Carlson comments signal brawl for advertisers
NEW YORK » This week’s controversy over statements made by Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson is as much about a high-stakes battle over the network’s financial future as it is over what he said on a radio show a decade ago.
The liberal advocacy group Media Matters for America this week released two batches of recordings Carlson made as a guest on radio’s “Bubba the Love Sponge Show” between 2006 and 2011, before he worked at Fox. The release was timed to coincide with Fox’s meeting with advertisers on Wednesday, the first time it has ever made a sales pitch that for most television networks is a rite of spring.
In the tapes, Carlson made remarks minimizing statutory rape, used sexist slurs to refer to specific women and referred to Iraq as “a crappy place filled with a bunch of, you know, semiliterate primitive monkeys.”
Fox’s prime-time host has responded by attacking Media Matters and vowing that “we will never bow to the mob.” In the only specific reference to his quoted remarks, Carlson said that “it’s pointless to try to explain how the words were spoken in jest, or taken out of context, or in any case bear no resemblance to what you actually think.”
What’s behind the words is a bareknuckles brawl over advertising revenue, the lifeblood for any network. Media Matters’ goal has been to publicize controversial or offensive things said by Fox’s prime-time hosts Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham to attract the attention of advertisers, who are usually loathe to see their products associated with controversy.
A show becomes less viable if advertising dollars are choked off — a strategy that worked before for liberal activists when Fox News parted ways with Glenn Beck.
Under normal circumstances, Fox’s prime-time lineup would be a coveted spot for advertisers since it routinely has the biggest audience of any cable
television network. But Fox’s controversies have tarnished the brand, said Mark Hughes, CEO of C3, a firm that consults companies on effective advertising strategies. The troubles date to sexual misconduct allegations against Carlson’s predecessor Bill O’Reilly and the late Fox chief Roger Ailes, which turned off women who make a large percentage of ad-buying decisions, he said.
With continued controversy, Fox News is going to see less ad revenue from top brands, Hughes said.
Carlson’s show on Tuesday, for example, contained no advertisements from car companies, soft drink makers or any of the brands that are traditionally big spenders on TV commercials.
The commercials on Carlson’s show featured four for Fox programming, two each for a pillow manufacturer and a storage company, and plugs for a walker, hearing aid, blood pressure-lowering device and testosterone booster. Another commercial was for a computer-cleaning service that dubbed itself “the people’s militia.”
Advertising has been shifted to different parts of the day so no revenue was lost and Fox is on track for a record year in ad sales, said Marianne Gambelli, the network’s advertising sales president. Kantar Media estimated Fox News had $1.022 billion in advertising revenue in 2018, up from $1.019 billion in 2017.