WB Brand Still Popular With Kids

Why are The CW's partners sticking with The WB brand when that netlet's Saturday-morning animation block moves to their new net, The CW in the fall?

The rather awkward name is Kids WB! on The CW. Top CW spokesman Paul McGuire said that research showed that there is "still equity" in the Kids WB! brand. "Q Scores were still high," said McGuire. Those measure familliarity and popularity of characters, personalities and brands.

The old name may be moving to The CW, but several videogame-inspired anime staples aren't, including Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon.

McGuire said that was becuase their ratings were declining, plus it gave the network a chance to refresh some marquee properties like Tom & Jerry and Scooby-Doo (see item elsewhere on this Web page).

The new network also wanted to counterprogram with familiarity as NBC goes to Discovery content for its Saturday-morning programming and CBS makes changes, said McGuire.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.