With a portfolio of general entertainment networks, Discovery Nordics has always been a bit of an outsider in the factual-focused group. But with the Discovery+ streaming service to feed as well, VP of content and programming Axel Eriksson is in the market for a broader range of formats than ever before.

Axel Eriksson

Tell us about Discovery Nordics. With general entertainment networks to operate, isn’t it a bit of an outlier in the Discovery family?
Yes, we are a bit of an outlier in the Discovery group. We run businesses in all the Nordic markets. I work mainly with Sweden, where we have Kanal 5, which is the second-largest commercial broadcaster. We have the same set-up in Norway with TV Norge and in Denmark and Finland – broad general entertainment channels. We now also run Discovery+, which was formerly known as DPlay and has a big footprint in the Nordics, which we’ve seen given an extra boost by the rebrand.

Our biggest formats right now are things like Super Stars, a classic sports reality format; Ex On The Beach is a big hit on Discovery+; and we recently launched a format called Head to Head which has been a big success. Mainly, we’re known for a lot of reality shows. We define ourselves as real-life entertainment that goes global.

How was your 2020?
Sweden was a bit of an outlier in Covid policy as well, as you may be aware. We didn’t cancel anything. We postponed some shows but not to a big extent. Super Stars and Ex On The Beach used to be shot abroad, but we shot them in Sweden, and that went great and the audience responded well. There was a lot of re-writing of shows to adapt to the situations but overall we managed pretty well. We shot a lot of shows without [live] audiences. It’s impressive to see how the audience handled it and the creativity that came out of it, so it’s been a tough year, an interesting year, and we all learned a lot.

Sweden does have volatile weather so you never know, but Ex On The Beach went well. The tropical climate is an important part of that format but as a one-off, or maybe a twice-off, it worked well and actually gave some extra intrigue for the audience. Everybody understood why it was happening and accepted it.

Are you looking forward with caution or optimism when you commission new formats?
Optimism. This might sound weird but it hasn’t changed our strategy. We still have to adapt, but on an overall level we’re still looking for the best content that pulls the biggest possible audience. That hasn’t changed but what has changed is the need for content. The audience is looking for something to gather around and that’s a great opportunity for us. We’ve launched a number of new shows this year that went really well. The appetite for new content and new shows has really exploded. It’s a great opportunity for the industry.

Alla Utom Vi was adapted from CBC’s relationship comedy How to Buy a Baby

How has the launch of Discovery+ changed commissioning for you?
We all focus on VoD first. What tends to work best is the organic, non-formatted formats. The top list consists mainly of reality and scripted content. We’ve had great success with scripted formats and comedies. One example is Canadian web series How to Buy a Baby, which we adapted and has been a big success for us. Those general entertainment formats tend to perform less well on VoD but they still perform really well on linear, and that’s the balance. Linear is still an important revenue stream and reach-driver for us. It’s also an important window to transform viewers from linear to VoD.

We absolutely commission with VoD in our focus but we can’t really drop the linear focus completely yet. It’s also an opportunity to launch new shows. We launch shows on VoD exclusively with a linear window a few months later. It’s [about] co-existing and building each other in an interesting way. The more authentic stories with high stakes tend to work on VoD.

I saw you acquired racy Channel 4 format Naked Attraction in your region recently. That’s not a show one would have ever thought Discovery would be interested in.
Yes, Naked Attraction is a massive hit in Finland and Norway. We’re in the market for that stuff as well now. We’re a global service with a massive and global catalogue of content but we are also a local player with a great footprint and legacy, so we’re hopefully trying to be the best of both worlds.

What specific measures can you point to that you’ve brought in to improve diversity in front of behind the camera?
It starts from within. It starts with company culture and being aware of the society you’re in and how you reflect that. It is super-high on our agenda; we work with it and talk about it every day. We have protocols but more important is culture and being aware of what we do. We work hard with it and have done for many years. It goes for the content, how we populate shows in front of and behind the camera. We’re working hard to reflect society. We do our best but we can always improve.

Discovery has launched versions of Naked Attraction in Finland and Norway

What advice would you give producers and distributors coming to pitch to you? Discovery was always rights hungry when it was feeding linear channels in 196 territories – presumably that is even more true now with a global streaming service?
All bets are off, in a good way. The move from linear scheduling to a magic model of VoD has opened us up a lot. It’s about the best idea, the most authentic and relevant stories. Whatever genre it is doesn’t really matter any more. In terms of rights, it’s a new world and we need to be where the audience is, so flexibility is necessary and needs to be reflected in the rights. We’ll work together with you on that.

You can call it ‘rights hungry’ or call it a great opportunity. We’ve seen so many examples of the way content now travels in a way it never did before. [Ferry disaster doc] Estonia is a good recent example for us, a documentary that is a massive story in Sweden and is known through the Nordics, but we’re now seeing it travel across to the UK and elsewhere on Discovery+. There’s a great opportunity here. If you look beyond the rights issue, we’re all in this industry to tell stories and make them travel. Of course it needs to be a healthy industry and connected to some kind of money, but it’s a new world and there are a lot of global opportunities, so look at it that way.

Axel Eriksson was talking on the Unscripted Commissioners panel during C21’s recent Content Nordics On Demand event.