{"id":9840,"date":"2017-03-15T09:24:12","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T13:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/"},"modified":"2017-03-16T08:47:32","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T12:47:32","slug":"investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigation Discovery\u2019s Henry Schleiff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Henry Schleiff, the group president of Investigation Discovery (ID), American Heroes Channel and Destination America, shares with\u00a0<\/em>TV Real\u00a0some of the keys to ID\u2019s success.<\/em><\/p>\n

Among Discovery Communications\u2019 most successful networks, ID has created a devoted, highly engaged audience base with its signature true-crime programming. Schleiff has orchestrated the network\u2019s move into the upper echelons of basic-cable rankings.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0What\u2019s been driving your ratings gains?
\nSCHLEIFF:<\/strong>\u00a0As the leading, most established, most successful network in the popular genre of true crime, it\u2019s our organizing principle of having a\u00a0\"***Image***\"variety of series that look to do three things: entertain, inform, and, on occasion, inspire.<\/p>\n

Under the rubric of entertainment, I\u2019d look at the amazing success and record-breaking ratings that we had in all of our key demos for\u00a0JonBen\u00e9t: An American Murder Mystery<\/em>. Following the success of that we have our next three-part event coming up in April,\u00a0Casey Anthony: An American Murder Mystery<\/em>. As you know, that was a phenomenal trial here, very controversial. That joins such successful core ID series as\u00a0See No Evil<\/em>,\u00a0Murder Calls<\/em>,\u00a0Homicide Hunter<\/em>,\u00a0I Am Homicide<\/em>, and, of course, one of our all-time favorites,\u00a0Wives with Knives<\/em>. In January, ID was the number one network in America out of all cable networks, for women 25 to 54, and the number two network for persons 25 to 54, behind ESPN.<\/p>\n

For examples of shows that inform, we\u2019ve had tremendous success with magazine-like series\u2014Vanity Fair Confidential<\/em>,\u00a0People Magazine Investigates<\/em>, and coming up we have\u00a0Scene of the Crime with Tony Harris\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0The Real Story with Maria Elena Salinas<\/em>. They join our best-in-class roster of top investigative journalists like Paula Zahn, Chris Hansen, Tamron Hall and the ever-popular Barbara Walters.<\/p>\n

And we\u2019re extremely proud to have examples of shows that make a difference, and that over the years have come under our initiative that we have labeled \u201cInspire a Difference.\u201d We have one coming up called\u00a0Killing Richard Glossip<\/em>, an amazing look at the American justice system\u2014which is not always so just\u2014directed and produced by the Emmy Award-winning Joe Berlinger. It\u2019s the story of someone on death row who has been brought down to be executed on three separate occasions, but at the last moment, the procedure was stopped each time. We have a series called\u00a0Hate in America<\/em>, working with the Southern Poverty Law Center, that has looked at the rise of hate groups like the KKK over the years.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0How have you developed stickiness and engagement on the channel?
\nSCHLEIFF:<\/strong>\u00a0There are two aspects. To some extent, we schedule like series one after another, so if you liked that show at nine o\u2019clock, chances are you\u2019ll stick with it at ten o\u2019clock. I will also tell you a little secret because we\u2019re so far in the lead now: it\u2019s the way we tell a story. We tell a story so that the ad breaks come at a critical time; they make you want to stay and watch through that break. It is the reason that we are the number one network out of all networks, cable and broadcast, for length of tune. More people watch us for longer periods of time, uninterrupted, than any other network, cable or broadcast. ID is 50 percent higher than the cable or broadcast average for total day length of tune. Not only is that pleasing for the viewer, it\u2019s very important to our advertising partners because they then realize that their commercial spot is not only going to be watched, but it\u2019s going to be watched with passion. The key word is engagement.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0Tell us about ID\u2019s move into scripted programming.
\nSCHLEIFF:<\/strong>\u00a0Remember, we\u2019re looking at a background of over 650 original hours of production this year, probably more than any other network like ours. In that context, we are getting into the world of scripted, starting with our first two movies. And these are true stories, amazing stories, that need further exploration. One is\u00a0Dating Game Killer<\/em>, produced by Leslie Greif at ThinkFactory. He tells the story of one of the most prolific serial murderers of all time, Rodney Alcala, played by the incredible Guillermo Diaz. The reason it\u2019s called\u00a0Dating Game Killer<\/em>\u00a0is because Rodney Alcala appeared on the popular late 1970s game show\u00a0The Dating Game<\/em>. He was actually a winner! Can you imagine what the other two guys were like? And then our other movie is a phenomenally transfixing story called\u00a0Final Vision<\/em>, and it\u2019s the true story of Jeffrey MacDonald, who claims he did not, but was convicted of, murdering his pregnant wife and two young children on an Army base where he was a well-respected, well-regarded surgeon. He asked the author Joe McGinniss to become his biographer, so it\u2019s about their relationship. MacDonald is played by Scott Foley from\u00a0Scandal<\/em>.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0Are you looking at working with your international colleagues on any joint programming initiatives?
\nSCHLEIFF:<\/strong>\u00a0By all means. International continues to be a growth area for ID. We have established ourselves quietly but successfully in over 168 markets. In the last year, the average for our audience was up a phenomenal 33 percent internationally year over year, with perhaps our biggest and most successful markets being in South Africa, Brazil, Mexico and the Netherlands. We\u2019ve seen particular growth in Brazil and South Africa. It\u2019s been phenomenal. We launched in Italy in October and France in December.<\/p>\n

TV REAL:<\/strong>\u00a0What are some of the biggest shifts that you\u2019ve witnessed in true-crime programming?
\nSCHLEIFF:<\/strong>\u00a0What I\u2019ve seen in the last three, four, five years, in particular, is a growing recognition of the popularity of true crime. You\u2019ve seen it in\u00a0Serial<\/em>, a podcast on NPR, you\u2019ve seen that emulated by the success of\u00a0The Jinx<\/em>\u00a0on HBO, you\u2019ve seen that followed by Netflix with\u00a0Making a Murderer<\/em>. This is something that viewers just can\u2019t get enough of. So it is particularly satisfying for ID to be recognized in that growing universe as the number one network, the network that is consistently playing this kind of product. I like that these other players, of all sorts\u2014broadcast, pay TV, OTT\u2014dabble on occasion, and quite well, in this area. To me, it looks like an hors d\u2019oeuvre for viewers because they understand that they can come for the full and main dinner consistently, day in and day out, 24\/7, 365, at ID.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The group president of Investigation Discovery (ID), American Heroes Channel and Destination America shares the keys to ID\u2019s success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":9841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,69],"tags":[2011,629,215],"class_list":["post-9840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-henry-schleiff","tag-id","tag-investigation-discovery","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nInvestigation Discovery\u2019s Henry Schleiff - 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\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Investigation Discovery\u2019s Henry Schleiff - TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The group president of Investigation Discovery (ID), American Heroes Channel and Destination America shares the keys to ID\u2019s success.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-15T13:24:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-16T12:47:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2015\/09\/2017-03-15-Henry-Schleiff.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/\",\"name\":\"Investigation Discovery\u2019s Henry Schleiff - TVREAL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-15T13:24:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-16T12:47:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Investigation Discovery\u2019s Henry Schleiff\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\",\"name\":\"TVREAL\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. She can be reached on mdaswani@worldscreen.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/author\/mdaswaniworldscreen-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Investigation Discovery\u2019s Henry Schleiff - TVREAL","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Investigation Discovery\u2019s Henry Schleiff - TVREAL","og_description":"The group president of Investigation Discovery (ID), American Heroes Channel and Destination America shares the keys to ID\u2019s success.","og_url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/","og_site_name":"TVREAL","article_published_time":"2017-03-15T13:24:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-16T12:47:32+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2015\/09\/2017-03-15-Henry-Schleiff.jpg","width":1,"height":1,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mansha Daswani","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mansha Daswani","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/","name":"Investigation Discovery\u2019s Henry Schleiff - TVREAL","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-03-15T13:24:12+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-16T12:47:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/investigation-discoverys-henry-schleiff\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Investigation Discovery\u2019s Henry Schleiff"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/","name":"TVREAL","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad","name":"Mansha Daswani","description":"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. She can be reached on mdaswani@worldscreen.com.","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/author\/mdaswaniworldscreen-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}