Changing its name to Spectrum may have been the best thing to happen to Time Warner Cable after merging with Charter.
Since officially becoming Spectrum in mid-January, the brand jumped from the oft-cited poster child for poor cable company customer service to the top tier of consumer perception and satisfaction in the category.
Spectrum even launched an ad campaign touting the switch, which increased its ad awareness modestly over Verizon FiOS. However, a large part of the public may not realize Spectrum’s heritage: 55% of consumers who knew Time Warner Cable changed its name didn’t know the new brand name was Spectrum, according to national YouGov Omnibus field poll taken March 15 and 16, 2017.
More US adults (53%) were not aware that Time Warner Cable changed its name after the merger vs. those that were aware (47%).
Of the respondents who were aware that Time Warner Cable changed its name, most (56%) said their opinion about the company remains the same. 17% said their opinion of the company had improved as a result of the name change while 11% said their opinion of the company actually declined, with the remainder saying they weren’t sure.
YouGov BrandIndex measured Spectrum, DirecTV, Dish Network and Verizon FiOS with three scores: Buzz ("If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?" ), Satisfaction (“Are you a satisfied customer?”) and Ad Awareness ("Which of the following brands have you seen an advertisement for in the past two weeks?").
The Buzz and Satisfaction scores can range from -100 to 100 with a zero score equaling a neutral position. Ad Awareness ranges from zero to 100%.
The YouGov Omnibus sample size was 2186 adults; figures have been weighted and are representative of all US adults 18+. The online fieldwork undertaken between March 15th and 16th 2017.
Buzz: Spectrum, DirecTV, Dish Network and Verizon FiOS
Satisfaction: Spectrum, DirecTV, Dish Network and Verizon FiOS
