CuriosityStream is the highly regarded streamer dedicated to traditional factual programs, and launched by Discovery founder John Hendricks:
- What is CuriosityStream‘s unscripted strategy?
- What do they want?
- What are examples of recent hits?
For a Sunny Side Meet the Executive session, Jorge Franzini shared CuriosityStream’s vision and programming priorities.
Watch our informative and exclusive Sunny Side conversation:
CURIOSITYSTREAM: JORGE FRANZINI
Recorded June 18, 2020
Overview
- Launched in 2015 by the founder of Discovery, John Hendricks
- SVOD model: Subscribers can choose what they want to watch and when
- Cost- $2.99 a month
- Concentrating on becoming home of all factual entertainment
- Goal is to entertain, enlighten, and inspire viewers
- Looking for stories from all over the world
- More than 13+ million subscribers
- Launched first PayTV channel in 2018
Buckets
- Five Buckets to Start: Science, History, Technology, Wildlife / Natural History, and Cultural
- Space programming is a very popular sub-genre
- Starting to expand into Travel, Food, Sports, and Crime
- Focus is on classic factual, NO reality television
- High editorial standards
- Licensing can be non-exclusive
Formats
- Over 3,000 titles in the library:
- Traditional one hours
- Short form
- Mid-form does phenomenally well, rates just as highly as traditional format
- Content dictates length
Discoverability
- Algorithms have a “suggested for you section”
Recent Hits & Notables
Jorge selected several documentaries to highlight his strategy. Clips are included in the video.
- Muck City
- Sports series
- Looks at communities and sports
- Verité
Sources of Programs / Coproductions
- Reputation as being easy partners with high editorial standards
- Coproduction partners:
- NHK is one of the biggest coproduction partners
- ZED
- Bigger Bang, a notable producer
- All about give and take
- They do take projects from independent producers
- Big open door policy
- “Talent is talent regardless of size and prior recognition”
- Playground for development of content and development of talent
How to Pitch CuriosityStream
- International markets (like Sunny Side) are key
- Programming team is not huge
- They welcome emails and phone calls, but communication takes some time
- They don’t need a big fancy treatment, a succinct paragraph or idea about the story is best
- If they haven’t worked with you before and you don’t have a trailer for the project, send clip/trailer from a previous project
(Notes by Becca Wallance)
More of my CuriosityStream coverage
Don’t miss my Sunny Side interviews with:
- Catherine Alvaresse – France Télévisions
- Fatima Salaria – Channel 4
- Chris Hoelzl – Smithsonian Networks
See recent posts!
