Keeping up with reality TV

IBC Executive Daily
p16 https://issuu.com/newbayeurope/docs/ibc2016_dailyex_friday_16_sept

If you want to keep up with the Kardashians, not just with their latest TV adventure but in any past episode and on social media too, then there's a service just for you.

hayu is much much more than this, of course. NBCUniversal International's all-reality subscription video on demand service contains 3000 episodes with 500 added a year, direct from the unscripted content creator behind The Real Housewives franchise, Made in Chelsea and The Millionaire Matchmaker.

“A key element for users is the speed at which can they view content on the service,” explains Hendrik McDermott, who captained the service to launch in March. “When the latest Kardashians episode airs in the US, fans have typically had to wait many days to watch it on TV whereas we get it just hours after the US broadcast.”

For avid reality TV fans this has the benefit of swerving spoilers. “When newspapers write eight stories a day about the Kardashians it's pretty hard to avoid details of what's happening in an episode. We are seeing Monday morning spikes in viewing, just hours after the shows are aired in the US, which seems to prove the concept.”

McDermott began his career as a business analyst at Rogers Media in Toronto, completed his MBA at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge and, as MD of KidsCo, led the business activities and growth opportunities of the children’s pay-TV channelacross Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. He joined NBCU in 2006, spending six years as a founding member of the international corporate development team with responsibility for all territories outside the US and Canada. 

“SVOD is opening up new markets led by new consumption patterns,” he told IBC audiences, in a session at which hayu was presented as a case study to discuss 'The rise of Internet TV networks'. “We have to take our content where the demand is, which is anywhere, anytime viewing, and while this is driven by the younger generation we don't see this trend as exclusively about milliennials.”

With a rolling monthly subscription, McDermott is conscious that NBCU has to constantly innovate to retain consumers. “We know the service will not look the same in 12 months as it does now. We have to innovate keeping iterating compelling, new features.”

The service – which has now rolled out in the UK, Ireland and Australia – distinguishes itself with a comprehensive search function that identifies all material related to particular stars. Users can directly access the social media feeds of the shows' stars within hayu. Hundreds of specially made short-form content 'snippets' can be shared directly via fans’ social media accounts. The service also links to third-party news sites with relevant content for reality consumers, such as OK! and MailOnline.

“This is next-generation VOD,” says McDermott. “All the cast members of our series have Twitter or Instagram accounts which viewers can follow visually along with the broadcast and interact directly with them on social media. The news feeds are curated, not fed by an automatic news robot. We haven't seen this type of innovative integration on any other product.”