ABC Family

Industrial Analysis: ABC Family

Brief History

In the early 1960’s media tycoon and former Baptist minister, Pat Robertson began acquiring television properties, marking the foundation of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). CBN first aired on October 1, 1961 from a small television station in Portsmouth, Virginia. It was not only the first Christian television station in Virginia, but it was also the first in the nation. In 1987, Robertson announced his candidacy for president and his son Tim, took over CBN as president and chief executive. One of the first changes Tim made, was altering the name to The Family Channel. Under its new name, The Family Channel’s financial support excelled to a point that it created a tax issue for the nonprofit nature of the Christian Broadcasting Network. As a result, in 1989, a new company, International Family Entertainment was created and acquired The Family Channel from the Christian Broadcasting Network for $250 million. During the early 1990’s Tim Robertson acquired MTM studios and revamped its production and programming team. During this time The Family Channel’s ratings and popularity soared, catching the eye of founder, chairman, and chief executive of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch partnered with the production company, Saban Entertainment and bought International Family for about $1.8 billion. The purchase of International Family also included the Family Channel and led to yet another name change, making it the Fox Family Channel. However, this new ownership didn’t last long as plummeting ratings and questionable management led to its final sale. On October of 2001, the chairman and chief executive officer of Walt Disney, Michael D. Eisner solidified the deal, purchasing Fox Family Worldwide, Inc. for $5.2 billion. Shortly after, on November 10, 2001 the network was finally renamed to its current title of ABC Family. Under its current ownership by Disney, ABC Family operates as a sister channel for broadcaster ABC and seems to be doing very well with more than 80 million subscribers in the United States.  

Target Audience

The “family” component of ABC Family has frequently been scrutinized ever since its 2001 shift in ownership. Officially, the channel seeks to be appropriate for kids, while at the same time mature enough to keep the attention of mom and dad. It seeks to attract young adults, with material that also keeps the interest of adults. The official target audience is 18-49 year olds, the most popular demographic with advertisers. However, president Paul Lee acknowledges that the people actually watching are more within the 18-34 year old range, a group referred to as “millennials”. Despite this, the median primetime viewer age is 36. The channel competes with other “younger” channels, such as TBS, MTV, and VH1.

Critics see ABC Family’s direction a little differently. An article in the San Diego Union Tribute states that the target audience is, “Tech-savvy teens and preteens, and brave parents who aren’t afraid to talk about sex, underage drinking, and why they might be watching ABC Family even if they didn’t have kids,” and that the channel “has become a source of addictively soapy dramas and overamplified sitcoms that take the term ‘family’ very loosely.” A Mediaweek article compares ABC Family to Sandy Olsson in Grease, and suggests that it might be ditching its family aspect to attract advertisers: “As Sandy learned after the big drag race, sometimes a girl has to ditch the poodle skirt for a pair of skin-tight Capri pants.”

Another article asks why a family channel is featuring gay characters, sex-laden dialogue, plots about underage drinking, drug use, and teenage sex, particularly given its conservative Christian past. ABC Family’s response to this question is evident in its new slogan “A New Kind of Family”. Millennials care about family, but don’t relate to family in the traditional sense. President Paul Lee states:

“[Millennials] are optimistic, they make decisions by consensus, and they’re diverse — but most importantly they love family, which is great for our name and the brand,” he said. “They may define family differently — it’s not Ozzie and Harriet, but rather a much messier, more passionate, more fun, more real family.”

Scheduling

ABC Family tends to run a rather straightforward weekday schedule, and the general format is:

From 11 p.m.- 7 a.m. various paid programmings are shown. There are also religious/evangelical programs such as the controversial The 700 Club, which ABC Family is obligated to show under contract. A few sitcom or game show episodes are played as well.

From 7 a.m. - 5 p.m. various sitcoms are shown such as, That 70’s Show, Boy Meets World, Full House, My Wife and Kids, Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

From 5 p.m. - 11 p.m. the channel tends to continue showing sitcoms, but transitions into hour long dramas or feature-length films.
The weekends are more variable and ABC Family will often host movie marathons on Saturdays and Sundays, often the movie marathons will have themes, such as all three Aladdin films or a Harry Potter weekend .

Signature Programming and Promotional Techniques

Disney/ABC Television Group describes ABC Family's programming as "a mix of network defining original series and original movies, quality acquired series and blockbuster theatricals. ABC Family features programming reflecting today's families, entertaining and connecting with adults through relevant stories about today's relationships, all told with diversity, dysfunction, passion, humor and heart"

ABC Family has several popular, original programs, all of which are hour long teen dramas. These programs include The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Make it or Break it, Greek, and Pretty Little Liars.  ABC Family is known for its seasonal scheduling, such as 13 Nights of Halloween, 25 Days of Christmas, and a back-to-school themed Campus Crush. During the block schedule, the majority of the shows and movies scheduled apply to the theme. The channel will often host weekend-long movie events such a Harry Potter weekend or a showing of all three Aladdin films. 

Instead of promoting one episode of one show, ABC Family encourages its viewers to get into the seasonal spirit by watching hours of pre-packaged programming.