Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with
Speaker 1: industry leaders about the business of entertainment. I'm Cynthia Littleton,
Speaker 1: Business editor of Variety Today. My guest in New York
Speaker 1: is Gary Nell, chairman of National Geographic Partners. National Geographic
Speaker 1: is in for a big transition this month, as Disney
Speaker 1: completes its historic acquisition of twenty first century Fox. The
Speaker 1: deal includes Fox's majority interest in the National Geographic Partner's
Speaker 1: joint venture with the nonprofit National Geographic Society. Nell, who
Speaker 1: has headed nat Geo since late two thousand thirteen, offers
Speaker 1: his insight into how nat Geo fits into Disney's larger
Speaker 1: plan to launch a global streaming platform. He also reflects
Speaker 1: on Fox's stewardship of the nat Geo brand. The partnership
Speaker 1: the two struck back in race. Some eyebrows at the start,
Speaker 1: but Nell, who ran Sesame, Workshop and NPR before he
Speaker 1: came to nat Geo, the is flatly that the storied
Speaker 1: magazine and society might not exist today if it hadn't
Speaker 1: expanded into cable television back in Gary Nell, chairman of
Speaker 1: National Geographic Partners, thank you so much for coming in
Speaker 1: during what what must be a very busy time for you.
Speaker 1: It's great to be here. I don't know what you're
Speaker 1: talking about. Well, National Geographic, like most of the rest
Speaker 1: of twenty century Fox, is just about to be formally
Speaker 1: absorbed by the Walt Disney Company, and the Disney Company
Speaker 1: has no shortage of ambition for what it's going to
Speaker 1: do with these new assets. As everybody in the media
Speaker 1: world knows they are launching their you know, the goal
Speaker 1: is to launch a major streaming platform that will eventually
Speaker 1: be global. As you sit at the helm of National
Speaker 1: Geographic Partners, the partnership between what is now what will
Speaker 1: be Disney and the National Geographic Society, what do you
Speaker 1: see on the horizon for the brand with this you know,
Speaker 1: incredible merger and this ambitious energy behind behind launching these
Speaker 1: brands in the streaming we are super excited, I mean,
Speaker 1: to be joining up with the Walt Disney Company. Nobody
Speaker 1: manages brands better than they do um and you know,
Speaker 1: we've been now put out forward already as one of
Speaker 1: five core brands along with Star, Wars and Picks are
Speaker 1: in Marvel and Disney and National Geographic. So we're really
Speaker 1: excited about that. And as Bob Iger and all of
Speaker 1: his colleagues repositioned Disney towards more of a direct to
Speaker 1: consumer business, I think, UM, we're perfectly positioned to UM
Speaker 1: to be part of that portfolio and connect with this
Speaker 1: tribe of curious people around the world, which is what
Speaker 1: National Geographic has been about for over a hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty years. How do you think, UM, how do you
Speaker 1: think do you have a sense of what it will
Speaker 1: look like on day one? For the service? Will will
Speaker 1: not Will National Geographic be offered as a I feed
Speaker 1: as it exists now? Will it be all V O
Speaker 1: D Do you have a sense of that? Well? And
Speaker 1: you know, first of all, National Geographic Partners is a
Speaker 1: joint venture between Fox Today, Disney you know soon next
Speaker 1: week and UH and the National Geographic Society, which is
Speaker 1: a nonprofit UM. And we will be positioned to be
Speaker 1: able to have of course, our linear service continuing, which
Speaker 1: is in a hundred and seventy countries around the world
Speaker 1: and is very successful, one of the most widely distributed
Speaker 1: quote unquote cable channels in the world. UM. And and
Speaker 1: then we'll be on the streaming services about Disney Plus
Speaker 1: and Hulu most likely to be on demand type programming
Speaker 1: that um, you can pull up rather than streaming. And
Speaker 1: I think at the beginning, and I think part of
Speaker 1: the plan is to have a lot of amazing library
Speaker 1: and original content that will be exclusive to Disney Plus.
Speaker 1: And we're just beginning to get our arms around that.
Speaker 1: You know, we haven't been able to really do that
Speaker 1: before the closing for legal reasons. UM. And now that
Speaker 1: the closing is about to happen, we'll we'll be on
Speaker 1: our way. Can you remember, let's go back just about
Speaker 1: eighteen months when the word first surfaced about Disney and
Speaker 1: Century Fox coming together. Do you remember what you thought
Speaker 1: at the time. A lot of us, including me, it
Speaker 1: took a bit to wrap our heads around it. Can
Speaker 1: you tell me what the reaction was internally? Well, I
Speaker 1: remember sort of hearing from our colleagues at one CF
Speaker 1: like these rumors you've been hearing about are true, and
Speaker 1: and it was like, oh, and I think everyone was surprised. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, this was really I think um invented in
Speaker 1: many ways by Bob and and Rupert Murdoch. UM and UM.
Speaker 1: They they came to a meeting of the minds, UM.
Speaker 1: And once you wrapped your head around it, Cynthia, I
Speaker 1: think UM it made a lot of sense for both parties.
Speaker 1: I think Fox in some ways decided that this arms
Speaker 1: race in Hollywood, even being a sixty plus billion dollar company,
Speaker 1: UM was going to be hard to compete against Netflix
Speaker 1: and Amazon and everyone else. UM and Disney was able
Speaker 1: to bulk up with their amazing firepower they had already
Speaker 1: and now adding the Fox assets to to what they
Speaker 1: had already becomes a real UM, you know, competitor and
Speaker 1: and perhaps the winner in that in that race going forward.
Speaker 1: So I think it made a lot of sense for
Speaker 1: both parties. And then UH and then Fox I think
Speaker 1: can work on its core brands that it has traditionally
Speaker 1: been in, including news and sports and and the network
Speaker 1: and the O N O S and everything else. So
Speaker 1: I think it made sense for a lot a lot
Speaker 1: of people. I would also say that Fox has been
Speaker 1: a fantastic partner for National Geographic. There's an incredibly creative
Speaker 1: culture UM and our UH you know, our partners and
Speaker 1: Peter Rice and and Lachlan and James Murdoch and everyone
Speaker 1: had been super supportive of National Geographic UM and have
Speaker 1: given us capital to invest in programming and and really
Speaker 1: turn loose our creative assets, and um, so I think
Speaker 1: part of it is is a little bit bitter sweet
Speaker 1: in the sense that the the creative freedom that Fox
Speaker 1: has given us is you know, we're going to now
Speaker 1: turn to a new partner and I'm sure we will
Speaker 1: have um that creative freedom as well, but you know,
Speaker 1: it's always a change, and um we're looking forward to it,
Speaker 1: but I think we'll miss we'll miss some of that
Speaker 1: freedom that that Fox gave us. It's interesting that you
Speaker 1: say that because going on twenty years ago, when Fox
Speaker 1: and National Geographic came together, there was a lot of
Speaker 1: wow Rupert Murdoch, who had a reputation for a different
Speaker 1: kind of journalism and a more you know, and more
Speaker 1: sensationally sensationalistic take on the world. And there were definitely
Speaker 1: some eyebrows raised, but in your experience that you know
Speaker 1: that they were, they were in fact supportive. They did
Speaker 1: not try to tell you to sex up the magazine
Speaker 1: or put you know, put supermodels on National Geographic television. Yeah,
Speaker 1: somebody had sent me a picture of um, a mock
Speaker 1: up of what they thought it could be common. It
Speaker 1: was a picture of a dolphin and it said dolphins
Speaker 1: who needs them, you know, so I think that that
Speaker 1: I never came to fruition. I would There wasn't one
Speaker 1: instance that I know of quote unquote editorial interference. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, the one thing about Foxes, they as we've
Speaker 1: seen from their television network and f X and the
Speaker 1: other the movie studio. There's a reason why they've won
Speaker 1: all these awards. And there's a reason why. Um, these
Speaker 1: these creative enterprises have spawned some amazing shows over the years,
Speaker 1: like Modern Family and The Simpsons and This is Us
Speaker 1: and all kinds of things coming out of there. That
Speaker 1: it's about creative freedom. And I think they they they
Speaker 1: stand for that. And I think they decided to double
Speaker 1: down on National Geographic, and I would have I would
Speaker 1: say this, um that you know, without the cable invest
Speaker 1: minute that was made twenty years ago was long before
Speaker 1: my time. Uh, there's a good chance National Geographic wouldn't
Speaker 1: be around today. I mean I think we were, you know,
Speaker 1: we were a print magazine with a legacy, um and
Speaker 1: we all know where print magazines are today. We're in
Speaker 1: a better place than many others, but it's tough and
Speaker 1: without that investment of resources, who knows where we would
Speaker 1: have been the television revenue and cash flow. Is that
Speaker 1: significant to the society. I mean it's not a surprise,
Speaker 1: but interesting to hear you say that. Is there any
Speaker 1: part of you that is happy to be You're gonna
Speaker 1: be distanced from Fox News? Had it ever been tense
Speaker 1: to have Fox beingder the same corporate umbrella as Fox News,
Speaker 1: given that there is a lot of often a lot
Speaker 1: of criticism of the of the of that channel's programming. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean we were able to I think access Fox News,
Speaker 1: and I was able to get a number of our
Speaker 1: explorers and journalists who are covering issues like wildlife trafficking
Speaker 1: and other things onto those platforms that reach an audience
Speaker 1: that perhaps the you know, the traditional media hasn't reached.
Speaker 1: So I viewed it as an opportunity. Look, I think
Speaker 1: National Geographic is one of these UM nonpartisan UM enterprises,
Speaker 1: and we've been able to to actually be popular among
Speaker 1: the left and the right. UM. If you look at
Speaker 1: our subscriber base, we have a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: a lot of subscribers in red states as well as
Speaker 1: blue states, and I think there's a reason for that,
Speaker 1: UM that we're trying to appeal towards UM people's better instincts,
Speaker 1: and I think being able to access Fox News was
Speaker 1: part of that strategy. Um. We you know, we're looking
Speaker 1: forward to a new relationship with ABC News, UM with Disney,
Speaker 1: and we've we've got some great ideas about how we
Speaker 1: can work together on some on some issues going forward.
Speaker 1: How um, So it sounds like in terms of in
Speaker 1: terms of you know, we're hearing that there is a
Speaker 1: just a general a big acceleration of production activity across
Speaker 1: Disney and the Fox folks are preparing. It sounds like
Speaker 1: you all are also, you know, know know that you're going
Speaker 1: in with some marching orders to develop some really high
Speaker 1: end exclusive content for these streaming platforms. Yes, so we'll
Speaker 1: you know, we're super excited. I think, you know, Kevin
Speaker 1: Mayer and Bob and everyone at Disney are you know,
Speaker 1: doubling down on direct to consumer. And I think that
Speaker 1: the Street is understands this, UM and they want National
Speaker 1: Geographic to be a very important part of that. So,
Speaker 1: whether we can unleash the creative energy that Courtney Monroe
Speaker 1: and her colleagues on the channel of have been doing
Speaker 1: and winning a bunch of Emmy nominations and now Academy
Speaker 1: Awards are Free Solo and an incredible documentary that really
Speaker 1: literally climbed the height of the film documentary world, which
Speaker 1: we're you know, so proud of and just being able
Speaker 1: to be at the Bathtas and the Academy Awards and winning. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, you feel like a little kid sort of.
Speaker 1: But it's um, you know, I think we can bring
Speaker 1: that kind of quality now to the Disney Plus and
Speaker 1: plat Form and we're being you know, very encouraged to
Speaker 1: do that. How are you? You know, one of the
Speaker 1: big one of the one of those sort of groundbreaking
Speaker 1: things about about these streaming platforms is their ability to
Speaker 1: be global. Can you talk about how not Geo is
Speaker 1: set up internationally? Is there much differentiation in your many
Speaker 1: international channels? Yeah, so we I'm a big believer having
Speaker 1: worked in the media space and international brands like Sesame Street,
Speaker 1: which I oversaw for a long time. Localization is critically
Speaker 1: important and you've got to make these channels locally relevant.
Speaker 1: So we have you know, we have what I would
Speaker 1: call embassies around the world, and you walk into some
Speaker 1: of these offices Cynthia and Istan Bull and in Delhi
Speaker 1: where I was just last week, UM and they're like
Speaker 1: shrines to National Geographic. It's pretty amazing, and with people
Speaker 1: who are religiously connected to this brand, but in a
Speaker 1: localized way. So our Turkish or our Indian or our
Speaker 1: Mexican colleagues are Argentinean colleagues are producing some local content
Speaker 1: to give a contect a context that's relevant to local
Speaker 1: audiences wherever they are. UM just an example, last week,
Speaker 1: we launched a show in India about six incredible women
Speaker 1: from the Indian Navy who have circumnavigated the globe and
Speaker 1: we had the we had the top Navy admiral at
Speaker 1: this event at a girls school. You know, it was
Speaker 1: front page News and the Times of India. And that's
Speaker 1: I think where National Geographic can play. And it's about
Speaker 1: getting these big global productions like Genius and uh Free
Speaker 1: Solo out there, but it's also having some localized content
Speaker 1: that can be relevant to people that I just just
Speaker 1: overseeing all of that activity in spots around the globe
Speaker 1: that must require quite a quite a staff and an infrastructure.
Speaker 1: You have a lot of boots on the ground. We do,
Speaker 1: and you know that's been one of the advantages at
Speaker 1: twenty one CF brought to to our world and being
Speaker 1: able to access their talents. So when we you know,
Speaker 1: when we did this deal, we were able to take
Speaker 1: advantage of the whether it's the Star TV India folks,
Speaker 1: or whether the twenty one CF talent base in Argentino
Speaker 1: or Mexico or wherever. We were able to harness their
Speaker 1: great executive talent and production talent to be able to
Speaker 1: get out there, and we imagine the same under Disney.
Speaker 1: And Disney has got a huge global footprint which we're
Speaker 1: super excited about. And and we've already had some you know,
Speaker 1: preliminary conversations with London and and Latin America and Asia
Speaker 1: to try to figure out how we can reposition national
Speaker 1: geographic and push it forward on an international basis. You know,
Speaker 1: about half of our revenues come from outside the United
Speaker 1: States and that GEO. So it's a very important part
Speaker 1: of our future. Is that the magazine and all the
Speaker 1: television and digital assets too. It's about it's about that
Speaker 1: both exactly. Yeah, I interest saying well, all of that
Speaker 1: international you know, bespoke international programming sounds like gold for
Speaker 1: somebody wanting to launch a high end international streaming service exactly.
Speaker 1: And now I think you know, where we've got to do.
Speaker 1: It pushes on the digital side. Um, if you look
Speaker 1: at our footprint and social media Cynthia Cynthia, we're the
Speaker 1: number one social media brand friendss on Instagram in the world.
Speaker 1: We just passed a hundred and two million followers. We
Speaker 1: just passed Nicki Minaj. We're very you know, and we're
Speaker 1: catching up to Justin Bieber. So we're very excited about
Speaker 1: that right now. Completely counterintuitive in a world where people think,
Speaker 1: oh my god, we are so focused on the most
Speaker 1: inane things and people and and forgive me for slamming folks,
Speaker 1: but you know, that's so counterintuitive to where we think that,
Speaker 1: like the cultures, focus is what drives it, is your
Speaker 1: is it your personalities? Is it your climbers and the
Speaker 1: people that just adventurers and explorers that do these incredible things.
Speaker 1: A lot of that, I think is photography. And people
Speaker 1: are so visual, you know, they're so visual now and
Speaker 1: because of smartphones, I think in man ways have have
Speaker 1: made everyone a photographer. To see the best photographers in
Speaker 1: the world posts their content and national geographics social media
Speaker 1: pages is so inspiring for for people and just you know,
Speaker 1: being in India, there's ten million people on our Instagram
Speaker 1: accounts just in India, right, So it's a big footprint
Speaker 1: around the world for NA Geo and you, I would
Speaker 1: imagine you guys have worked to harness that platform and
Speaker 1: get you know, get the word out about programs and initiatives. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and to the point where Instagram actually sent us balloons
Speaker 1: for our anniversary for hitting a hundred million. And I
Speaker 1: don't think Instagram is known for, you know, saluting all
Speaker 1: their partners for doing stuff. So we're very proud of
Speaker 1: those balloons. Thank you, Instagram. That's gay. I'm glad they're
Speaker 1: paying attention. Are there other um, are there other opportunities
Speaker 1: that you see to monetize your library you have just
Speaker 1: even on the video side, you have a rich, rich,
Speaker 1: rich and deeper. Is there are their efforts? Have there
Speaker 1: been efforts underway in the past that may now change
Speaker 1: under the Disney regime. Yeah, you know, I'm not I
Speaker 1: don't know how much it will change. I think it
Speaker 1: will give us some new opportunities to take advantage of
Speaker 1: the Disney powerful business activities in areas that um Fox
Speaker 1: wasn't really in, like theme parks, you know, consumer products,
Speaker 1: UM travel, uh and other areas that Disney is incredibly
Speaker 1: strong in So we plan to work with our colleagues
Speaker 1: of Disney to take advantage of that. And we think
Speaker 1: a national geographic offering within their framework will be just
Speaker 1: really exciting. So we think that there's big opportunities for
Speaker 1: growth there. Um, we're in those places now, but we
Speaker 1: think we could grow those a lot under Disney. You
Speaker 1: must have, you know, certainly knowing Courtney Monroe, who runs
Speaker 1: your channels, has such a such a solid brand filter.
Speaker 1: But to do it must be with the brand like
Speaker 1: GEO that stands for so much of science and incredibility
Speaker 1: more than anything else. That that yellow box. You've got
Speaker 1: to you must have really careful decisions about things you
Speaker 1: go into because the last thing you want to do
Speaker 1: is kind of sully that that gilded yellow box. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I learned a long time ago, Cynthia, that the CEO
Speaker 1: of an organization is really the chief brand officer at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, and you're the one who's
Speaker 1: going to be responsible if if the brand is violated.
Speaker 1: And I you know, my experience has been as sesame
Speaker 1: or NPR here that um, you know, the public knows
Speaker 1: when you violate the brand, when you go outside the
Speaker 1: border and they call you on it. And so there's
Speaker 1: almost a social policing of these brands about where people
Speaker 1: connect to it and when you violate that through some association. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, so I think having kind of
Speaker 1: spiky sense to use our new colleagues at Marvel I
Speaker 1: p spiky sense around where those boundaries are is what
Speaker 1: we would like to make sure we're on top of it.
Speaker 1: With so many I mean, you have the high class
Speaker 1: problem of having so many social media followers. It must
Speaker 1: be it must be a full time job for people
Speaker 1: just to kind of watch what the reaction is and
Speaker 1: what people are saying about your content and your your initiatives.
Speaker 1: Do you you you really get a lot of feedback
Speaker 1: from what people say online? Does that influence decision making?
Speaker 1: We have no shortage of feedback, um, and we love
Speaker 1: each and every comment. So uh. Now we have a
Speaker 1: great team of people who have come from different places
Speaker 1: New York Times, Time Magazine, you know, the Atlantic all
Speaker 1: over who have been part of, um, you know, the
Speaker 1: growth of social media, and they're just so super excited
Speaker 1: about being a national geographic. I mean it's one of
Speaker 1: these places where you have to pinch yourself sometimes and
Speaker 1: feel how lucky you are to be able to work
Speaker 1: for content organization that's literally in the you know, saving
Speaker 1: the planet business, which is which is way cool compared
Speaker 1: to other things that you could be doing. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: not a bad way to spend your day. Um, we've
Speaker 1: been talking a lot about global streaming, but what about
Speaker 1: the old fashioned US linear cable business. It feels very
Speaker 1: much under strain. Have you guys felt that with the
Speaker 1: nat Gio or any of the Nagio wild are the offshoots? Well,
Speaker 1: I think Courtney, who's doing a terrific job, has um,
Speaker 1: you know, carved out a really good strategy around building
Speaker 1: what you know, what's been called two point oh content. Internally,
Speaker 1: I think nat GEO in some ways a few years
Speaker 1: ago and when I showed up there, uh five and
Speaker 1: a half years ago, was kind of chasing the reality
Speaker 1: TV um bandwagon and that what First of all, I
Speaker 1: think that was off brand for us. That's not what
Speaker 1: our tribe wants. But but more importantly, as we moved
Speaker 1: now towards channels that affiliates are going to be willing
Speaker 1: to pay for in a very stressed environment to keep
Speaker 1: these cable bundles going, you've got to produce content that
Speaker 1: people are talking about. And and this is why John
Speaker 1: land Graph at FFX and other people have done such
Speaker 1: a great job in getting award winning content that is
Speaker 1: is a conversation starter. So there was literally a kid
Speaker 1: at the Toronto airport the other day. He was yelling
Speaker 1: at his mom, you know, I want to see free solo.
Speaker 1: I couldn't make this up, right, I wish I had
Speaker 1: my camera? Did I Did I just hear that? Right?
Speaker 1: Did you want my god? You know? I was very exciting.
Speaker 1: The kid was like advertising, you can't, right. So I
Speaker 1: know that there's a buzz, and I know that buzz
Speaker 1: is probably going to get back to a T and
Speaker 1: T or Comcast, you know. And I think that's where
Speaker 1: the affiliate relationships are really important, uh and where we've
Speaker 1: got to drive that. So part of it is a
Speaker 1: ring ratings, but part of it is also delivering I
Speaker 1: think word of mouth. So these things people will be
Speaker 1: willing to pay for your channel versus a lot of
Speaker 1: other channels that are not conversation uh starters out in
Speaker 1: the world. And once again, I mean that that brand
Speaker 1: that just says so much national geographic or even that
Speaker 1: geo in a channelst thing like you know, you know
Speaker 1: what you're getting, and you know it's almost it's it's
Speaker 1: it's part of the daily diet that that kind of
Speaker 1: factual and you know, sort of high end documentary programming. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And you know, we've got some amazing programming coming up.
Speaker 1: This one Hostile Planet is coming, which is incredible nature documentary.
Speaker 1: We've got The Hot Zone with Julianna Margalie's. I mean,
Speaker 1: we're really doubling down on um high end content that
Speaker 1: people are going to want to really tune in for
Speaker 1: or access in in an on demand platform. And you've
Speaker 1: had you've you've made some waves in the kind of
Speaker 1: in the awards arena the last couple of years with
Speaker 1: your gene Is franchise started with Albert Einstein and and
Speaker 1: then moved on to Picasso with Antonio Banderas and from
Speaker 1: what we understand your your next will be, uh the
Speaker 1: Legend area Aretha Franklin. That's true. So we've had a
Speaker 1: quick coming great. We've had a wonderful relationship with Ron
Speaker 1: Howard and Brian Grazer and Imagine and um Our head
Speaker 1: Carolyn Bernstein who oversees that out on the West Coast.
Speaker 1: UM has really done a terrific job working with show
Speaker 1: runners and and uh, you know, and casting the top
Speaker 1: talent in the world who want to who want to
Speaker 1: work for National Geographic, you know they. I think it's
Speaker 1: a brand that people are viewing now as a as
Speaker 1: a as a place to be, and that's what we
Speaker 1: wanted to create, and that's what this brand deserves to have. Those,
Speaker 1: as I understand, to the narrative, the big swings on
Speaker 1: scripted programming, those have real traction for you in the
Speaker 1: in the video on demand UM arena. You know, obviously
Speaker 1: they draw an audience in the live viewing, but from
Speaker 1: what I understand, those those really have great legs for you. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so when I'm sitting on a plane is I was,
Speaker 1: and the guy next to me, who I didn't know
Speaker 1: is watching Genius Picasso, I'm going like, Okay, this is cool. Right,
Speaker 1: So that's reach, you know, and um, I think that
Speaker 1: that's part of it. Look, I think we're moving Cynthia
Speaker 1: from a prefixed environment of content to an olive card
Speaker 1: environment of content, not just for long form video or
Speaker 1: television or movies, but also if you think about newspapers
Speaker 1: or magazines, UM where there was an editor kind of
Speaker 1: creating a prefixed menu of things. Now we're in an
Speaker 1: all acart menu of things that's being tailored to your needs.
Speaker 1: And the question for us, or Variety or anyone else
Speaker 1: is how do you break through the clutter to be
Speaker 1: able to reach Cynthia's inbox so to speak, that UM
Speaker 1: will make you pay attention and want to access that content.
Speaker 1: We're peating against every piece of content ever invented in
Speaker 1: the history of humankind every night, whether it's Gone Gone
Speaker 1: with the Wind or a cat video. Right, So the
Speaker 1: question is how do you get National Geographic the hot
Speaker 1: zone and get that into people's inboxes so that they
Speaker 1: will tune in and be engaged around that program and
Speaker 1: hopefully want to learn more about the issues that that
Speaker 1: show is going to cover. Before you came, so you
Speaker 1: came to Nagio at the end of two thousand thirteen.
Speaker 1: Before that you served stinted inn PR and before that
Speaker 1: you had a long run twenty two years at Sesame Workshop.
Speaker 1: What did your experience working particularly with the Sesame Workshop
Speaker 1: brands the Muppets. I would imagine that that would have
Speaker 1: probably been a great education in in branding and the
Speaker 1: you know, having a brand that is so beloved and
Speaker 1: being a brand steward for something that is so beloved
Speaker 1: by now generations of families. Yeah, well, I mean having
Speaker 1: I could still do a pretty good count upon count invitation.
Speaker 1: So uh, you know the legacy of Sesame Street, which
Speaker 1: is going to have its fiftieth anniversary this year, it's
Speaker 1: pretty incredible. Um is something that you just are there
Speaker 1: to protect but also grow. And what Sesame Street taught
Speaker 1: me and Joan ganz Kuoni was such a mentor to
Speaker 1: me over the years. Joan always stood for reinvention and disruption. Um.
Speaker 1: And she she disrupted television by using the power of
Speaker 1: TV to teach. Where it was viewed when I was
Speaker 1: growing up is kind of the idiot box. Remember it
Speaker 1: was called that maybe we should bring that back. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure um and now uh And and she really
Speaker 1: reinvented it to teach letters and numbers and social and
Speaker 1: emotional learning. And so it was really the power of
Speaker 1: TV to to teach. It wasn't a question of whether
Speaker 1: it was teaching a what was it teaching. So I've
Speaker 1: always taken that lesson and applied it to you know,
Speaker 1: using that the power of content to whether it's teach
Speaker 1: or touching people or emotionally moving them, whether it's with preschoolers,
Speaker 1: or informing the public and NPR or engaging people around
Speaker 1: issues that are important at National Geographic I think, you know,
Speaker 1: it's a trust that you have as the executive running
Speaker 1: these enterprises, that UM which has a responsibility and UM
Speaker 1: that's how I've always tried to run these organizations, and
Speaker 1: you know, and there's a reason why they're still around
Speaker 1: after you know, many many years, where other people have
Speaker 1: fallen off the tracks. Well. As a fan of many
Speaker 1: of those brands, I want to thank you for being
Speaker 1: a good steward of them and good luck. It's I'm
Speaker 1: sure it's going to be a very it's going to
Speaker 1: be a wild ride for you in the next couple
Speaker 1: of months in that integration. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: taking time to people. It's really great to be here.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Thanks for listening. Be sure to tune
Speaker 1: in next week for another episode of Strictly Business. M