Discovery to ramp up ID’s int’l expansion

Discovery Communications is to accelerate the international expansion of its crime and investigation network ID following increased ratings in the United States.

The international factual channel operator announced plans to ramp up global distribution of the network, which was formerly known as Investigation Discovery, following its third quarter financial results.

President and chief executive officer David Zaslav said that its increased investment in content in the channel has directly translated into strong advertising gains.

“ID was the biggest driver of our ad growth in this quarter as viewership was up 50%, led by Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry?, Nightmare Next Door and I Married a Mobster,” he said.

“Well, ID, we have already begun to roll it out outside of the U.S. and we’re finding some meaningful success and we do plan on accelerating that,” he added. “We’ve already tested it in a number of markets and it’s working. And so we think that over time, it could be a very nice leg for us to build on what’s already a very robust international platform, which as you could see from this quarter, continues to accelerate and grow for us, which is a big differentiator, our international business.”

The channel is currently available in a number of markets including the UK, Russia, Bulgaria and Poland.

Discovery Communications posted an 18% increase in revenue to US$1.1 billion over last year, helped by a 22% rise in international advertising revenue to US$120 million.