UPDATED: Fox Runs House Ads to Fill Empty Slots in Glenn Beck Boycott
The advertiser pullout from Glenn Beck's Fox News Channel show has gone from a trickle to a torrent, and Fox has been reduced to running "house" ads,* spots for its own partner properties for which it receives no may or may not receive revenue. (See updated correction below.)
According to the NY Daily News, these companies have stopped their ads on Beck: WalMart, GMAC Financial Services (Ally Bank), Best Buy, CVS and Travelocity. Tribble notes that Allergan and Broadview Security have also joined the boycott. Companies that previously yanked ads from Beck include: ConAgra, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, RadioShack, Geico, Men's Wearhouse, State Farm, Sargento, LexisNexis, Procter & Gamble, Progressive Insurance and S.C. Johnson.
The boycott was started by ColorofChange.com after Beck's statement on Fox & Friends that Obama has:
-- a deep-seeded hatred for white people -- I'm not saying he doesn't like white people, I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist.Advertisers remaining on the show -- and thus on the boycott hit list -- are: Honda, General Electric, Farmers Insurance, Office Depot, Nestlé (Gerber), Red Lobster, the U.S. Postal Service, and Wyeth.
Fox has repeatedly noted that the advertisers have moved elsewhere on Fox, so revenue is not affected. The Daily News reported that airtime on Beck is being filled by these companies:
The Wall Street Journal, DirecTV, Honda and Oprah Winfrey's Oxygen Channel.The DN failed to note that, with the exception of Honda, all of those brands are owned by Fox parent News Corp.* all of those brands have been in business before with Fox parent News Corp. That's a sign that Beck is actually hurting for revenue. As BNET noted previously, it is unlikely that Fox is making up the revenue with higher prices for moved ads elsewhere in its timeslots.
*Correction: News Corp. divested its 41 percent stake in DirecTV in 2008. Oxygen is not owned by News Corp., but is a partner in Hulu, News Corp.'s joint venture with NBC Universal. Apologies for the error.