On today’s episode of Variety’s “Strictly Business” podcast, NBCUniversal’s Pearlena Igbokwe details the company’s key areas of focus following its transition to the Versant Media spinoff earlier this year.
Igbokwe, who is chairman of television studios at NBCUniversal, NBC Entertainment and also writes Peacock, talks about the return of the pilot process at NBC, the importance of multigenerational co-viewing, and leveraging the power of broadcast and streaming platforms. The conversation was recorded on April 23rd as part of Variety’s annual Entertainment Marketing Summit in Beverly Hills.
“We missed them. We missed making pilots. When I first got to NBC in 2012, we were probably making 18 to 20 pilots a year. Every network was doing that, right? And that was exciting because making pilots is how you find the next great show,” Igbokwe said. “The whole pilot process is about taking risks. It’s about making sure this script translates to the screen the way we think it will. There are so many different things that happen, from the director to the actors, and sometimes it’s magical, sometimes it’s not, but at least you know where the problems are. In my early days at NBC, the way to find a hit show was to create a pilot.”
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Igbokwe cited his experience developing a low-key drama pilot with Sony Pictures Television called “The Blacklist” early in his tenure at NBC. It ended up lasting 10 seasons. “We don’t know until we make the pilot,” Igbokwe said.
The newly streamlined NBCUniversal is keen to find big events and big cultural moments where the company can draw large audiences, so it’s investing in sports rights, the Olympics and other events where live streaming is a must. This takes advantage of NBC’s huge influence as a broadcast platform. It also lends itself to the kind of multi-generational audience coveted by top advertisers.
NBC is always “looking for shows that the whole family can watch, and that’s important to us,” Igbokwe says. “We have a lot of shows that score well on the co-viewing index. ‘The Voice’ is a show that I used to sit down and watch when my kids were little. Obviously co-viewing is important for sporting events and we need to create the next generation of viewers, so cross-generational shows are really great. So we think about that a lot when we develop and produce our shows.”
NBCUniversal, which completed its Versant Media spinoff in early January, is a highly streamlined company with roots in film and television production, NBC, Bravo and Peacock, and Universal Studios theme parks. This level of focus has allowed NBC and Peacock to better collaborate on the company’s key priorities. NBCUniversal, like the other Big Four network parent companies, is experimenting with finding the best way to cross-promote and cross-pollinate its biggest franchises across its NBC broadcast parent and Peacock’s younger-skewing audience.
Igbokwe cited “Law & Order: SVU” as a great example of how hit shows can permeate the new television landscape. On NBC, the median age of “SVU” viewers is 67 years old. In Peacock, it’s 45. The marketers in the audience for this conversation were swooned by that information. That’s because the two platforms show little overlap in viewership. That’s NBCU’s sweet spot.
“By experimenting with programs across platforms, we are now able to maximize our reach,” Igbokwe says. “Then we will continue to better serve Peacock viewers by offering exclusive live sports events as well as original entertainment,” she said, citing Peacock’s success last year with the limited drama series “All Her Faults,” starring Sarah Snook.
“This was very appealing not only to aspiring female-led Bravo viewers, but also to mainstream NBC viewers who prefer procedural crime thrillers,” she says. “And those two cohorts made that show one of our most successful shows, with about 75 million hours watched. So when you really look at it as a combination of factors, it’s just a show to NBC, or just a show to Peacock, or just a show to Bravo. We’re really thinking about how we can bring our programming to Flywheel and to all of our audiences within the ecosystem. And it’s working.”
“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. (Click here to subscribe to our free newsletter.) New episodes are published every Wednesday and available for download on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud, and more.
