JANUARY 22nd, 2015 – HONG KONG & SOUTHEAST ASIA – FOX International Channels (FIC) announced today that on February 9, it will consolidate all of its 126 FOX channels outside the United States under a single brand positioning and network package. This worldwide simultaneous rebranding will take place in conjunction with the return of FOX’s international hit “The Walking Dead,” which in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia will premiere on February 9th at 9pm HK/SG. Excluding the U.S., FOX entertainment reaches 244 million households in 126 countries and 33 languages globally, including over 8 million households across Hong Kong & Southeast Asia, making it the largest entertainment channel brand in the world.
The new FOX brand strategy reflects the channel brand’s growing dominance in the international television marketplace as well as the importance of branding in an increasingly fragmented environment. It is unprecedented in scale because of the breadth of FOX’s channel distribution and is also consistent with FOX’s role as an industry innovator. Propelled by FOX’s aggressive strategy of launching global hits day and date with the United States, ratings for the channels have grown 20% internationally in the last year.
The move builds upon findings from an on-going worldwide brand study commissioned by FIC to measure the strength of channel brands in 24 countries outside the United States. The most recent survey, conducted in Q4 2014 by Phoenix Marketing International, shows that FOX continues to be the #1 network in brand awareness and brand strength worldwide. FOX delivered 95% brand awareness, and beat all others for overall brand strength. The brands FOX outscored included Discovery, Disney, Warner Brothers and NBC Universal as well as newcomers like Netflix. In Hong Kong & Southeast Asia, FOX’s brand strength in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia lead the charts with their rankings all well above the global average.
“What makes FOX exceptional is our ability to offer viewers all over the world the best shows in the world, and deliver them first, well before anyone can see them anywhere else,” said Hernan Lopez, President and CEO, FOX International Channels. “This power to bring the best first is the definition of the FOX brand across all platforms both linear and non-linear and it is what inspires so much viewer loyalty.”
In addition to “The Walking Dead,” FOX’s biggest hits in Hong Kong & Southeast Asia include “The Simpsons” and “Marvel’s Agents of Shield.” FOX’s next major global date and date launch will come in May with the psychological thriller “Wayward Pines.”
The new FOX brand strategy also includes consolidating all the FOX Facebook pages outside the US into one global community, propelling the FOX brand page to an all-time high of more than 17 million fans. This globalization will allow every user in a local market to get a targeted combination of FOX content created in their local market with FOX’s global marketing messages and short form content from their global hits.
“All of our latest consumer information tells us that viewers think of FOX as a true brand, not just another linear channel on their electronic program guide. They count on us not only for the best content but on our ability to bring it to them first, fast and on any device they choose to use,” said Liz Dolan, Chief Marketing Officer, FIC. “As changes and choices proliferate in the marketplace, this positions FOX well for the future.”
View the new FOX look at http://vimeo.com/117202515
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