ABC, Not Facebook, Is Ad Industry's Overall Favorite Media Brand

Facebook, Twitter and Google may dominate the trade press and the blogosphere, but one of the most traditional media brands -- ABC -- is the most powerful in the hearts and minds of advertisers and ad agency executives, according to an annual survey of Madison Avenue’s perceptions of the media they do business with. The study, which surveyed thousands of advertisers and agency executives, is conducted by Advertiser Perceptions, which is to the ad industry what J.D. Power’s annual awards are to the automotive industry.

ABC’s ranking as the most dominant “overall” media brand is a composite of all of the individual attributes that AR surveys the ad industry about, and it replaces last year’s champ, Meredith. AR only releases the identity of the top media brand in each category, so it’s not clear what happened to Meredith’s relative performance this past year -- but last year, AR partner Ken Pearl noted that Meredith “has always done well in the past.”

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Interestingly, Meredith also failed to rank in the top position among any other data released by AR this year, including print -- a category that Time Inc. publications nearly swept.

Time Inc.’s People ranked No. 1 in “brand strength,” while its Real Simple ranked No. 1 in “customer service,” and its Sports Illustrated was tops in “advertiser satisfaction.” The only other print publisher to rank among AR’s top media brand scores was American Express’ Food & Wine, which ranked No. 1 in “customer service.”

Among these individual categories, AR generally considers “brand strength” to be a telling indicator of the vitality of a media brand in the hearts and minds of ad executives, because it is a composite of attributes that ad executives use to value media, including ad results, audience and the image of a media company's brand.

Not surprisingly, ABC ranked No. 1 in “brand strength” among broadcast network brands for the second year in a row. It also was top in the “sales knowledge” category. CBS was No. 1 in “customer service,” and Fox ranked first in “advertiser satisfaction.”

Among cable network brands, ABC sister network ESPN ranked No. 1 for the second year in a row in “brand strength,” while Scripps’ HGTV was tops in “sales knowledge” and Food Network was No. 1 in “customer service.” MTV Networks’ Comedy Central ranked No. 1 in “advertiser satisfaction.”

Among “digital” media brands, an ascendant Facebook toppled Google from the top position in “brand strength,” while Time.com was tops in “sales knowledge,” Yelp in “customer service,” and FoxNews.com in “advertiser satisfaction.”

10 comments about "ABC, Not Facebook, Is Ad Industry's Overall Favorite Media Brand".
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  1. Cindy Clark from GAR, February 13, 2012 at 2:37 p.m.

    Very interesting article.I know that I always thought from the beginng of Disney till 2009 they were the company to believe.Since 2009 they are very greedy corpation image is consuming them.Such a shame ABC fell under Disney.I long for the ABC of greatness and family all in one.Sunday night was all of America watching prime time,week day mornings GMA then the great soaps on during the day. As night fell nightly news then came prime time.Gone for sure now that Disney has destroyed ABC.

  2. Marji Meisner from This n that, February 14, 2012 at 2:14 a.m.

    I am sure by this time next year ABC will not be in the top position of their category. As the ratings continue to erode for ABC so will their brand. Disney has ruined the reputation of ABC by forgetting who their audience is and not realizing what their audience wants. Scripted programming in daytime and primetime continue to be cancelled and as ABC|Disney cancels shows the audience cancels ABC/Disney

  3. Michele Carlin from FUABC, February 14, 2012 at 8:09 a.m.

    I don't agree ABC has sales knowledge, as it's not selling its new daytime lineup to too many people. http://www.tvmediainsights.com/2012/02/abc%e2%80%99s-the-revolution-continues-to-spiral-downward/

  4. Debbie Joyce from Serial Drama Fan, February 14, 2012 at 8:41 a.m.

    I am sure that ABC will not be the favorite in 2012. Their lack of providing the programming that viewers want has resulted in their ratings plummeting. I no longer turn on ABC other than for one hour in the afternoon for General Hospital. Prior to September ABC was my go to network for daytime, news and primetime. What Disney has failed to realize is that there are many other stations that do provide quality scripted programming and they are only a click of my remote away.

  5. Mary Hamilton from Daytime Fan, February 14, 2012 at 12:58 p.m.

    I have to agree with many of the comments above. I wonder if ABC will have a leg to stand on next year. The cancelling of two shows that have such a history on tv and such loyal viewers and putting two replacement shows on the the rating are tanking on a daily basis. I have to wonder where this company's head was at? Many daytime fans watching anything to do with ABC or any of the other stations that they own or products that they offer.

  6. GariAnne Gordon from SaveOurSoaps, February 14, 2012 at 8:42 p.m.

    With all the controversy caused by the cancelling of their daytime lineup, ABC was less "worthy"of the award than simply in everyones mind. And who could miss the pimps and pros show that offends everyones evenings? I wonder how much Disney paid to gain this distinction? Of course, any advertising would have to be cheap to produce.

  7. Donald Boudreau from Sanctions Unlimited, February 14, 2012 at 11:53 p.m.

    We, as in our family and friends are continuing our boycotting of ALL THINGS ABC and Disney for their having cancelled "One Life to Live" and "All My Children." In response to these cancellation policy decisions, decisions made by Disney's Robert Iger and ABC's Anne Sweeney and Brian Frons, ABC is witnessing half of the Daytime audience fan base flee its network programming entirely, as some acutely perceptive observers many months ago had well predicted would be the tragic outcome. In an honorable business culture, these three individuals would have already committed a form of corporate "hari kari" for having offended and injured as many parties as they have through their rank incompetence, poor business decision making, and despicable treatment of their customers/loyal viewers of many decades duration. And, moreover, for their manifest classless crude abuse, deception, and disrespect they rained on the ever talented casts and crews of "One Life to Live" and "All My Children." Iger, Frons, and Sweeney are disgraces to the honorable traditions that have historically prevailed in the American entertainment and broadcasting industries. And the latter Ms. Sweeney in having been complicit to the extreme in Mr. Frons' notorious in the public record, chronic repeated ageist and sexist conduct, is a disgrace to the American womens movement that tragically paved the opportunity for her; powerfully witness her wrecking operations in a Bain Capital-like looting fashion of a great American storytelling genre birthed by writer Agnes Nixon that sustained primetime programming on this country's networks for decades. Then, the three of them, Iger, Sweeney and Frons went on to replace such iconic American classics (with millions of LOYAL daytime viewers) with junk programming a la The Spew and The Revulsion in further shameless debasing of the American contemporary television medium. Shame on the three of them and let damn be done! Disney/ABC: Release the rights now being held "hostage" to those shows and allow another network or cable provider with the serious wherewithal resources for bringing these shows back to their audiences. For once Disney/ABC, do the right thing and cease your contemptuous conduct toward your customer base that is inimical to every sound business practice. Begin, then, to advertise Disney/ABC in a positive public light.

  8. Kay Turner from Photographed Memories, February 15, 2012 at 12:30 a.m.

    ABC may be ranked as #1 with their advertisers. At one time they were ranked #1 from me as a customer. I watched their network faithfully for over 40 years. They were my favorite network. Then they decided somewhere along the way that their customers did not have enough sense to know what they liked to watch. They thought we could be trained to watch whatever they put in front of us. THEY ARE WRONG! Their advertisers will soon learn they have a lot less viewers in 2012 than they have had in the past 40 years.

  9. Kay Turner from Photographed Memories, February 22, 2012 at 4:07 p.m.

    With our soaps along with soapnet being cancelled. It is time to let our cable and satellite providers know that we still want to watch our soaps. There are several Facebook Groups trying to organize an effort to fill out soap coupons for everyone that would be willing to pay your satellite/cable provider to add a soap channel to their lineup. Please it is important that if you are interested PLEASE fill out these coupons and mail them in. You can also contact your friends and family and let them know about the coupons and see if they would also like for you to mail in theirs. Here is the link below for more info about the coupons.
    http://sudz.tv/content/coupon

  10. Tanya Smith from Casino, March 4, 2012 at 5:27 p.m.

    I am sure that ABC's days of being # 1 are at an end. The decision's they made last year have upset lots and lots of viewers. ABC used to be a favorite channel in my house, now we set the DVR to turn the channel away from ABC we watch General Hospital and that is ALL. Sorry Disney but i think you guys should either drop them or take over there.

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