The Challenge

As viewing habits shifted and competition from streaming platforms intensified, leadership sought to understand how younger audiences defined great comedy and whether new positioning territories could strengthen the brand's relevance and future growth potential.

My Role

Led the research strategy and insight development, translating audience feedback into clear recommendations to inform brand positioning and content strategy decisions.

Key Business Question

What comedy territory offers the strongest opportunity to differentiate the brand while remaining authentic to audience expectations?

What We Learned

Two positioning territories emerged as clear leaders among younger audiences.

Both concepts consistently outperformed alternatives by aligning with the attributes younger audiences valued most in comedy:

• Intelligent

• Original

• Creative

• Witty

• Thought-provoking

Audiences wanted comedy that challenged convention.

Rather than traditional sitcom-style humor, respondents gravitated toward content that felt unpredictable, edgy, and culturally relevant.

Competitive overlap created a strategic challenge.

While audiences responded positively to the proposed positioning directions, many associated similar attributes with competing entertainment brands, highlighting the need to establish clearer differentiation.

Strategic Implications

The research helped identify the most compelling positioning territory for the brand while highlighting an important challenge: many of the same attributes audiences valued were already associated with competitors such as Adult Swim, Comedy Central, and other players in the comedy space.

The findings gave leadership greater confidence in the brand's future direction and helped shape discussions around content strategy, audience targeting, and how the brand could credibly stand apart in an increasingly crowded comedy market.