Tucker Carlson’s nightly ad load has undergone a seismic shift just days after declaring white supremacy is “actually not a real problem in America,” and that the idea it is a problem is “a hoax” and “conspiracy theory used to divide the country.”
Over the past few nights Fox News has shifted its weight during Tucker Carlson Tonight ad breaks onto Fox Corporation house ads. The number of paid ads has drastically plummeted in the last week.
On Friday, the ad load hit rock bottom with only 11 paid ads, relying heavily on the 10 Fox house ads and 6 lengthy public service announcements to fill the remaining time.
Despite leaving on an abrupt and suspiciously timed vacation -- a commonly used tactic by Fox to deter advertisers from dropping shows after a host says something particularly egregious -- Carlson has continued to lose advertisers.
SteinMart, HelloFresh, and Nestle have all severed ties with Tucker Carlson Tonight, and the fast food chain Long John Silver’s not only dropped advertising from his show but from Fox News as a whole. Nearly 50 companies have issued statements dropping Carlson’s show since December, when he asserted that immigrants make America “dirtier and poorer”--- and dozens more quietly cut ties without saying anything publicly.
This comes on the heels of a damning earnings report this week from Fox Corp. that indicated, as Bloomberg reported, a decline in ad revenue for Fox. The report debunks Fox PR’s outlandish claims that, despite a mass advertiser exodus during some of its most-watched shows, their ad sales remained steady.
Not only do Fox's declining ad sales mean trouble ahead for investors, they also suggest that the rest of the network is complicit in Carlson's bigotry, racism, and hate by making up for lost revenue during his time slot.
Tucker Carlson’s remaining advertisers can be found here. Fox News' leading advertisers can be found here.
