Many networks seem to be going through some form of rebranding these days. G4TV became The Esquire Network just over a year ago; Fox turned Speed Channel into Fox Sports 1; and NBC’s Versus channel became NBCSN just a few years ago, making it a primary source for sports entertainment.
Now it’s ABC Family’s turn. The channel, which has provided its fair share of original programming and popular Disney films, will become Freeform in early 2016. With the rebranding, the channel is hoping to reach out to an audience between the ages of 14-34 or, as the team calls them, “Becomers.”
According to a press release from ABC Family, the name Freeform was chosen because it “speaks to the mindset and attitude of what the channel has defined as Becomers. Traditionally, Becomers are in high school, college and the decade that follows and are navigating the wonderful, fun, exciting, and scary time in life when you experience the most firsts first car, first apartment, first job, first love, first heartbreak all the firsts that exists between who they are and who they want to become. Becomers represent a life stage rather than a generation.
“Eleven years ago, ABC Family was ahead of the curve when it began super-serving Millennials to become their entertainment staple. Today, nearly 70 percent of 12-34 year olds are millennials, but in five years, millennials will be less than half of the target. Becomers are 69 million strong in the U.S., with an estimated spending power in the trillions. There are two billion Becomers worldwide.
“Freeform personifies this fluidity and will deliver ideas, forms of content and ways of interacting with the brand. Freeform is inspired by the interconnection between content and audience, media and technology, interactive and linear, life stage and life style and the way Becomers interact with them all.”
“Freeform evokes the spirit and adventure of our audience,” says ABC Family president Tom Ascheim. “Freeform will deliver new, exciting original content as well as all the favorite shows our viewers already love on ABC Family.”
ABC Family hopes that the social media push it’s gotten from its many shows will stay intact with the new name. The press release indicates that it’s become the number one entertainment network on cable television, with shows like Pretty Little Liars dominating social media. It has over 144 million engagements and 3.7 million followers on Instagram, and also has the number one scripted show on Pinterest with over 172,000 followers.
The question is if the outreach to Becomers instead of millennials will work. With a number of the channel’s shows sticking around and new ones likely to be crafted around the Freeform message it’s still bound to be popular. We’ll see where the rebranding takes it when it happens in January 2016.
