NBCU’s Kevin MacLellan Talks Hayu, Channels Business

Kevin MacLellan, the chairman of global distribution and international at NBCUniversal, discussed the rollout of the reality SVOD service Hayu and his “fewer, bigger, better” approach to the company’s channels business in his session at APOS.

NBCUniversal has made a big bet on digital, MacLellan said, noting it has spent about $1.5 billion in investing in digital assets in the last 18 months. The company has rolled out a reality SVOD service, Hayu, in the U.K., Ireland and Australia. “It’s been hugely successful,” MacLellan said. The strategy from the outset has been to partner with pay-TV platforms “as opposed to going around them.”

The company has downsized its channels business in Southeast Asia (axing Universal Channel and Syfy in the region). “This was not something we decided to do overnight. It was a very strategic decision. We listened to the operators. The operators were saying, we don’t want more, we want better. So it’s a fewer, better, bigger model. Our focus was, what are the channels we can invest in to go deeper with consumers and what are the channels we might have to sacrifice in order to pay for it…to reinvest in the channels that operators really want.”

MacLellan went on to say that when he came into the post at NBCU he set out to reorganize the international business, combining channels, production and distribution. “We need to stop looking at these verticals. We need to stop saying, should I put [this content] under SVOD, VOD, licensing. We need to look at each piece of content and say, it’s our responsibility to monetize that to its greatest extent.”