More brands exit 'Ingraham Angle,' but one comes back and ad loads hold steady

More of Laura Ingraham's sponsors joined the boycott bandwagon this week, but even as companies like Red Lobster and SlimFast pulled their ads from her Fox News show, the cable news behemoth has managed to keep commercial levels steady. "The Ingraham Angle" aired 16 national commercials on Thursday night from 12 brands, according to iSpot.TV. That's up from Ingraham's return from vacation on Monday, when the show included nine commercials from seven advertisers, if down significantly from commercial time before the boycott began on March 28. Ace Hardware, which pulled its ads from "The Ingraham Angle" on April 5, reappeared in Thursday night's episode with two commercials. The company had previously said that it would no longer run ads in the program. "The information we had at the time of the initial request was incomplete and we apologize for that," an Ace Hardware spokeswoman said via email: We purchase time slots that target our audience on over 30 cable networks and news programs including Fox News, CNBC, CNN, and MSNBC. Advertising on any network or show, is in no way an endorsement from Ace of the content contained or spoken within that program. We appreciate the different points of view from our customers, and believe people should be treated with respect and civility. At this time, we have not altered our current media schedule; however, we regularly review our media strategy. But Red Lobster, which aired a commercial in Wednesday night's episode, did not appear on Thursday. A Red Lobster spokeswoman says the restaurant is no longer advertising on the show. Aside from Ace Hardware, Thursday night's "The Ingraham Angle" featured ads from Sandals Resorts, MyPillow, RectiCare, chemical company BASF, Invisalign, Bass Pro Shops, Beaches resorts, Senokot laxatives, Bell and Howell, Old Dominion Freight Line and Gilead. Thursday night ratings aren't available from Nielsen yet, but Wednesday night's episode of "The Ingraham Angle" averaged 2.7 million viewers and 559,000 in the core 25-to-54 demo. On March 29, the show averaged 2.2 million viewers and 434,484 in the demo. The show is No. 1 in its time slot against CNN and MSNBC. Some advertisers began avoiding "The Ingraham Angle" after the host wrote on Twitter that Parkland, Florida, school-shooting survivor David Hogg "whined" about not getting into the colleges of his choice. While Ingraham apologized, the student gun activist encouraged advertisers to boycott her show. On March 30, the last episode Ingraham hosted before she went on vacation, 15 ads ran from 13 marketers, according to iSpot.TV. On March 27, before the boycott began, the show included 36 commercials from 34 brands, iSpot.TV said. Major consumer brands were also more prominent in the mix than they are now.

More brands exit 'Ingraham Angle,' but one comes back and ad loads hold steady

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