Browse trends for a niche audience: this is how the programmers of non-generalist channels work

'Paw Patrol', one of the star programs of Nick Jr.Paramount Iberia

The great battle for the audience that Atresmedia and Mediaset have been waging in the last year demonstrates the relevance of the figure of the programmers, those people in charge of designing their content.

For years, changes in the sector have made these professionals also evolve.

Not all the channels are public anymore, as was the case with the first and second of TVE when they operated alone;

nor are they general and free, because together with Antena 3 and Telecinco a model like Canal + arrived in Spain;

and not even all of them broadcast linearly, because it exists in à la carte format on platforms such as HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video.

There is therefore a programmer model that builds its offer in a different way than the usual chains do.

And often, the rules change almost completely for them.

Eduard Martí is responsible for the Entertainment division of Paramount Iberia.

Among its tasks is that of supervising the programming of brands as disparate as Paramount Network (which operates on DTT and therefore broadcasts free-to-air) and others such as MTV, which are paid and can be seen on platforms such as Movistar Plus + , Orange TV and Vodafone TV.

Each channel is a world.

One of his challenges, he admits in a telematic conversation, is to attract viewers who now watch YouTube or who are used to piracy.

This type of programmers may have to create grids around a single genre, as is the case with one of its channels, Comedy Central, and, in others, the

—the offer destined for prime time— changes direction.

Nick Jr., aimed at an audience of 4 to 12 years old, does not broadcast it precisely from 11 at night, like most networks, but reserves the time slots from 7 to 9 in the morning and from 5 to 9 at night, before and after school hours.

Factoría de Ficción brings back the comedy 'Camera café' to its grill.

Something similar happens with Boing, points out Patricia Marco, director of Mediaset's antenna.

The niches on which the group's DTT channels focus are defined either by focusing on a specific theme or format (Fiction Factory) or by focusing on a specific viewer profile, such as Divinity and Energy.

"It is important to understand that there is a very specific audience behind each of the channels," says Martí from his Madrid office.

To do this, these programmers who often appeal to these niches, content with very specific characteristics, need to exhaustively analyze the audience data, in a different way to what is done on Antena 3 or Telecinco.

"Our analyzes not only segment the viewer by gender and age, but also take into account the habits of television consumption," says the head of entertainment at Paramount Iberia.

"And, as the audience curves are less pronounced than in channels with a more massive following, you have to be attentive to identify more peculiar features," Marco completes by phone.

His analyzes go into such detail that they divide the children's audience into two subgroups.

“Children from 4 to 8 are still watching television with their parents next to them and from 9 to 12 they are already approaching adolescence and already have command control.

In addition, the way this viewer watches television has changed a lot with the arrival of on-demand content”, Martí gives as an example.

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“Thematic channels are more like being in charge of an author's bookstore.

You have to sharpen your gaze a lot,” says Marco.

Because another of the qualities that a programmer must have is to be a good observer capable of detecting trends.

Alone or with the support of a product selection team, they investigate and then acquire their emission rights directly or do it through their colleagues in the purchasing department.

How do they discover new bets or formats?

Access to foreign channels is an option to detect what is succeeding abroad.

That's how they find that audiences are suddenly responding positively again to medical dramas or classic game shows or which subgenre of animation works best.

In the case of products that have not even been issued yet,

Mikel Usoz, director of programming and production at COSMO, a paid thematic bet that can be seen on Movistar Plus+, Orange TV and Vodafone TV, especially values ​​this direct contact with the professionals who are on the other side, in the production companies or the big distributors international.

Technology has facilitated private viewings and that "those distributors who already know your interests and needs address you directly so that you can browse through their website some of their products", says the person in charge of the contents of COSMO, "a channel that looks especially towards a feminine, adult and urban public”, defines himself.

"Telenovelas are associated with open television, so we have to be something else," he says.

In recent years, it has brought to the Spanish public prestigious series such as the French

(

), centered on an artist representation agency and which has had the great stars of French-speaking cinema as guest actors in its four seasons.

An image of 'Mistery in Paris', one of the latest premieres of the COSMO channel. CHARLOTTE SCHOUSBOE

Usoz comments that the natural way to get to this very specific profession is to take more generic studies such as a degree in Audiovisual Communication and training related to audiovisual production.

But many of his professionals have come to this career after developing other types of work in communication groups or production companies.

“In Paramount, we have many people who have started in technical departments such as the preparation of rundowns —the documentary management of the contents, organized in an archive—.

In the end, they know the essence of our channels so well that some have ended up switching to the programming part," explains Martí, who defines himself as "a

that has been passionate about content since he was a child."

Beyond the already famous Turkish soap operas, other consumption trends in non-generalist channels that these experts have detected is French content.

It has grown in recent times.

Paramount Network bets on police and crime films, such as

while COSMO opens up to other genres within French productions (in addition to looking at other European fiction).

Another curiosity is that reality television, a format that barely works on general networks, is still alive on channels like MTV and even on on-demand platforms like Netflix, they comment.

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