Shell maps NBCU overseas ambition

NATPE: NBCUniversal is aiming to increase its overseas revenues on the back of local productions like UK period drama Downton Abbey, its president of international told Natpe delegates here in Miami.

Jeff Shell, who moved into his current role last year, said NBCU must try to bring in more money from outside the US and reverse its dependence on its domestic market.

“We have a bunch of international businesses. My job is to try and run them sensibly as a series of businesses, as opposed to just investments,” Shell said yesterday. “Only 8% of our revenue comes from outside the US. We will die eventually if we maintain that 92/8 split.”

He added that selling shows and formats created by its international production hubs will form a more important part of the business. Downton was made by Carnival Films, one of the UK indies NBCU bought out prior to itself being taken over by Comcast.

“It used to be you could just roll out a show from the US, sell it all over the world, and make a tonne of money. You still can for the best shows but increasingly, country by country, things are becoming much more local,” Shell continued.

“Shows are not just going to come from the US anymore, they’re going to come from everywhere and as programming gets more local there’s going to be great ideas whether they’re a show that travels or increasingly a format.”

Speaking alongside Shell, Ted Harbert, chairman of NBC Broadcasting, said the network must do more to raise awareness of its primetime programmes, which have struggled with poor ratings.

“Prime Suspect wasn’t a bad show. The Firm is a better show than it’s rating,” he said. “We just have an issue in getting people to know a show’s on,” he said.

He added that despite all the promos on NBC for Steven Spielberg’s upcoming Broadway musical drama Smash “we still don’t have the awareness I want for that show.”

“We’ve got this big company in Comcast to go spread the word. It’s getting promos on Bravo and USA, all over the Comcast systems. We’re just going to crazy on Smash. We can really get the word out now and we just have to,” he added.

NBC is due to premiere Smash on Comcast’s Xfinity multiplatform TV service and has already started offering the pilot free via iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, Xbox and others.