Discovery Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:DISCA), the owner of Discovery Channel, is planning for acquiring more content to bolster its revenue in international segment. The firm is aiming revenue of 65% from international segment in period of three years. The media giant international revenue accounted for 55 percent of the total revenue in the previous year.
Discovery will be looking for more exclusive sports and programming rights in order to reach its set target, Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav has given a statement during French Open tennis tournament in Paris, which is broadcasted by the firm’s Eurosport network.
“We’re experiencing double-digit growth in Europe and we’ve been further helped by the decline of the euro, which for us has meant the cost of product in Europe is coming down,” Zaslav said.
The mega-brand TV firm holds several popular brands including the likes of TLC, Animal Planet channels etc. According to firm, its global business is growing at a rapid rate, particularly in U.K and Brazil, neutralizing sluggish growth of its business in U.S.
Seeing the increased shifting of users from pay-TV services to internet services, Discovery is targeting its Dplay online video streaming service to Norway, Denmark, Italy and Sweden. The online services like Netflix Inc. and Sky Plc’s Now TV will create hurdles in the way of Dplay which will have to present itself in way so as to meet customer expectations.
“We own all of our content, which is a huge advantage,” Zaslav said. “We own all of it and in 52 languages — that’s the differentiator. And now we’re transitioning into a direct-to-consumer company. Europe for us is the next emerging market.”
Discovery in particular searching for more sports rights as sport is more lucrative content for the company due to its large number of fans.
“Sports is critical for us to elevate Eurosport and we’re seeing a big pickup of viewers,” Zaslav said, stressing that Eurosport is adding sports rights in countries sometimes overlooked by the big players, who are more consumed with expensive soccer rights. Eurosport counts the U.K., France and Germany among its biggest markets.
Zasalav said that Discovery would continue to acquire more companies in Europe and North America for increasing its production portfolio.
“If we tell more stories and serve up more compelling characters we can gain more meaningful share, and that will make for another level of growth,” Zaslav said.
