Fox News moved Sean Hannity to 9 PM to compete with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, but the flight of advertisers away from Hannity has resulted in a 17% decline in ad revenue for the network.
A new Media Matters study found:
Fox News’ role as a secondary communications shop for Donald Trump and host Sean Hannity’s advertiser troubles are apparently starting to affect the network’s bottom line. In September 2017, Fox News’ ad revenue dropped a whopping 17 percent as compared to September 2016, while CNN’s dipped 1 percent and MSNBC’s increased 2 percent.
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The timing of Fox News’ massive ad revenue loss lines up almost exactly with Hannity’s loss of advertisers. It’s safe to say that it’s more than mere coincidence. They’re connected.
Sean Hannity is costing Fox News. Fox News accepts this either out of the goodness of its executives’ hearts, or, more likely, because the network prioritizes advancing a political agenda and Hannity helps advance that agenda. Those political priorities create an additional contributing factor to Fox News’ revenue drop: the bigotry, vitriol, lies, and rank partisan machinations that have come to define Fox News’ brand.
Fox News executives saw Rachel Maddow becoming dominant on cable news, so they intentionally chose to lose revenue by moving Sean Hannity to 9 PM. Advertisers want nothing to do with Hannity because he is the right hand propaganda man for Donald Trump.
The dilemma that Fox News finds itself in shows why they are teetering towards collapse. With the Republican Party moving so far to the right, Fox has to be more extreme, but the fringe nature of programs like Hannity pushes advertisers away. Without advertisers, Fox News can’t make money, but if they move off of the far right, the network will lose viewers. Fox News has nowhere to go, but down.
After the sexual harrassment scandal, the network can no longer put a pleasant face on their programming. Fox News is a reflection of the ugliness, division, and bigotry of Donald Trump.
Trump is toxic to corporate America, which is why advertisers don’t want to touch his mini-me Sean Hannity with a 100 foot pole.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
