Discovery ID Tops Unscripted Producers’ Annual Rankings; Hulu, CBS & History Touted In NPACT List

deadline.com:

Investigation Discovery (ID) has emerged as non-scripted producers’ favorite network to deal with over the last twelve months.The factual cable network has topped NPACT’s annual rankings with Hulu, CBS and History also being touted as among the top stations to work with.NPACT, the trade association for non-fiction production companies doing business in the U.S., has regularly put out these rankings, although last year they asked producers to name the best partner during Covid-19 with Bravo, Discovery, HBO Max and Netflix coming out top.Unscripted, documentary and reality producers are asked to collectively gauge their favorite networks and streaming platforms across numerous categories.

This year, those categories including virtual pitching, development, greenlighting process, business affairs, production oversight and notes, production management and finance as well as their favorite network and streamer to work with overall.Some 49 production companies took part.Investigation Discovery was rated producers’ favorite network to work with overall.

It’s a somewhat surprising choice given that the Homicide Hunter broadcaster went through an executive shuffle last year that saw Henry Schlieff, who has been in charge of the network for over a decade, step down along with general manager Kevin Bennett departing with Jason Sarlanis taking over the true-crime network.Hulu, which has made unscripted series including McCartney 3,2,1, The Curse of Von Dutch and The D’Amelio Show this year, was cited in the top 10 across more categories than any other network or platform.

Big Brother broadcaster CBS and A+E Networks’ History tied for second place with HBO, HBO Max and ID in third across all categories.In terms of virtual pitching,