Cost Of Advertiser Boycott On Glenn Beck's Fox News Show In Number And Value Of Advertisements

On April 6, Glenn Beck announced that his Fox News show would be ending.  The New York Times reported that Fox News saw "the refusal of hundreds Fox advertisers" to place ads on Beck as an issue in that influenced their parting of ways.

More than 300 advertisers excluded their ads from Glenn Beck's Fox News program since late July 2009 after he called President Obama a "racist" who has a "deep-seated hatred for white people."

Today, NewsCorpWatch, a project of Media Matters for America, released a financial analysis of Glenn Beck's advertiser losses.  The featured charts illustrate two points: 1) that the number of paid advertisements running on Glenn Beck's program dramatically declined after advertisers began boycotting his show; and 2) that key advertisements running on his show cost an estimated three to six times less than they did on other comparable Fox News programs.

This analysis also demonstrates that a sustained market effort will help deliver desperately needed accountability for Fox News' history of deliberate misinformation, political machinations and reckless vitriol.

The number of paid advertisements on Glenn Beck's Fox News show dramatically declined once advertisers began boycotting it in August 2009.

Sustained pressure on advertisers ensured that Beck's show never recovered. Consequently, Glenn Beck's show consistently fell short of other comparable Fox News shows as well as shows of direct competitors.

Click image to enlarge.

Source: Industry data obtained from CMAG and analyzed by Media Matters.

NOTES:

1. Calculations are based on the primary airing of the broadcast and do not include repeats.

2. Situation Room airs 3 hours a day. This data only accounts for the 5-6PM hour, which competes directly with Glenn Beck's Fox News show.

3. Data for MSNBC's Hardball from February 2010 was unavailable.

Based on estimated costs from industry experts, the same ad from the same advertiser costs substantially less on Glenn Beck than it does on other comparable Fox News shows.

Click images to enlarge.

Source: Industry data obtained from CMAG and analyzed by Media Matters.

NOTES:

1. Calculations were based on estimated ad costs during the period of January 1 through March 7, 2011.

2. In order to ensure the fairest and most direct comparisons as well as relevant results, only data from the show's primary broadcast was included in the calculations.