It is the very act of participation, says Discovery Networks Asia (DNA) vice-president of marketing and communications Kevin Dickie, which is key to his billing as the broadcaster's 'brand champion' in the region.
And with DNA set to roll out a radically revamped offering across Asia in 2005, now is as crucial a time as ever to ensure that Dickie's channels measure up in the eyes of 'ordinary' viewers.
"I am a genuine fan, and I watch pretty much the whole portfolio," says Dickie. "I personally think it's very important, and one of the things I introduced was a quarterly internal screening, where everybody in the company watches highlights from across the network."
This dedication to evaluation lies at the core of DNA's decision to relaunch three of its channels as the Discovery Lifestyle Networks portfolio. Discovery Travel & Living will replace Travel & Adventure on January 1, 2005, across the region, to be followed by Discovery Home & Health and Discovery Real Time, which will replace, respectively, Discovery Health and Discovery Hobbies & Living in the second quarter of 2005.
The separation of the lifestyle element from Discovery's 'factual' channels - Discovery Channel, Discovery Animal Planet and Discovery Science - comes after extensive research revealed a significant opportunity in the lifestyle space, according to Dickie. And while convincing viewers of the popular Travel & Adventure brand of the benefits of more cookery coverage may constitute a challenge, it is likely to pale in comparison with some of the other hurdles Dickie has witnessed since entering the pay-TV industry five years ago with Discovery.
Since Dickie made the move from Weber Shandwick, DNA has grown from two channels to six. In tandem, of course, pay-TV has also become a realistic advertising vehicle for both regional and local brands, although Dickie believes that there is still work to be done.
"Certainly, in the time I've been in the industry which, if you include my time on the agency side, is nearly nine years - the level of research has got significantly better," says Dickie. "(Ad sales) keep going up, but it's still not realising its full potential. There's still tremendous opportunity for growth."
He believes that the pay-TV sector has to assume more of an educational role, particularly if it is to woo clients that still see its value as being primarily regional.
"One of the educational tasks that we have is to educate the client and agency community that they can buy both regional and local, which I don't think is truly understood even by media agencies," says Dickie. "Most broadcasters have multiple feeds and you can break it out, both regional and local."
The ability to articulate this offering is likely to prove critical as competition hots up in the pay-TV arena. All eyes will be on DNA's bold move to expand into the lifestyle space; equally important will be maintaining DNA's leadership role as new channels enter the market. Dickie is confident, not least because the distribution part of the equation has already been solved.
"Establishing us as the definitive lifestyle broadcaster on pay-TV is probably my challenge for the next 24 months, and maintaining Discovery's position as number one," he points out. "We've already proven, particularly with Discovery Travel & Adventure, that there's a level of interest in this product in this region.
"One of the big advantages is that we're converting brands that already have distribution. We've had a resounding response from distributors, who think it is 100 per cent the right strategy."
DICKIE: ON THE RECORD
Direct pitch Often the client will want to have a direct relationship and that's fine as far as we're concerned. But we still work very closely with all the major agencies.
Research investment I think we're the biggest investor in research of the regional broadcasters. We've also developed a number of our own tools.
We're big, big believers in research.
Agency alliances It is all about the people, and the level of thought and commitment. If you have smart people who are committed to your brand - to me that's all that is required.
Moving in-house I find it more fulfilling, primarily because you're shaping the strategic decisions rather than responding to them.
Digital rollout The most significant development of the last few years has been the rollout of digital TV, and that has led to a need for more content. The technology allows for more channels and it's an investment on the part of the operator. They want to upgrade and generate more revenue.
So, what they're looking for are new content packages that weren't available on the analogue systems.