GAF CEO Bill Abbott Says ‘Family-Friendly’ Content ‘Essential’ To Success
By Movieguide® Contributor
Great American Family CEO Bill Abbott recently talked about why the network continues to find success as it gears up for its Christmas season following a year of massive growth.
“First and foremost, it was awareness and growing the brand,” CEO Bill Abbott explained. “It doesn’t happen overnight. And so it’s taken a long time to just make people aware that we’re even in business. Then I think it’s the family-friendly content. There was not a lot of it out there. The family-friendly piece of it is essential to our success.”
He continued, “One of the biggest parts of our growth has been our talent, and the fact that we have such recognizable stars in our stable of talent — and that they are relentless in promoting Great American Family. That, in and of itself, has created the awareness necessary to grow like we have.”
The list of stars GAF has added to its roster includes Candace Cameron Bure, Trevor Donovan, Danica McKellar, Matthew Morrison, Chad Michael Murray, Lori Loughlin and Jill Wagner.
“The list goes on and on and ultimately, the big one was Candace Cameron Bure. Having her profile, the popularity she has and the impact of social media — all those things are huge,” Abbot said.
While GAF is growing rapidly, Abbot said the network’s focus is still on “looking to celebrate great stories.”
“We don’t have an agenda either way,” he explained. “We want to entertain and inspire and be uplifting and consistently provide an experience that is high quality — that is our most important objective.”
One of Great American Family’s most successful ventures is its Christmas movies.
“The biggest thing about Christmas movies in general is that people make fun of them — and yet people love them,” Bure told Variety. “It’s because they’re predictable: You know that someone’s going to fall in love. You know it’s just going to be happy and warm. And people run to that, especially at the holidays.”
This year, the network will debut 20 new Christmas movies, as well as air previously seen content throughout the holiday season.
Movieguide® previously reported on GAF’s growth:
Great American Family has reached a new ratings milestone — it’s now the fastest-growing network among viewers, and continues to hold its spot as the fastest-growing network on TV.
This is Great American Family’s eighth-consecutive month as the fastest-growing network “year-over-year in Total Day Household ratings.”
The network has been steadily growing this year. Their first quarter ratings were some of the largest gains reported among networks by Nielsen: “first-quarter primetime ratings were up 124% among total viewers and 118% in households. In total-day terms, ratings were up 119% in total viewers and 121% in households.”
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +2