Fox News leans on 'uplifting content' to woo skeptical news advertisers

Fox News is looking to clear up any misperceptions advertisers have around news as it emerges from a news cycle dominated by politics during its upfront pitch to the marketplace. “We had five years of a news cycle that was dominated in many ways by politics. We were all covering every tweet that came out of the White House. We are all feeling very good about heading into a news cycle that has room for other topics like sports, news and entertainment,” says Jeff Collins, exec VP, ad sales, Fox News. With more “uplifting content,” like stories of people getting vaccinated, returning to work and school, and reuniting with their families, Collins says that it will create “a more positive environment for our advertisers.” The hope is as the news becomes more “a more positive environment,” that there will be areas that are more contextually relevant and desirable for brands, he adds. To be sure, the entire news space has always been a dicey one for some brands, who have been concerned with their marketing messaging appearing next to tragedy or anything controversial. Fox News is leaning in to some of its more uplifting content, like “America Together,” a program designed to feature inspiring stories, and its “Patriot Awards." The cable news space enters a very different upfront marketplace than last year, which took place during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic and ahead of a monumental presidential election. The three major cable news channels have seen viewership retract post-election. In April, Fox News averaged 2.2 million total viewers in primetime, down 39% from the year prior. This compares with 1.6 million people for MSNC, a 22% decline, and 1 million at CNN, a 47% plunge year-over-year. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 368,000 viewers in prime time, down 45%, compared with 276,000 for CNN, a 52% drop, and 227,000 for MSNBC, which is a 32% decline. Fox News saw an influx of younger-skewing brands buy into the network at the height of the political cycle. Collins says those advertisers are embracing programming like its late-night show “Gutfeld!,” which debuted last month. The network also highlighted the upcoming launch of Fox Weather as a place for brands to be able to do integrations that isn’t a hard news environment. Fox News has spent the past year building out its streaming service Fox Nation. While brands can’t buy commercial inventory on the platform, the network will look to partner with markets for integrations into the content for the first time. Like other cable channels outside of the news space, Fox News is also looking to do deals out of the age-restricting demographic confines and move into striking deals on a 2-plus guarantee. Collins calls the current demos, (Fox News primary demo is 25-54) “restricting,” and says the “sooner we can move to more outcome-based guarantees the better it is for us.”

Fox News leans on 'uplifting content' to woo skeptical news advertisers

Featured Stories