• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, October 5, 2021

When it comes to individual TV programs on a TV network, marketers pulling their media, due to controversy, is not always a big deal.

But when a TV network/platform is essentially caught in lies and deception, from an overall business operation point of view, it's goodnight and goodbye.

That's the case with Ozy Media, a general-interest digital media company of online videos, TV shows, podcasts, newsletter and other platforms.

According to a report in The New York Times, Samir Rao, the COO of the company, impersonated a YouTube executive on a February fundraising call with Goldman Sachs, trying to get $40 million in new investments.

Bricks then started to fall everywhere: Hedge fund manager and recently named chairman of Ozy Media, Marc Lasry (co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks), departed. Also, a major editorial hire -- Katty Kay, from the BBC -- resigned.

And if that wasn't enough, Ozy Media investors started to hesitate about making promised financial investments.

In the midst of this -- while Ozy Media was still technically operating -- media agency holding company GroupM, as well as advertising clients including Ford Motor, Airbnb, Goldman Sachs and Target, said they would be “pausing” their campaigns overall, based on the company structure as a business entity.

That pause became more permanent when Ozy Media shut down last week.

Then on Monday, on NBC's “Today,” Carlos Watson, CEO of Ozy Media, said operations would be continuing.

Certainly, there was more going on at Ozy Media.

The New York Times suggested the company's purported large audience size was still a mystery. That's always a key issue for media agencies and advertisers -- long before any fundraising impropriety issues at the company are raised. This would also caused advertisers to stop buying in.

But not always -- that is, as long as the media operation quickly admits to mistakes and takes action to make corrections. Facebook, for one, has had similar incidents, according to a number of reports.

Advertisers departing a TV network/platform from a single “content”-related incident happens a lot -- for example, a remark from a opinion host on Fox News Channel can cause advertisers to make changes.

Despite its content, marketers might still give a TV network the thumbs up for its overall business operations.

When content issues occur in scripted or unscripted TV programs, TV marketers can then compartmentalize: They typically shift a media schedule to another show on the network. After a while, the advertiser often returns to the original show.

For Ozy Media advertisers, there was no place to shift their media -- other than to leave the company, especially if hints of broken audience promises and other question marks remain.