The program description for the NYC Television week panel titled, “Building Your Core Brand,” suggested that it’s the brand that dictates a channel’s content. But once the conversation got going, it seemed the reverse was true: In the digital age, it is the content that drives the brand.

Dawn Ostroff, president of Conde Nast Entertainment, told the audience: “When we program in the digital space we found that the audience is not brand-centric. They look for the content itself. We launched a new platform called The Scene with over 200 series and we partnered with ABC and Buzzfeed, but what brings in audiences is one piece of content. Then they discover the other shows.”

Ostroff told the audience that her young daughter, who is a fan of Modern Family had no idea what ABC is. “She watches everything on her tablet.”

Ostroff is familiar with the idea of using content to build a brand, having programmed both UPN and then The CW and greenlighting such shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Gossip Girl in an attempt to woo young women to the network. She’s now charged with creating branding content around Conde Nast’s popular portfolio of magazines, such as Vanity Fair, Self and Glamour and many more.

The other panelists—which included Courteney Monroe, chief operating officer of National Geographic Channels, and Henry Schleiff, group president of Discovery Networks—said that’s been their experience as well.

“We have to listen to the audience. They told us that mystery, suspense, crime is what they like and we said great, we will continue to give it to you. You get the numbers and you see what’s growing and what is not,” said Schleiff, referring to the Investigation Discovery network’s brand strategy.

Unlike Ostroff, who positioned shows such as Gossip Girl to define The CW and its Millennial audience when the network was new, Monroe has the benefit, or drawback, of strong brand identity. She admitted that they are working to redefine the National Geographic brand in an effort to appear less stuffy and professorial. And what was her wish for the coming year?

Same as all other programmers: “A hit show, a hit show, a hit show,” she said.

Image of Ostroff courtesy of Forbes.com.

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