ABC Family is changing its name in January as a way to attract younger viewers. The channel has had several name changes in the past, but has incorporated the word “Family” into them for the past 30 years. Beginning in January, it will be known as “Freeform”. The network wants to target the audience known as “Becomers,” who fall between the ages of 14 and 34.
ABC Family president Tom Ascheim says, “For us, this doesn’t feel like a radical departure, this is an evolution. For the last 10-to-12 years, we’ve been targeting young people, Millennials, and then something happened. Millennials started getting older. The oldest ones are nearly 40. So do we follow Millennials or stay with the ‘life stage’ that got us here?”
In a poll of their target demographic, the network found that many were put off by the word Family being in the name. They associated it with “family friendly” and “wholesome,” which was a turnoff to them.
Ascheim said, “That’s the nub of why we’re changing our name. Like any growing business, we want to keep our core customers satisfied, but also add new ones – and they had a cliched sense of who we are. The word ‘Family’ sounds overly loud to their ears and that makes it a barrier to them coming into our ecosystem.”
The channel still intends to keep much of their same programming. They’re hoping that the new name will suggest to viewers that the content can be viewed on a wide variety of devices, as well as shared in a variety of ways.
“We wanted an emotional response to a name that made people happy. We got an overwhelmingly positive response. Freeform sounds like fun,” Ascheim added.
News source/photo credit: Entertainment Weekly
