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Steady revenue and profit growth since the beginning Reached around MM viewers. Women between 35-54 were the its most avid viewers They did not have any specific target segment Its management believed in the ‘Fashion for Everyone’ concept and wanted to reach as many people as possible and cover most grounds By 2006 it was clear to TFH that there are a lot of networks like them which are coming and area potential competition to them A new marketing strategy and future growth were the need of the hour.
This also meant more focus and Investment In marketing and advertising Resistance There were few in the company who were against any change in the marketing treated including Thomas who wanted to resist the change as much as possible and was a bit skeptical Wheeler’s Plan Frazier clearly mentioned that networks like CNN were slowly capturing a small portion of the market, giving the TFH viewers an option to choose from Wheeler knew that she needs to market the channel to the critical mass and at the same time were attractive to the advertisers as well Identifying the right chunk of target segment was key here and at the same time giving a good mix to the advertisers was also important (as compared to the competitors) Not upsetting the cable subscribers also ad to be taken care of. So she could not afford too many changes She wanted to focus on a new segmentation and focus advertising towards It. Internet advertising, PR, promotions were also of primary focus. She also knew that time was of essence right now Tiff’s revenue model TFH was on target to generate $230. 6 M in 2006 from advertising The ad sales team sold access to these viewers through various advertising spots from cosmetic companies, automobile manufacturers etc.
They had 2016 minutes of ad time per week A lot of competition for advertising in the networks was there Advertisers paying for ere view and impression Advertising agencies were using sophisticated techniques like surveys and cryptographic characters to identify campaigns and fit the audiences Network with older and lower Income group target audiences were not preferred for advertising by the buying agencies Men of all ages and women of 18-34 were the primary targets of the buying agencies for advertising By concentrating in highly valued’ segment, TFH TFH was a basic channel which made it automatically available for the all the subscribers signed up for the basic channel service “Deliver Quality Audiences, as emended by advertisers” Competitive Threats Lifetime attracted a lot of young female buyers which robbed TFH of their ad time CNN was attracting men SOOT Analysts Internal – Strengths Only network dedicated solely to fashion Had a constant revenue and profit growth Most widely available niche network It appealed everyone (fashion for everyone) Internal – Weakness There would be a price cut in advertising if no changes made in performance No specific segment to target and focus the entire advertising campaign on Vulnerable Network – Cable operators relationship External – Opportunities
Viewers were interested in fashion channels and people wanted to be up to date with fashion It was a major source of entertainment for them Not Just women, but even men were interested in watching these channels and were a potential market Females within the 18-35 age bracket were a ‘highly valued’ segment Factionists and Stalinist were the hot segments and clusters which could be targeted External – Threats Lifetime was taking away a lot of ad time from TFH by targeting young females At the same time CNN was making some bold moves as well by attracting male viewers TFH eating was least between the 3 major networks for most of the key points (like awareness, entertainment etc. ) The 2 major channels were challenging and threatening enough to influence cable operators to give more ad time and better deals to Lifetime and CNN, leaving TFH at a loss Points to discuss TFH is a Market leader or a Niches? It is definitely a market leader which needs to consolidate and cement its position against the market followers It should adopt competitive strategies in order to attack the competitors trying to displace them from their position Intensive advertising promotion
Product Innovation (new segment) Product proliferation Go along with the market orientation Competitive Analysis – Share of Market, Share of Mind, Share of heart Goal Increase awareness, rating and interest in viewing as compared to the competitors Identifying the core group through market research, cryptographic characteristics and create specific target segments by profiling and then advertise the network keeping them in mind In the process of doing so, TFH has a very good chance of convert this core group of customers into very loyal customers which will have an emotional connect with them Impediments advertising and marketing strategies Cable operators were closely monitoring TFH making them impatient of their performance Solution points Creating a portfolio for scenario 3 Also recommending Specialists and why them Why rejecting Scenario 1 and 2 Mention the Questionnaire data points Scenario 3 – portfolio Factionists + Shoppers/Planners 15% + 35% of the H would be targeted 110+140 index (interest in fashion network) A good gender mix Safe to assume that most of the planners and shoppers are above the age bracket of 18-34 years (these should be the target for TFH, in order to expand their viewer base ND look at men/women with kids at home as well 45% of people in the age bracket of 35-54 prefer viewing TFH Solution Considering the fact that Tech’s biggest threat in achieving its goal of higher advertising revenue is the competition that is constantly being offered by the other rival channels like Lifetime and CNN, it should focus its advertising efforts on a target segment which are not the primary targets of its rivals. Keeping this in mind, out of the 3 scenarios in question, scenario 3 is the most bankable and profitable option to adopt. Not only would it focus on the most engaged fashion viewers, the Factionists UT would also reach out to a wider audience comprising of viewers who are regular fashion followers, Planners and Shoppers. Adopting this strategy, TFH would be reaching out to 50% of the H cluster (1 5% + 35%), including both the fashion crazy segment and the pragmatic segment of viewers as well.