ABC Family's radical channel name change

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Tashi
07 Oct 2015 11:09 Posted in General TV

American channel ABC Family (Pretty Little Liars, Jane by Design, Lincoln Heights) has announced a radical name change.

From January it's going to change name to Freeform, which suggests such a different tone, style and attitude.

They're doing it because they feel it speaks to their audience more - and to the audience they want to appeal to.

Very interesting I thought - imagine if one of our channels went through such a radical change. The trouble is, three of them are so limited by their names and they can't change! - like the SABC channels. If SABC3 were to go through a chang, it would always have to keep its same name.

Here's an interesting statement by ABC about why they've changed, followed by a video that shows what they're going for:

This evolution builds on ABC Family's existing strategy of super serving "Becomers" - a life stage that spans people who are 14-34. The name, look, feel and attitude of the network will capture the nature of the Becomer audience and the modern way this audience generates and consumes media.

The name Freeform 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.