Video: David Nevins & Armando Nuñez

NEW YORK: World Screen’s Anna Carugati interviewed Showtime’s David Nevins and CBS Global Distribution Group’s Armando Nuñez in the Grand Auditorium at MIPCOM, where the two executives discussed the expansion of the premium channel’s brand and content across the globe.

brightcove.createExperiences();

Carugati, World Screen’s group editorial director, began the session by asking Nevins, the president of Showtime Networks, about the overall strategy for the channel’s original programming. “We feel like our future is about owned original content,” said Nevins, who has been with the CBS Corporation-owned premium channel operator for five years. “The strategy programming-wise is we want to have the best, most cutting-edge, most progressive, adult, premium content.”

He noted that “nobody in the American market has the depth and breadth of shows that we have right now. The strategy is about original proprietary content that we can then monetize around the world.”

Nuñez, the president and CEO of CBS Global Distribution Group, spoke to the international demand for this premium content. “You take everything David just said about that type of content, and you combine [it] with the timing and the evolution of where this business is, and the proliferation of digital platforms, there is a super demand for high-end premium content. It’s the type of content that we do with Showtime that not only drives viewership, but drives subscribers. It’s marketable, promotable, and there’s not much of it in the world. There is a lot of content, but there’s not a huge supply of the type of programming that David gives us over at Showtime.”

He continued, “We are embarking on a global strategy to expand not only Showtime programming, but the Showtime-branded portfolio around the world.”