Wildlife and nature channel Love Nature is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a promotion on the excessive and daring plans for continued worldwide progress.
The Blue Ant Media agency has elevated senior VP, manufacturing and enchancment Alison Barrat to senior VP, head of content material materials as a result of it reaches new milestones in worldwide distribution and content material materials partnerships. In her expanded place, Barrat will lead Love Nature’s worldwide content material materials approach all through distinctive commissioning, acquisitions, programming and promoting and advertising and marketing.
Barrat will proceed reporting into Carlyn Staudt, who was not too way back promoted into the newly created place of govt VP of world channels and streaming at Blue Ant Media and now leads the growth of the company’s portfolio of worldwide channels. James Manfull, commissioning editor and Katie Murdock, govt producer, will proceed to report again to Barrat.
“Alison has excelled at elevating the usual, breadth and updated attraction of Love Nature’s distinctive programming,” says Staudt. “Her new place as head of content material materials is a pure growth of the unimaginable outcomes she’s achieved.”
The promotion comes as Love Nature marks a decade of evolution from its origins as a Canadian specialty pay TV channel. The mannequin is now obtainable in 110 worldwide areas, 29 languages, and all through every pay TV and streaming platforms in 4K. It reaches roughly 400 million households worldwide by the use of branded linear and on-line platforms along with content material materials partnerships.
“The highlight has really been the journey,” shows Barrat on the 10-year milestone. “Every time we did one factor, it was a model new issue. And so there was that sort of sense of like, alright, let’s decide this out.”
Staudt, who joined in 2017, after 20 years at Nationwide Geographic, to reinvent the channel’s content material materials approach, remembers the early days of developing out the U.S. crew. “Alison was my employee amount three,” she says. “I was in quest of someone to do this with, a companion, and Alison stepped up and commenced this journey with me at a content material materials diploma.”
A key inflection degree received right here in 2020, when Love Nature capitalized on the rising FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) panorama throughout the U.S. “We really pushed forward into that,” says Staudt. “We went FAST first throughout the States and leaped correct over pay TV.”
The switch paid off, with Love Nature discovering success on FAST no matter skepticism about 24/7 wildlife programming’s viability throughout the U.S. market. “Audiences received right here to our FAST channels resembling you wouldn’t think about, and we really, really grew that viewers pretty shortly,” Staudt notes.
On the content material materials entrance, Love Nature has centered on trendy approaches to pure historic previous programming. Newest examples embody “Survival of the Beast,” that features survivalist Max Djenohan learning from animal behaviors, and “The Hungry Video video games: Alaska’s Giant Bear Drawback,” a competition-style sequence about bears bulking up for hibernation.
“Discovering new strategies of telling tales, rising the fashion by working with completely completely different companions and even completely completely different manufacturing corporations to take care of the fashion modern, has been an issue, and one which I personally have relished,” says Barrat.
The company has moreover expanded its roster of on-screen experience, working with hosts like Lizzie Daly, Dan O’Neill and Djenohan to hold modern views to pure historic previous content material materials. “Certainly one of many points that we do very correctly is solely have a large vary of up to date faces on the channel which represents all of the globe – it’s a worldwide channel, so we’re in quest of worldwide faces on it that characterize our viewers,” Barrat says.
Making an attempt ahead, Love Nature is eyeing further worldwide progress, considerably throughout the Asia-Pacific space. The company established an APAC enterprise remaining 12 months with workplaces in Sydney and Singapore. “Asia is a really thrilling time and a really thrilling participant in methods during which they’re innovating how they ship content material materials, and we want to be there in a additional vital means,” says Staudt.
“It’s not solely about rising off of our flagship love nature channel, however as well as we intend to repeat Love Nature into completely different genres and creating completely different content material materials producers that we’ll monetize in diverse different methods,” Staudt added.
On the know-how entrance, Love Nature is getting ready for the potential shift to 8K manufacturing and distribution, whereas acknowledging the challenges in workflow and shopper adoption. “We shoot correct now a lot in 8K,” Staudt says. “There’s some know-how growth and as well as industry-wide adoption that ought to happen. Nonetheless leisure assured, on this fashion, we could be there when that happens and in a position to go.”
On the know-how entrance, Love Nature is getting ready for the potential shift to 8K manufacturing and distribution, whereas acknowledging the challenges in workflow and shopper adoption. “We shoot correct now a lot in 8K,” Staudt says. “There’s some know-how growth and as well as industry-wide adoption that ought to happen. Nonetheless leisure assured, on this fashion, we could be there when that happens and in a position to go.”
The company could be exploring alternate options in rising platforms like digital actuality headsets. “We’re making an attempt to satisfy viewers the place they’re, and that’s a whole new, thrilling house,” notes Staudt.
As Love Nature enters its second decade, Barrat and Staudt are bullish regarding the mannequin’s progress and future. “I really actually really feel like this generally is a good news story. I actually really feel very optimistic about the way in which ahead for the fashion. I do know that the viewers is in the marketplace,” says Barrat. “I do know that we’re persevering with to make high quality, beautiful, associated content material materials, and I’m wanting forward to irrespective of we do subsequent and wherever the media world pulls us. I’m assured that we’re going to be there and it’s going to be gratifying.”
