This study investigates the reciprocal effects of media brand extensions on attitudes towards media parent brand. The results indicate that the evaluation by audiences of a brand with high credibility is enhanced as a result of the introduction of an extension with good fit, but diluted when an extension with poor fit is introduced; contrary results are found in the case of a brand with low credibility. Attitudes towards the parent brand are more positive amongst audiences who are already in possession of the brand product, than amongst those who are not. Finally, this study finds that attitudes towards the media parent brand are more positive in those cases where the parent brand is perceived as being more dominant in the market, than in those cases where it is perceived as being less dominant. This study makes four primary contributions to the study of brand extensions by advancing our knowledge regarding: (i) the issue of the reciprocal effect of media brand extensions on attitudes towards media parent brand; and (ii) the effects of brand ownership; (iii) the effects of brand dominance on the impact of the effects of the fit; and (iv) the above effects in the context of brand-extended websites. Copyright Eurasia Business and Economics Society 2011
