EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: The relationship between media and mobile is “incredibly symbiotic”, but operators must now find a way to differentiate their platforms and take full advantage of the content demand, urged JB Perrette, CEO of Discovery Networks International.

Perrette heads up the international arm of the Discovery brand, which has grown from operating as a single pay-TV channel in one market to broadcasting in 220 markets using numerous business models.

The company is now fully fixed on the mobile opportunity to continue its growth trajectory and Perrette, speaking to Mobile World Live in an interview, argued it was “imperative” to get as close to the consumer as possible.

“Our existence before was based on a 60-inch TV screen, and there are about a billion of those,” he said. “But when you look at the outside world, there are 10 billion mobile devices in the hands of consumers, so for us, it is about getting our stories and characters out to those devices, and we need to look at that audience,” he said.

Perrette described the marriage of content and mobile internet as a “logical one”, but said while the content owners have something the consumers want, the operators still had some work to do.

“The operators have an incredible business and have built fantastic platforms, but the challenge is that those platforms have become commoditised, everyone has 4G in the developing markets, and data has become more ubiquitous,” he said.

Also, while players like Netflix and Amazon are now competing with Discovery on the content side, Perrette said he is not concerned. Click here to find out why.