Q&A with NBCUniversal’s Christine Fellowes

NEW YORK: Ahead of CASBAA, Christine Fellowes, the managing director for the Asia Pacific at Universal Networks International (UNI), spoke with TV AsiaPac about her views on the importance of original Asian content, shorter windows and innovative solutions for the channels’ ad partners.

TV ASIAPAC: How has your programming strategy evolved across the portfolio?
FELLOWES: There are a couple of key initiatives from a programming perspective that we’ve been building over the last couple of years.

First, we’ve been investing in the brands. We repositioned E! as the “Pop of Culture” channel. We did a massive refresh of Universal Channel, positioning it as “100 Percent Characters.” Our High Heeled Warriors [study] gave us a depth of knowledge about women’s viewing behaviors across the region. That really informed the refresh of DIVA in June of this year, firmly positioning it as the leading female channel in the region.

The second prong has been around express programming: 100 percent of E! key programming comes to Asia and Australia within a week of the U.S.; 90 percent is within 48 hours. This express programming commitment has been massive across all of the channels—90 percent of the pillar programming on our channels is express within a week.

The last thing has been about localization—local content and starting to build out local feeds.

Our goal is not to have a portfolio of the most channels. Our goal is to have a portfolio of channels that really are best in class. To get to that you need to have a really defined programming strategy and the ability to be very considered and targeted in your acquisitions. It’s been very important to have a foundation—a pipeline that comes from NBCUniversal—but also to be able to go to other independents as well as the studios to acquire content that is right for our channels. The local content that we’re producing has a look and feel that is in line with the U.S. brand. As we start to develop local feeds and local ad-sales businesses, we’re also producing interstitials and idents and short-form vignettes in Indonesia and Malaysia and Philippines and Hong Kong. That’s key for us in creating a television experience that local audiences relate to.

TV ASIAPAC: In terms of acquisitions, how important is it to offer shows soon after their U.S. launch?
FELLOWES: We come from a larger company that is [a pay-TV] operator, so we have a unique understanding of what’s required to be successful in the future as the pay-TV eco­system is changing. We set our minds on being a portfolio of channels that would thrive and be great partners to operators in the region. Platforms are looking for new ways to grow through TV Everywhere and through having content that is exclusive—that will help them win against online piracy, which is one of the most significant competitive threats to pay TV. If you’re really being partner-centric, you have to have content that comes to air within a couple of days [of the premiere].

TV ASIAPAC: How are you working with advertisers on campaigns across the region?
FELLOWES: Our portfolio represents the most efficient way to market to women in the region through subscription television. We invested in the High Heeled Warriors research, and that enabled us to put together some compelling packages for marketers. We’ve brought on great regional sponsors like Subaru and TRESemmé. We’ve worked with Procter & Gamble across many of their brands and done tremendous creative work with them around some of their local initiatives. With Hugo Boss, on the back of the High Heeled Warriors research, we developed the High Heeled Warrior Awards. Hugo Boss also sponsored the DIVA and CNBC series Running the Show.

Everything now is more than on-air, so we put packages together that cross online and on-air, with some experiential elements and some creative sponsorship elements.