the U.S. How were you able to crack this challenging market?
NIR: It started by getting to know Rick Rosen from what was then Endeavor and now WME. Rick learned of Keshet from getting to know our head of drama at the time, Hagai Levi, who did Be’Tipul [which would become HBO’s] In Treatment. Then I started coming to the U.S. more frequently and just showed our product. It spoke for itself! Each year we produce four or five new drama or comedy franchises and three or four new unscripted shows. [We’re] very prolific. We’ve come to understand the way the U.S. market operates and what’s expected from someone who is coming from abroad, how to cooperate with the studios.
 
WS: What’s been your approach to nonlinear services and second-screen functionality?
NIR: Three years ago, we had this credo for the organization, saying, the Internet, namely social networks, are great friends of TV. It wasn’t the mood at the time. [The Internet] was supposedly the biggest threat to TV. But we had said that it is the best thing that can happen to broadcast television, which mostly relies on real-time viewing. After a show is conceived, almost simultaneously our interactive people get into the picture. [The second screen] will always provide some added value for watching the show.
 
WS: What are the main growth opportunities for the company heading into 2013?
NIR: We are looking at the last five years as a pilot [phase]. We’ve been assessing the world market. We look at the next five years as a change of gear. After getting to understand the language and the mathematics of the international market, now it’s time for us to be a player in the international market. We’re looking for the international entity to be a substantial part of Keshet. Some of our resources will go towards that purpose. We are also having discussions with various international parties who are interested in aligning with us and creating some kind of joint venture.