Fox News Still Has Viewers; Increasingly, Brands Don’t Care

Are advertisers responsible for the content that they financially support? The answer to this question has been “no,” for many years, but that’s beginning to change as the line between editorial and ad sales continues to blur.

According to Ad Age, Fox News opened up its studios to advertisers on Wednesday to promote a message of transparency and trust at its first-ever upfront. In other words, the recent slate of lost advertisers at Fox News has created an ad sales emergency for the network.

Thanks to the vile words that flow from Tucker Carlson’s preppy mouth, brands have been fleeing the scene. Media Matters reports that StarKist, Progressive, and Bayer are holding on, while Lexus, Red Lobster, Indeed, Farmer’s Insurance, and dozens more have pulled their ads from Fox News.

The Sales Team Seems Confused

At the upfront in Manhattan this week, Marianne Gambelli, who leads ad sales for Fox News, said she is frustrated by the confusion surrounding brand safety.

Gambelli said there’s a distinction that needs to be made between what is truly not safe for brands and what is simply a message that someone dislikes. “Most of the time, nothing is even happening on our air, so why isn’t it a brand-safe environment?”

She said it.

Talking Heads Leak More Venom

Gambelli wasn’t alone in her public display of dismay. Laura Ingraham added her two cents to the media circus. Here’s what she pirports to believe:

They (Fox News viewers) love the companies that are unafraid because they speak to all of America. They aren’t selling to one group or this group, they want to sell products across the board to the American people. They are grateful to the companies that advertise.”

“This is a great time to be an American. These are the good old days…Pretty much right now, I don’t see how it can get much better than this. People are generally in a good mood and they love Fox,” she said.

Deconstructing Ingraham is work for a toddler, but I’ll go ahead and do it. People are never “grateful to the companies” that interrupt their programming. People may pay attention to the pitch and in the best of cases, they may even make a mental note, but the idea that people celebrate the brands on any program, ever, is absurd.

Ingraham either exists fully inside of her TV bubble or she’s a highly paid cheerleader. People who spend time watching Fox News are not in a good mood. I know Fox News viewers and so do you. Go check on their current mood, please. Anyone who subjects themselves to hour upon hour of fear and filth is not capable of being in a good mood.