Commentary

Lessons From Facebook: If TV Networks Ran Controversial Content, Should They Change Their Names?

by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, November 1, 2021

Do corporate media name changes result in appreciable changes in value? Much would seem to be more aspirational for its staff, business clients and potential company funding issues.

But now we have Facebook, and its new corporate name: Meta.

It refers to the "metaverse," the overarching term that many have given to the next iteration of the internet, which promises to be filled with next-gen virtual or augmented reality and other new digital possibilities.

Facebook is making a long-term $10 billion investment in the metaverse. Even then Meta -- right now -- is just a corporate name change -- not a product or service, representing an umbrella brand for the company’s products -- Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp.

Perhaps we need to look historically at name changes -- especially in the digital media world. Did Google change much after taking on the Alphabet corporate name change in 2015?

There is a belief that Meta -- being a four-letter word -- makes the company Facebook more in line with other stock-market trading symbols: NFLX (Netflix); AMZN (Amazon); APPL (Apple); and GOOG (Google). Facebook's current trading handle is FB.

Modern TV companies may know better here.

In fully acquiring/merging CBS, the new company, ViacomCBS, kept its corporate association with the longtime broadcast TV network. That said, while NBCUniversal -- part of Comcast Corp. -- has its own corporate brand identity, it is not part of the company’s corporate brand identity.

Looking at individual TV network brands, we have certain associations and content expectations, such as -- CBS, HBO, Fox News Channel, Hallmark Channel and MTV.

Big TV network name changes are now rare. One recent example: Sinclair’s regional sports networks are now under the Bally Sports banner.

In 2015, ABC Family became Freeform -- one of the last established national TV cable networks to change its moniker.

Earlier on, we had mini-broadcast networks UPN and the WB becoming The CW. The Comedy Channel moved to Comedy Central. Sci Fi became Syfy. Discovery Inc also made a number of brand shifts for its array of cable networks.

But all this is much different from Facebook, with its public issues regarding controversial content -- including alleged misinformation about COVID-19 issues around content that spikes violence, and other missteps.

Analysts believe the Facebook brand name has been tarnished. But looking at its still soaring advertising revenues -- up 32% in the recent third quarter to $28.3 billion -- there seem to be few financial setbacks.

True, TV networks in the 1960s and 1970s had their fair share of criticism over its content. But there wasn’t much thinking about changing network names.

When MTV or Fox had issues over controversial content -- music videos, “Jackass,” “Beavis and Butt-Head” (for MTV) and “Married with Children” (for Fox) -- did executives think about changing their network names?

Admittedly, Facebook is a completely different media thing -- a daily media habit among billions of people. Some people believe an actual name change -- a new consumer-facing brand of its social media service -- might help right its ship.

Nope -- not now. Even when Meta becomes official, the Facebook brand -- and all its associations -- will remain.

brand image, facebook, rebranding, tv

2 comments about "Lessons From Facebook: If TV Networks Ran Controversial Content, Should They Change Their Names?".

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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, November 1, 2021 at 10:45 a.m.
Interesting, Wayne. A more appropriate example might be the Tobacco "marketers"---or "mass murderers", depending on your point of view. These swell folks have branched out and gotten into all sorts of "legitimate" businesses---just as mobsters often do---because of the horrible things that their original products did to hosts of addicts. For example, Philip Morris got its hands on Kraft Foods and other reputable operations and changed its moniker to The Altria Group, R.J. REynolds Tobacco Co. became R.J. Reynolds Industries and American Tobacco became American Brands. Still these companies remain tarnished forever as countless millions of people who lost loved ones will continue to blame them for knowingly marketing a deadly product.
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Dan C. from MS Entertainment, November 1, 2021 at 2:17 p.m.

"Big TV network name changes are now rare."

Because most viewers/consumers have no idea what a tv network is. They follow shows, not networks.

It's very unlikely Meta and FB's recent problems have anything to do with each other. The metaverse is going to be an incredibly difficult and complex undertaking with the majority of FB's audience having no idea what it means or what it is. Insinuating FB is changing its name to take the spotlight off its recent missteps is a stretch....a very long stretch at that.