You're reading it here first.
The Universal Channel (DStv 108) just came into full effect on MultiChoice's DStv bouquet, replacing the Hallmark Channel name.
I spoke to John Burnett, vice president of commercial operations and Universal Networks International's managing director for Africa. I asked him about his personal hopes for the new Universal Channel, possible Universal channel additions and talked about where Africa fits into Universal's plans. See what he says are the positives of the Universal Channel name change and how the target audience is expanding.
For my interview with Universal Networks International's John Burnett, click on READ MORE below.
Okay, John the first thing that I want to ask you is what is your personal hopes for what you're envisioning the Universal Channel to be, and to become?
I'm very passionate about the name, and the name helping to evolve the channel's current performance. The channel's current performance is good. We really want to continue to appeal broadly, continue to appeal to the DStv Compact audience and really be a name that people are proud to admit that they are watching on the Universal Channel. I think the new name really gives that opportunity.
We don't really have a lot of TV channels where shows – such as on the Universal Channel – are not starting on the top of the hour or exactly at the half hour. On the Universal Channel its always a bit before or after the hour or half hour. Can you talk a bit about the programming strategy and what you are trying to accomplish?
The worst we could do is to just stick to on the hour all the time. A lot of programming is not a full hour's length. We don't want to annoy viewers with just filler for 10 or 15 minutes before the next hour start. It's really important to keep the audience there on the Universal Channel and allow them to find the programming on the electronic programme guide (EPG) and in listings. It might look a little bit odd, because not everything starts on the hour on the Universal Channel. But we'll rather do that than annoy viewers with a gap between the programming.
A difficult question and if you can't talk about it it's okay - I know you're here for the Universal Channel specifically- but looking at future prospects and other Universal TV channels, what would be the possibility of bringing some of the other Universal Networks International TV channels to South Africa? Or is it something that you can't talk about?
I can talk about it – happy to! We have five core brands, the Syfy channel is one of them, we have a women's brand, movie channels and the Universal Channel of course as the flagship TV channel that we're doing here now for Southern Africa. It really is something that we take the advice of DStv and with what fits into their portfolio. We're constantly suggesting things to them but they know their subscribers and customers and what is going to fit in. We have ideas but we're very happy to get their ideas of what is going to work.
Coming down from our overall strategy, obviously we're an American business but we're operating and expanding and becoming global. It's the ambition of the company to grow the business internationally and for that to actually be the strongest part of the business as opposed to the American domestic market. So we're putting a lot of attention to our international growth. We're now global. We've grown from 14 TV channel three years ago, to now over 70. What we're prioritizing are high growth markets, and Africa is very clearly everything of where we want to be. Africa is a high growth market and it's great for us to have a foothold and a foundation here and then build on that future. We're sure that the Universal Channel is going to continue to go up in its performance and we'll continue to look at what else we can do here in the future.
Last question: With the rebranding of the channel that is now the Universal Channel, what are some of the positives of this exercise? What is it that you think the name change will be able to affect?
The channel has been working, but in market research we picked up a bit of reluctance from viewers to say that they like the channel. They would say that they like the content but not so much the name. And that is something that we want to turn around. In the market research viewers said the Universal Channel - in its name - sounds like a channel for everyone. The Universal Channel as a name is a mixture between sounding modern and a little bit glamorous – because of Universal movies and Universal Studios. I just think that Universal Channel as a name is a great asset for us to use to broaden the appeal of the TV channel.
And maybe the additional target audience that you're trying to catch by casting the net wider with the new Universal Channel name? Who are they?
Recently the viewing of the channel has shifted with the growth of the DStv Compact bouquet. It has been family but some of the research showed that there is a section of the male audience that would admit to watching the channel on their own although they won't admit it to others. It also used to be more female skewed but now its fifty-fifty - and we want to maintain that.
Universal Channel, DStv 108
