Barbara Zaneri
By | November 1, 2013
EVP, Programming Strategy, Scheduling and Acquisition
BET Networks
Zaneri is responsible for BET and Centric’s long-term planning and scheduling of movies, sitcoms and iconic acquisitions like “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “Martin.” She’s a consummate dealmaker, evidenced in the recent “Scandal” partnership she helmed with ABC. She’s most inspired by “coming up with creative ways to do business.” Oh, and when it comes to work-life balance, she has a simple question: “There’s a trick for maintaining personal-professional life balance?! Puleese lemme know what that is!”
What’s your favorite part of your job?
The favorite part of my job is coming up with creative ways to do business—whether it’s a new deal that creates buzz in the industry and has immediate impact on the network—such as the “Scandal” partnership we recently did with ABC that trended for over 13 hours the weekend we launched it, or bringing “The Game” to BET as an exclusive acquisition off the CW and having the ability to trigger original episodes, which still remains the No. 1 sitcom on cable. (RHOH?).
What’s been the biggest story in cable this year?
There are lots of big stories in cable, but the one that fascinates me most is the continued success of “The Big Bang Theory” on all the platforms it runs on. In one year, it increased TBS’ day parts by triple digits, it dethroned Judge Judy as No. 1 in syndication, and hit its highest ratings ever on CBS, which proves that product can work on multi-platforms and still get stronger over time. Obviously, USA noticed as well and picked up “Modern Family” with the hopes that it be as strong, if not stronger, and they would use it as a platform to launch their own comedy originals.
Best trick for maintaining the personal-professional life balance?
There’s a trick for maintaining personal-professional life balance?! Puleese lemme know what that is!
