BALI: The management at Discovery is pretty sanguine despite the low continued ratings of its new India channel Jeet. Speaking at APOS in Bali, Discovery Networks International president and CEO Jean-Briac Perrette said: “We are very ambitious and big believers in India as a market. We want to figure out ways to scale up there. We believe in the opportunities in that market and Jeet in the space of real-life entertainment seemed like a really interesting concept and a swing for us. We are very proud of that swing, “
He added, “We will continue too see what makes sense to do there. The more important thing is that not everything that we do is going to work, but we are not afraid of that because experimentation and the trials and swings are needed to succeed in the world that is changing as fast as it is.”
He was very optimistic of the fact that Discovery would continue to invest in India and in innovation. Perrette revealed: “Discovery as a company is not afraid of swings. We spent half a billion dollars investing in the Oprah Winfrey Network. For the first three years, it went nowhere. Now, it is a leading Afro-American Network for women in the US and hugely profitable. We knew nothing about sports and now we are a leader in sports across Europe. We knew nothing about doing a massive big event and we had the biggest and most successful winter Olympic games ever. We are not a company that’s about shying away. With this disruption, one thing we know for sure is that we need to keep moving and keep investing, and probably taking bigger bets and more risks. Because the world is changing so fast.”
He, however, revealed that the shape and morph of the routes that Discovery would take to attain the size and scale in India could change. “The ways we do that in India, whether we do it through Jeet or more digital investments or other things we look to do in that space. Those are going to change several times over the next few months and years as we look to grow.”
That sure should give team Karan Bajaj and Discovery India enough to plod on and make a success of what they have set out to do.
