{"id":8404,"date":"2016-03-16T11:00:14","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T15:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/national-geographic-lines-up-bold-premium-content\/"},"modified":"2016-03-22T18:25:48","modified_gmt":"2016-03-22T22:25:48","slug":"national-geographic-lines-up-bold-premium-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/national-geographic-lines-up-bold-premium-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Nat Geo 2016-17 Upfront"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Courteney Monroe, National Geographic Global Networks\u2019s CEO,\u00a0presented Nat Geo’s\u00a02016-17 Upfront slate, she said she wanted to \u201ctalk about the new National Geographic and our belief in the power of storytelling to change the world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

National Geographic is one of the most preeminent and iconic brands in the world, Monroe explained. \u201cIt\u2019s awe-inspiring, it\u2019s meaningful, it\u2019s distinctive and it\u2019s beloved,\u201d she said. As a result, she and her teams are \u201charnessing the power of our vast portfolio, which is unparalleled in the marketplace, to tell stories\u00a0\"***Image***\"that break through and matter,\u201d and that extend across all of the company\u2019s many consumer touchpoints.<\/p>\n

National Geographic assets reach more than 730 million consumers around the world every month; the TV network reaches 440 million households in 171 countries; the print and digital magazine reach 56 million people every month; 250 million people interact with National Geographic on social media; the channel\u2019s Facebook page has more followers than any other television network; and National Geographic is the number one non-celebrity brand on Instagram. Last, but not least, Nat Geo\u2019s footprint reaches 35 percent of the world\u2019s Millennials, and this age group, as well as female viewers, are two demos Monroe wants to attract to the channel, without losing the core audience that craves science, technology, survival, engineering and space programming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are significantly increasing our investment in pursuing an exciting and radically new path,\u201d said Monroe. \u201cOur vision is to harness the power of our brand along with the power of our global reach to become the world\u2019s leading destination for premium science, adventure and exploration content. We are taking epic, audacious programming swings with much bigger budgets aimed to a broader, more upscale audience and developed and\u00a0\"***Image***\"produced in collaboration with the very best A-list creative talent from around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The upcoming six-part series\u00a0MARS<\/em>, from Ron Howard and Brian Grazer\u2019s Imagine Entertainment and RadicalMedia, is an example of the scale, scope and creative ambition National Geographic Channel is pursuing. Howard was on hand to talk about the project, which combines theatrical-quality scripted drama with documentary footage.<\/p>\n

\u201cMARS<\/em>\u00a0is incredibly ambitious,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt\u2019s an epic miniseries. It depicts a tremendous adventure\u2014this is what Brian Grazer and I are most attracted to\u2014and it\u2019s about the human race\u2019s first effort to colonize and permanently inhabit Mars. It is thoroughly researched scripted material intercut with a very ambitious documentary approach using footage of current research efforts, space exploration past and present, cool graphics, and interviews with scientists and innovators.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard welcomes the challenge presented to him. \u201cNational Geographic has provided Brian and me and our team at Imagine a really stimulating, exciting and challenging opportunity. [The documentary series]\u00a0Breakthrough<\/em>\u00a0was exciting; we are doing more [with\u00a0MARS<\/em>]. That type of documentary is very satisfying, but\u00a0MARS<\/em>\u00a0is interesting in that it urges us to find this nexus between science, true-life adventure and the drama of our human experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monroe went on to present the upcoming event\u00a0Earth Live!<\/em>, from Bunim\/Murray Productions and Berman Productions, which is described as the ultimate live broadcast from the natural world. A group of in-studio hosts and experts will direct viewers to scenes of wildlife action as it happens, from feeding time on Australia\u2019s Great Barrier Reef to polar bears swimming in Norway and jaguar hunting in Brazil.<\/p>\n

Another new series will be\u00a0Origins<\/em>,hosted by Jason Silva, from Asylum Entertainment and melodysheep. Silva, of\u00a0Brain Games<\/em>\u00a0fame, will take the audience back to the origins of some of the most important\u00a0developments of mankind\u2014fire, tools, transportation, communications\u2014and tell the stories of how the modern world came about.<\/p>\n

Joining the slate of new programming is National Geographic Studios\u2019s limited series\u00a0Chain of Command<\/em>, which offers viewers inside access to the U.S. military\u2019s mission in Afghanistan, as it unfolds over one full year, and how decisions made at the Pentagon are carried out by service men and women on the ground. Also from the studio is\u00a0Deep Freeze<\/em>, in which filmmakers have been granted access to Scott Base on Antarctica and to the men and women conducting pivotal scientific experiments.<\/p>\n

Another limited series is\u00a0Lawless Oceans\u00a0<\/em>with Karsten von Hoesslin, from Wall to Wall Media.\u00a0<\/strong>In it, von Hoesslin immerses himself in the dangerous world of maritime crime.<\/p>\n

Monroe also highlighted the relaunch of\u00a0Explorer<\/em>.\u00a0With host Richard Bacon,\u00a0Explorer<\/em>\u00a0will return as a weekly magazine\/talk-show hybrid shot in front of a live audience with celebrity guests, experts and correspondents discussing topics in the news. The series\u00a0Years of Living Dangerously<\/em>\u00a0returns for its second season.<\/p>\n

Feature documentaries such as\u00a0Parched<\/em>\u00a0from Alex Gibney and Jigsaw Productions and an untitled Sebastian Junger project will also air next season. Produced as a feature doc and television miniseries,\u00a0Parched<\/em>\u00a0will look at a crisis that affects billions worldwide\u2014the scarcity of fresh drinking water\u2014while the untitled Sebastian Junger project from Goldcrest Films will examine the complexities of the wars in Syria and Iraq.<\/p>\n

Rounding out the slate are scripted series. Monroe is looking at three or four a year, with\u00a0Killing Reagan<\/em>\u00a0from Scott Free Productions set to premiere this fall before the U.S. presidential elections.<\/p>\n

Monroe told\u00a0TV Real<\/em>\u00a0that the impetus for this new strategy of bold premium content was the series\u00a0Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey<\/em>. \u201cWhen we launched\u00a0Cosmos<\/em>\u00a0with our colleagues at FOX, that was the tipping point for me. It was really clear that there is audience demand for big event, brand-definitional science programming.\u00a0Cosmos\u00a0<\/em>was watched by 135 million people around the world. As long as you tell the story with Hollywood storytelling and production values, the audiences will come. To me that was a moment when I thought, That\u2019s what we should be doing. That\u2019s what we should be striving for; that\u2019s what people should come to expect from National Geographic.\u201d<\/p>\n

She adds that the factors that have contributed to attracting top A-list talent have been: the brand, for which so many people have such affinity and respect; a much more ambitious strategy to tell premium stories; larger budgets; and the full support and engagement of Fox Networks Group and its chairman and CEO, Peter Rice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courteney Monroe, National Geographic Global Networks\u2019s CEO, presented Nat Geo’s 2016-17 Upfront slate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":289,"featured_media":8405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,69],"tags":[101,91],"class_list":["post-8404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-profiles","category-top-stories","tag-courteney-monroe","tag-national-geographic-channel","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nNat Geo 2016-17 Upfront - TVREAL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/national-geographic-lines-up-bold-premium-content\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nat Geo 2016-17 Upfront - 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