Nancy Dubuc

Nancy Dubuc
Executive VP & General Manager
History

History channel in the U.S. had a record-breaking year in 2008. Viewership among adults 25 to 54 increased by 10 percent—the biggest jump among any of the top 11 cable networks. History also became the number one nonfiction network among men 25 to 54, and ranks among the top five in the same demographic among all ad-supported cable networks. The key to keeping loyal viewers has been History’s capacity for telling compelling stories about great moments in history. Nancy Dubuc, the executive VP and general manager of History, has made it her mission to expand the range of historical topics the channel presents, and to make sure the content reaches history fans through as many screens and consumer products as possible.

TV REAL: How has History channel broadened the scope of how people see history?
DUBUC: We’ve really taken the opportunity to look at history in several ways: in the traditional form of the past, how history informs where we are today, and how what’s going on today relates to history, but also looking at the future, and Life After People would be a perfect example of that—how history gives us clues to where we are going. Looking at history through the spectrum of past, present and future gives us the ability to work in different genres. History is a very broad subject; it covers natural history, technology, pop culture, archeology, military, adventure and expedition. We were known for really wonderful storytelling in ancient history and really strong military programming, and [thanks to this new approach] we have a very broad palette to expand our brand. We’ve seen over the last two years that the audience, both our core fan base and new audiences, have embraced what we are doing. They still treasure the traditions of History channel but also welcome the breadth and depth of what we are doing now.

TV REAL: How has the website helped enhance the viewer experience?
DUBUC: We are blessed that our brand is a genre in itself, and that’s a great asset to have when you are in the business of websites. We have the ability to serve a user even beyond the linear-TV viewer. People come to us to learn about history, to have a deeper experience about history, to research history. We see the website as a tool that allows viewers to interact on a personal basis with the content. And because we are such a rich genre, the website can also serve to drive people who are researching and fueling their addiction to history on the website back to the linear network. It’s a very powerful, symbiotic relationship and something we are paying a lot closer attention to in terms of the push-pull of how we move people back and forth between the two mediums.

TV REAL: How do events in the news feed ideas for History’s content?
DUBUC: I’m careful in that area. We’re not a news network. We’re a very strong network in nonfiction programming, but I’m very cautious that we not be too reactive when news breaks. That’s the job of CNN or of a news program. What we can do is bring a different perspective to news. For example, in December, when Wall Street was really going through some historic moments, we were able to quickly offer a documentary special about how those moments pertained to history, what the significance was of the other crashes in our country’s history and how they related to this one. That’s where our ability to shine on historical content and current events really comes through. It’s not our duty to report on what’s happening, but it’s our duty to give some perspective to what’s happening. That is when we are at our best.

TV REAL: Does History in the U.S. collaborate with the international History channels around the world in developing or sharing programming ideas?
DUBUC: Yes, we work with History U.K. and certainly with our Latin American partners quite a bit; we have close relationships with them. Sean Cohan, who heads up our international division, and I work very closely to-gether. I keep him in the loop in terms of what we are greenlighting and where we are going, and he does the same with me. Sean is the person that really brokers those opportunities between programs that the domestic channel is interested in that might appeal to some of our European ventures.

TV REAL: It’s a difficult year for everybody. But with the very strong male demo History delivers, is it better poised to weather the advertising downturn than other channels?
DUBUC: We’re very, very fortunate. We all wish that the market were better, but we are heading into it in an incredibly strong position. We are poised to be aggressive about stealing audience share. That’s what it’s going to be about this year. It’s a challenging year in terms of how much money will be out there, but we’re in a good place because we are coming off of such tremendous momentum. I think our business partners and advertisers are seeing the growth in History and its strategy is well articulated to them. The brand is a very strong [one] for them to associate with. And above all, the audience we serve up is an incredibly difficult audience to find. Especially when you think about all the men who are non-sports watchers. We are number one when it comes reaching the non-sports male viewers.

TV REAL: What are a few programming highlights coming up this year?
DUBUC: We’re very excited, first and foremost, about our Expedition Africa: Stanley & Livingstone project with Mark Burnett, where we are re-tracing with four adventurers the journey that Stanley took to find Livingstone. It’s a very dramatic, very dangerous, very personal journey of history in the making. It’s also a great way to show how you can bring history to life in the present day, but yet a very core and important epic story from the history books. Ice Road Truckers will be returning—it’s become a real juggernaut for us—and season two of Ax Men is also returning. I’ve seen the first few episodes of this season and they are better than anything I’ve seen on our air, ever. Thom Beers and his crew have taken to heart what they learned from season one. We’ve been very aggressive with some unique production techniques and have raised the bar on these types of programs.
In the fourth quarter, we are doing World War II in HD, which is an example of something right in our sweet spot of how we take a core subject that we know works for us—in some ways our network was built on this subject—but offering an approach that will welcome new viewers. There was a tremendous amount of color film taken during World War II, and as we all know, film is the best medium to convert to HD. So we spent the last two years working with a lot of small museums, footage houses and personal collectors gathering footage, much of which has never been seen, a lot of which had never even been catalogued or logged. We preserved and converted it to HD and are doing a ten-part series in HD. It gives a different perspective and emotional tone to one of the largest stories of our time.

TV REAL: How are you extending the viewing experience beyond the screen to the website, DVDs and other consumer products?
DUBUC: We have to be everywhere media users and history fans are. We have this discussion a lot in-house when we talk about what we can do to extend the brand. And I always ask the question, “Where are we not?” And I get that blank stare! And I’m told, “Well, we’re not really sure.” I think we’ve done an excellent job of being everywhere that the consumer is. We’re in the gaming community. We’re one of iTunes’ top nonfiction brands. We’re a global brand, a new-media brand, a digital brand, a traditional linear brand, a publishing brand and a consumer-products brand. We have one of the most robust factual DVD businesses in the industry, and we are in education. I feel confident that we are everywhere that the consumer is. And we’ll continue to follow them. If they find new places to go, then we’ll find new places to be.