Disney Finding Success With ABC Family

The Walt Disney Co. is enjoying great success with its family-friendly U.S. cable network, ABC Family, despite initial industry criticisms.

Variety said Friday that while some industry officials had panned Disney for purchasing the struggling network for $5 billion seven years ago, the cable channel has rebounded dramatically thanks to the success of shows such as Greek and Kyle XY.

Those series, along with mainstays such as Gilmore Girls, allowed ABC Family to reach new viewership heights in 2007, including a highly successful December. That month an estimated 2.23 million viewers tuned into the cable network, making it the most-watched month in ABC Family’s history.

Initiative Media Senior Vice President Kris Magel told Variety such success was due to strategic marketing by ABC Family officials, who are focusing their efforts on women between the ages of 14 and 28.

They seem to have found an identity in the marketplace, Magel said. And they’re starting to see the fruits of their labor.