56 | DISCOVERY’S REALITY CHECKS
Marjorie Kaplan
Title: President, Animal Planet and Science
Best Advice in 7 Words Or Less: Women live a very long time.
Eileen O’Neill
Title: Group President, Discovery & TLC Nets
Best Advice in 7 Words or Less: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.
Henry Schleiff
Title: President/GM, Investigation Discovery (ID), Military Channel, Planet Green
Best Advice in 7 Words Or Less: Man plans… God laughs.
Why Them? These three hit-makers are all on the rise at Discovery. Since O’Neill added Discovery to her TLC presidency in January, she’s mined several new hits including “Sons of Guns,” “Flying Wild Alaska” and “Gold Rush: Alaska.” After rebranding Animal Planet to 11 quarters of ratings growth year-over-year 18-49, Kaplan got a dual title for Science Channel and wasted no time launching a new interactive logo in June with its own name: Morph. Science’s new Saturday night sketch, “An Idiot Abroad” with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, became its most-watched series ever among 18-49, 18-34 and 25-54, with 4.3 million viewers. And three-year-old ID continues to sprint with 66% growth this year. ID’s 2010 revenues rose 79%, according to SNL Kagan, making it the fastest-growing channel on cable.
