Dubai: National Geographic Abu Dhabi, marking its fifth year of broadcast next month, is looking at a content mix beyond wildlife and architectural wonders. It has commissioned — and started airing from last week — a six-part reality show that gives an opportunity for eight amateur photographers to show off their stuff and a winner to be decided at the end of the run.
“It’s the case that the predominant part of our programming to date is dubbed content from our global shows; but with ‘I Am Nat Geo Photographer’ the commissioning and production was done from our base here,” said Athreyan Sundararajan, vice-president for marketing and head of factual channels at Fox International Channels M. E. (The National Geographic Channel is part of Fox Cable Networks; National Geographic Abu Dhabi was launched in June 2009 as a free-to-air channel.)
“The series went into pre-production last year and there’s always a fairly long lead time to serve before all the approvals are in place. The shoot started in February and the first episode aired on May 21.”
More than 100 contestants pitched their credentials for a slot on the show. Their numbers were finally vetted to eight. Each episode, of an hour’s duration, has the contestants being put through a series of challenges that will culminate in them trying to take a photograph that will find a place in National Geographic’s ‘Al Arabiya’ magazine. They are mentored and judged by three experts, who will also decide on who gets to be the winner.
These episodes will subsequently run on YouTube, where the channel has in the past loaded some of its popular content. However, it does not operate a linear channel on YouTube. (Incidentally, National Geographic Abu Dhabi has gained a sizeable following on social media, where it is among the most popular ‘factual’ TV channels in the region.)
Not surprisingly, Nikon is the lead sponsor for the programme, which has also won sponsorship from Nissan and The Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Awards.
“Being a free-to-air, we have had sizeable backing from global advertisers and sponsors since inception, but at the same time seen many UAE-based entities like MAF and Masdar sign up as well,” said Sundararajan.
Having had its first shot at a locally produced programme, is the broadcaster aiming for more?
“We are not going to make a quantitative push, that’s for sure,” said Sundararajan. “Instead, if we can have really good stories told in a local context, why not.”
