Commentary

'O'Reilly Factor' Should Not Get Complacent - Remember Glenn Beck

by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 10, 2017

Bill O’Reilly, your livelihood seems safe -- for now.

In TV land, if you have a high-rated -- perhaps a controversial TV show -- you’ll always have advertisers. The show may even grab a few headlines, perhaps even for some off-air news you might make.

The bottom line is: There are always TV marketers that love a big TV rating -- no matter what. The downside? A show with some baggage will have a shorter list of advertisers. No matter -- you can make a go of it.

But the moment viewership turns south, your days are numbers.

In this light of this, examine Fox News Channel’s popular “The O’Reilly Factor,” where some 50 advertisers have reportedly departed the daily prime-time new/opinion show.

The show is still a big earner -- ratings-wise -- averaging a strong Nielsen 3.5 million viewers. Its regularly a top five/top 10 cable TV shows.

But no one should get too complacent. Think back to former Fox News star Glenn Beck and his highly popular prime-time news/talk/opinion show. At one point in 2009, “Beck” was also pulling in a close to 3 million average Nielsen viewers.

Then in 2011, "Beck" really took a downturn -- losing almost 40% of its audience versus the year before, to around 1.8 million viewers. (For many cable TV shows, that is still pretty good.)

“Beck” was controversial from the start -- due to his ongoing rants/opinions. In September 2010, according to one report, 296 advertisers didn’t want to be on the “Beck” show, up from 26 in August 2009.

Of course, O’Reilly, is in a different vastly different spot. While strongly opinionated, he has been, for the most part, on the easier side of controversy -- on-air.

All that changed recently. Some 50 TV advertisers have left his show, based on a New York Times story reporting some $13 million in money was paid out in settlement fees by O’Reilly and 21st Century Fox in regards to sexual harassment claims from a number of women.

The analysis then might come to this: As long as “The O’Reilly Factor” continues to earn the big business Nielsen viewing numbers, it will have plenty of advertisers. Maybe not those high-profile/big brand consumer product-sensitive advertisers, but other TV marketers — movie studios, video games, direct marketers, and others —that have few issues about controversial associations/content, on- or off-air. They will look to buy in.

But when business trend lines start weakening -- when viewers start to shrug their shoulders and begin to sample other news programs? Factor this: They and the marketers are out.

advertising, cable tv, legal, marketing, tv

3 comments about "'O'Reilly Factor' Should Not Get Complacent - Remember Glenn Beck".

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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, April 10, 2017 at 9:55 a.m.
Glenn Beck faded from the scene because he was pretty clearly not playing with a full deck in terms of what he was saying and his goofy mannerisms. O'Reilly is, clearly, a more substantial and consistent personality and the bellweather of Fox's primetime political commentary lineup. However, O'Reilly, like most of the Fox News Channel, plays to a surprisingly small base of fanatical, every night, right wing viewers. Many of these purport to have lofty moral values, so it remains to be seen whether O'Reilly can maneuver his way out of the sexist problem he may have gotten himself into. As for his "big ratings" let's not get carried away. O'Reilly reaches only 1% of America per commercial minute. That's a lot more than CNN and MSNBC, but it's not a gigantic audience that advertisers must use to market their products and services. It's all relative, Wayne.
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Jackie Mueller from Self-employed, April 10, 2017 at 10:01 a.m.

Bill O'Reilly has systematically abused and harassed dozens of women during his time at Fox but I can't quite figure out your message here. Are you editorializing about an industry that looks the other way on this awful and illegal behavior as long as someone can make a buck? Or are you just shrugging your shoulders while stating this awful truth?

Harassment in the workplace is way too big and sensitive a topic to make a point about ratings and ad revenue and should not be referred to as "baggage". The comparison to Beck is way off. Beck is contraversial, to put it lightly, but he in no way committed the (alleged) crimes attributed to Bill O'Reilly.

Tom Tyler from GCTVTexas, April 11, 2017 at 11:23 a.m.

He denies the allegations, thus he is granted the presumption of innocence until he is either proven a liar or recants. The only people actually calling for his head are Progresso-Fascists and Feminazis.
I'm interested in why Fox paid off the accusers and their attorneys. My contacts in the legal field say it was because paying them off was cheaper than fighting it out in court. The legal profession long ago made a profitable racket out of making false allegations and demanding a pay-off to call off a far more costly court battle.
Regardless, advertisers are playing a risky game when they cave in to extremist political groups, in this case NOW and the feminazis, as obviously they can and will offend just as many people on the other side of the spectrum. I always caution advertisers: stay out of politics, and never take sides with extremists.