Case Study: 'Globe Trekker' and How a Deficit Financed Travel Series Became a Winner for PBS and Pilot Productions (1/2)

Is there a way for Factual producers to succeed the old-fashioned way: in U.S. public television?

In this week’s Case Study: How the Globe Trekker series blazed a path to a respectable living for Pilot Productions.

At History Makers and then at Real Screen, we met with Ian Cross, Pilot Productions’ founder and managing director.

Ian began his career as a cadet reporter at the Canberra Times, covering Canberra’s mix of small town goings on and high parliamentary politics.

He went on to serve ABC Australia as a foreign correspondent, and later produced Factual series for Fox and other channels.

This is part 1 of a two-part post on Ian’s Globe Trekker: its history, distribution, audience and business model.

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15 seasons
Format: 1 hour (58 minutes)
- Show: 52 minutes
- Short form: 6 minutes
- 13 episodes / season
- Library: 350 +/- hours

Budget

U.S. Distribution

PBS Format

“The U.S. public television 58 minute format is seamless and advertiser-free” says Ian Cross
“It’s great for ancillary and international sales”
“Programs created for cable are made in ‘acts’ because of the ad breaks, whereas a PBS show is not interrupted by commercial pods, and is a seamless narrative. That realy appeals to me as a producer”

Distribution & Scheduling

Globe Trekker is distributed by APT (American Public Television) to 300+ stations
“We are present in the Top 25 U.S. markets and 98% of the entire PBS market”
APT earns dues from public TV stations that subscribe to its service
Stations are licensed for unlimited runs for a year
There is no common carriage of APT-distributed programs
Globe Trekker is scheduled on most stations at 9PM on Sunday or Tuesday
Episodes are stripped on KCET Los Angeles, which recently dropped out of the PBS system over a fee dispute
“APT’s value is that it has a trusted relationship with station programmers”
- The PBS feed is limited to certain prime time hours and days
- Station programmers look to APT and other sources to fill the remainder of their schedule
- According to Cross “The programmers have the power in the system.”

Audience

“On Public TV, we earn a .9 rating, and up to 2 million viewers per week” says Ian Cross
“When we were on cable with the Travel Channel, we earned a .1 or a .2 at first, rising to a peak of .4”

We Asked a Programmer at a Major PBS Station Why He Values Globe Trekker?

“Globe Trekker features an inquiring and spontaneous host (from a small set of hosts who rotate) who experiences a journey through a destination with a “blue highways,” more back-packing than hotel spirit.”
“The adventures are not pat, the pacing is sprightly and the indigenously-themed world music is propulsive.”
“The hosts are at times eccentric or at least slightly quirky and appealing characters, they bring a sense of humor, and it is clear that there is no promotional element to their focus and destinations common to travel-related programs.”

Next in Part 2/2: