Discovery Communications Names JB Perrette Chief Digital Officer

NY - Discovery Communications said Monday that it has hired former NBCUniversal executive Jean-Briac "JB" Perrette as chief digital officer, effective Oct. 17. Perrette was most recently president, digital and affiliate distribution and content distribution strategy for NBCUniversal where he also had a leadership role at online video joint venture Hulu. He will now be reunited with Discovery Communications president and CEO David Zaslav, a former NBCUniversal executive, to whom he will report. The appointment is a sign that Discovery is looking to further grow its digital business and revenue. "I look forward to expanding Discovery's presence in the digital space, finding new opportunities to earn value for its robust content and driving viewer engagement on all screens," Perrette said. "JB is one of the top digital strategists in the media industry today and joins Discovery at an important time in our growth and development," said Zaslav. "We look forward to JB's leadership in taking Discovery to the next level of growth as we continue focusing on creating value, deepening engagement with more viewer sampling of our brands, and monetizing our 25-year programming library across an increasing number of digital distribution platforms." Perrette will lead the company's digital strategy, including Discovery's U.S. Web sites, such as Discovery.com, TLC.com and HowStuffWorks.com, digital operations and programming group and digital distribution efforts with non-traditional affiliates, such as Apple, Netflix and Amazon.He will also be responsible for Discovery Commerce, including licensing and home entertainment. Monthly video streams across Discovery's U.S. sites are up 83 percent to 126 million this year, and the sites average more than 50 million monthly unique visitors, the company said. Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai Related Topics NBCUniversal Discovery Communications