• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, April 1, 2015

Discovery’s global distribution is far-reaching, but its approach to this year’s Upfront market is “up close and personal.”

That was the message from Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav and Joe Abruzzese, president of ad sales, at an Upfront presentation staged for the press Tuesday (March 31) in New York.

Held in an event space high up in the Time Warner Center, the event was 10 floors above the Jazz at Lincoln Center Theater where Discovery had traditionally held its much-larger, annual Upfront presentation for hundreds of advertising execs. This year, however, the big show has turned into a road show, with presentations like the one shown to journalists this week traveling to agencies in New York and other cities.

Abruzzese explained why. “As you can see, we’re doing things a little different this year,” he said. “We’re no longer at Jazz at Lincoln Center, just a few floors above, and we’re bringing this year’s Upfront presentation 'up close and personal.'

“We changed the way we’re doing things this Upfront because our business is changing, and we listened to our clients and realized that we needed to bring the presentation directly to them in the most efficient and effective manner. And so far their response has been terrific, not only about the presentation, but the one-on-one dialogue after the presentation,” Abruzzese said.

Certainly, with 13 networks to promote and sell, the traditional Discovery Upfront presentation was always far-reaching and widely varied. Now those networks are reaching and spreading around the world, a point made repeatedly by Zaslav.

“Our international strategy has really been the drive of this company,” Zaslav said, noting that 10 of Discovery’s networks are now seen in 230 countries. Among the international successes ballyhooed by Discovery at Tuesday’s presentation: Discovery Kids does very well in Brazil, and the Discovery Channel is a big hit in Poland. “The sun never sets on the world of Discovery,” said one slogan seen (or was it heard?) in the presentation.

Why stress the company’s global reach at the outset of Upfront season? Because with viewership flat or declining at home, international markets are where the growth is. Here’s how Zaslav put it when he was asked for his assessment of this year’s Upfront market: “From our perspective, going into the Upfront … if you look at us in the aggregate, viewership is declining a little bit, but our story continues to be strong and our overall reach gives us a good hand going into the market.”

For his part, Abruzzese stressed the “flexibility” that Discovery can offer advertisers because of its many platforms. “The Upfront used to be about supply and demand,” he said. “It used to be an indication about the strength of the economy. It’s kind of none of those anymore. The Upfronts can be about how much money clients are willing to release long-term and what the sellers are willing to take for that least [amount] of money.

“I think one of the keys, though, is to be flexible,” he said. “And the more you can offer agencies and clients, the flexibility for 12 months and for 13 networks, that’s a great bullet for us. We can be flexible. I think we can capture a lot more money upfront and keep a lot more money, but it really is an entire portfolio. That’s one of the things that we’ll sell.”

Still, he conceded, this year’s Upfront “won’t be gangbusters. But it will be better than last year.”

Abruzzese stressed the importance of data in relation to this year’s Upfront push and made a point of announcing new “partnerships” with five research firms: Rentrak, Clypd, Nielsen Catalina, NBI and Lake 5. “Data has been an important part of our recent conversations, and how we can use data to be smarter about the media buys,” he said. “Every time we get new data and go beyond just the Nielsen demographics, our audience becomes more and more valuable.”

In addition to Zaslav’s and Abruzzese’s remarks, much of the presentation was given over to announcing new shows. Among the highlights was an announcement that Barbara Walters, 85, will host a new series for Investigation Discovery called “American Scandal.”