preview

Case Analysis - Fashion Channel Essays

Better Essays

Case Study:
The Fashion Channel (TFC)

June 30, 2009

Overview The Fashion Channel (TFC), founded in 1996, is a successful cable TV network dedicated to all things fashion. Although quite young compared to other TV networks, TFC has experienced steady growth and in 2006 forecasted its revenue at $310.6 million. TFC operates primarily as a niche network, focused solely on fashion and fashion related programming, but still manages to reach almost 80 million US households that subscribe to cable and satellite television. To date TFC has been able to experience growth in spite of having no clear segmentation, branding, or positioning strategy. Dana Wheeler, a recent hire as TFC’s Senior VP of marketing, was tasked to fix this. …show more content…

Unfortunately, the competition has caught up and networks such as CNN and Lifetime have begun to offer competitive programs and thus competitive advertising outlets for the target audience. As a result, advertising sales is projecting a 10% decrease in the price for a unit of advertising (CPM) if the current strategy does not change. An internal weakness of TFC is that it does not know its customers intimately; as stated in the case “the channel didn’t have much in the way of detailed information about its viewers” (Stahl, 2007). Without this information TFC is unable to compete effectively against other networks who do know the target audience and their attributes and trends. If TFC is unable to maintain or increase its overall satisfaction ratings, they might face the possibility of being dropped by a network and lose a second source of revenue, affiliate fees.
The SWOT analysis also reveals another weakness, “fickleness.” Fickleness of cable and satellite customers is based on the low brand loyalty and high churn rates. In order to reduce customer defection to competitors TFC must develop brand loyalty and not only attract new customers but retain those that it already possesses. The opportunity facing TFC is the fact that it is in a position to address its market

Get Access